The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Very rarely does a horror remake do justice to the original film. Remaking a genre classic is a daunting task and the results are almost always disappointing. Some horror enthusiasts were surprisingly pleased with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 and Dawn of the Dead 2004. I wasn't one of them. Frankly, the originals of both films were perfect the way they were and remaking them was pointless (from an artistic perspective). That said, the remake of legendary horror icon Wes Craven's 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes is actually pretty good. In fact, this is one of the few cases where the remake manages to surpass the original. While the 1977 Hills was a very good horror movie, it wasn't in the same league as the aforementioned milestones. In other words, there was room for improvement.

That's where Alexandre Aja -- a young, up-and-coming French director -- came in. Aja's breakout horror hit Haute Tension proved that he could confidently direct gritty, visceral, '70s-style horror. Aja (and his writing partner Gregory Lavasseur) also happened to be a huge fan of Craven's The Hills Have Eyes, which made him the perfect choice to helm the remake.

The story is relatively simple. The Carter family is driving through the New Mexico desert on their way to California. Unfortunately, a car accident leaves them stranded and, wouldn't you know it, their cell phones aren't working either. What's more, there is an evil clan of mutant cannibals preparing to swoop down on the Carters and eat them for breakfast.

Aja's and Craven's versions of the movie differ mainly in terms of how they deal with one central question: where did these mutants come from? While Craven only hints at their origins, Aja clearly blames the American government and its unchecked nuclear testing. This premise is interesting, but Aja isn't exactly subtle about getting his point across. One mutant (called "Big Brain") sums up the moral of the story in this typically obvious line of dialogue: "Your people asked our families to leave their town and you destroyed our homes. We went into the mines. You set off your bombs and turned everything into ashes. You made us what we've become. Boom. Boom. Boom!".

Despite this unfortunate heavy-handedness, Aja's technically superior filmmaking, coupled with better-quality special effects and make-up (thanks to the ubiquitous guys at KNB) are still enough to make his a better film on the whole. When the first attack against the Carters comes -- complete with rape, torture, and murder -- it's a genuinely disturbing sequence. Jarring sound and editing techniques effectively amplify the violent nature of the assault and the mutants are extremely frightening to look at. When the dust settles, half the family is dead, and an infant is missing. The second half of the movie revolves around one character's search for his baby daughter.

This is where the movie takes a wrong turn and becomes a man vs. mutant wrestling match. Our protagonist goes through a seriously unbelievable transformation -- from wussy democrat to skillful pick-axe killer -- in the span of about five seconds. He hunts the cannibal mutants down to the deserted nuclear test village where they live, endures a series of completely unrealistic beatings that would leave any normal person crippled, and then proceeds to single-handedly kick some mutant ass, using not only his pickaxe, but also an American flag (I'm not kidding), all to the tune of what can only be described as the cheesiest, triumphant "victory music" ever recorded.

Technically, Fox has done an excellent job with this DVD. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer looks amazing and the 5.1 surround sound is used to great effect. The "unrated" version doesn't feature any new scenes, but you get a minute or two of extra gore, which is always appreciated.

The disc also includes several interesting features. First, we get an audio commentary by Aja, Lavasseur, and producer Marianne Madalena. This commentary is okay, if a bit dry. We also get a commentary by Producers Wes Craven and Peter Locke, who collaborated on the original film. In theory, this sounds like a great idea, but it proves to be a bit uninspired.

The best extra feature by far is the 50-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, Surviving the Hills: Making of The Hills Have Eyes. This doc includes cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and tons of info about art direction and make-up effects. On top of this, we also get 10 minutes of video production diaries -- which show the cast and crew working on the film -- and a music video by a group called The Finalist, which is really lame and unnecessary. -- Sarah Duda