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director Alexandre Aja divided genre fans with his
breakout hit "Switchblade
Romance" (a.k.a. "Haute
Tension"), mainly due to the inclusion of an
ending which could be politely termed 'wacky'.
Given this, the decision to make his Hollywood
debut with a remake of Wes Craven's 1977 classic
"The Hills Have Eyes" may at first sound
suspiciously like an unadventurous one, needlessly
adding to the ever growing ranks of similarly
pointless films. Thankfully, Aja exceeds all
expectations, producing a slice of unrestrained
and unashamedly adult horror which makes little
concession to the usual teen demographic.
The film is surprisingly
faithful to the original, both in terms of plot
and spirit, possibly due to the
credibility-enhancing presence of Craven himself
as producer, though with an unmistakable dash of
Gallic insanity. If anything, Aja actually
improves on the original in many ways, and though
far from perfect, his film is certainly the best
of the recent crop of remakes, and more
importantly, a great piece of genre cinema in its
own right.
The film follows the
unfortunate Carter family as they travel through
the desert en route to
San Diego
, falling victim to a vicious band of mutant
cannibals along the way. There is very little to
the film beyond this simple, brutal premise, which
in a sense is why it works so well. Aja, who also
scripted, largely ditches Craven's vague attempts
to compare the two families as an ironic
commentary on civilisation and the savagery
inherent in the human condition, though to be fair
this was never more than a minor thematic concern.
Instead, Aja focuses on the fact that the mutants
are a result of
U.S.
nuclear testing, and as such are played almost as
grotesque, vengeful by-products of modern society.
In narrative terms, aside
from an amusingly bloody introduction, Aja keeps
things fairly close to the original, and as such
the first half makes for familiar viewing.
However, given the advantage of a bigger budget,
he expands on several ideas, in particular the
role of one character whose protracted exploration
of the cannibals' home basically accounts for the
significantly longer running time. These scenes
fit in quite naturally, and give the film a more
convincing back-story and a more satisfying
conclusion. Interestingly, Aja aims for a
bizarrely upbeat tone during these final scenes
complete with bombastic music and heroic posing,
though this actually works well and, given the
torments the characters have had to suffer, is
certainly justified.
Aja's direction at times
feels like an assault on the senses, complete with
screeching noise and unflinching, leering close
ups of the grisly action. He makes full use of the
desert setting, playing it as an unforgiving and
primal environment that perfectly reflects the
characters' desperate struggle to survive.
Although the film has a markedly lunatic streak,
Aja keeps things fairly coherent, and more
importantly keeps the pace up throughout, wisely
never giving the viewer a chance to draw breath.
Helping enormously is that
"The Hills Have Eyes" is a fiercely
visceral film and is one of the bloodiest efforts
from a major studio in several years. The
atrocities flow thick and fast, far outstripping
the original and providing some fairly shocking
scenes. The mutant family themselves are truly
horrible, a nauseating freak show that makes for
great villains, even if they do lack the
characterisation of those in the original.
The only real problem with
"The Hills Have Eyes" is the unshakable
feeling of pointlessness which hangs over all
remakes in general. Although Aja's film does
transcend this malaise and makes for great
entertainment, it serves yet again to underline
the depressing lack of originality in the genre
today. Nevertheless, the film certainly confirms
Aja as a major talent, and as one of the few
directors brave enough to actually try to horrify
and repulse viewers, which is no little thing in
such anaemic times.
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