The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

I attempted to watch this a handful of months ago (because I wanted to see it before wasting my time watching the remake when it comes out on dvd), but then my VCR broke. But finally it came in at the library for me on DVD, so voila:

Plotline: A family is making its way cross-country to Cali but stops in the middle of the desert in hopes of finding some of the old gold-mines and getting themselves some gold. Problem is, their car breaks down in the middle of an old nuclear-testing site, and... well... they're not the only ones around.

Scariness factor: If you fast-forwarded through all the parts where they actually *show* the bad-guys, this'd be a very scary flick, given the fact that it feels pretty realistic.

Gross-Out Factor: They don't show *too* much. Moreso just bright red blood and the aftermath of people on fire and stuff. Nothing too harrowing.

Complaints: What is up with the one bad guy's really bad black afro-wig? I mean, it's SO obviously a wig that you feel like you're at the Halloween festivities at OU where there's like 5500 men that couldn't think of anything to wear so they donned a really bad wig and some sorta stupid clothing and can't really tell you what they're supposed to be if you ask... Truly, this was the worst part of the movie--the bad guys. They were *so* terribly lame-looking. I mean, not scary *at all*. I mean, you've probably seen scarier puppies or ducklings. Oh, and the only other major complaint: the sudden and inappropriate bursts of 1970's-esque p0rn-meets-The-Million-Dollar-Man music.

High Points: I really kinda enjoyed this. It has a lot of the campiness of 1970's horror flicks. But it also has a lot of that gritty realism as well (if you don't count the lame-ass bad-guys). The victims react realistically to the violence inflicted upon them. And the violence is disturbing in that people get killed off so abruptly and with so little finesse that it rings of the truth of actual real-life violence and murder. It has a bit of an abrupt ending, but I kinda liked that as well.

Overall: I kinda dug this movie. It's by no means perfect--I mean, the bad guys just royally suck. But it's good and entertaining despite that fact.

Grade: B+