Review of The Hills Have Eyes (1977) by Chelsea W — 09 Oct 2009

Once again, my friend Kristal Cooper beats me to the review, but that's okay, we seem to have a similar sensibility. I think if Wes Craven had not been a narrative filmmaker, he could have been a documentarian.

His classism message is right on point here and the fact that he uses horror to drive his message home is proof positive, that the darker things in life are best explored through horror, comedy and sci-fi.

While the performances and dialogue are all very dated now, the rawness of the filmmaking still shines through. Outside of horror circles, Craven does not get the accolades that a Spielberg or a Kubrick gets, but he's every bit the storyteller that those guys are and were.

By the way, I also really liked the remake they did of this film in 2006.