The Hills Have Eyes (2006) Fresh or Stale? *May Contain Spoilers*

[The Freshness]

So I have seen the original as well, was not that impressed. I also was unaware that the director of this movie is the same guy that directed High Tension. The movie starts off with some guys in radiation suits testing the air for radiation. One guy wanders off and stumbles on some broken and bleeding guy asking for help. Boom next thing you know there is some guy wielding a pickaxe killing people. Very cool. The opening credits are interesting, nuclear testing mixed with pictures of people mutated by radiation.

The remake sticks pretty close to the original, changing some things and keeping others the same. Good example, in the 1977 version when "Big" Bob and Doug go off, Doug comes back saying he found some "car graveyard" but they do not show it and there is another scene where the people are calling for help there is some heavy breathing on the other end. Now in the 2006 version they show the "car graveyard" and not the scene with the radio, they just mention it. The best character in the movie by far is the dog Beast.

[The Staleness]

I had not seen the original, I was tempted to pick it up on DVD so that I could compare it against the remake, but I decided to go in fresh. Not as fresh as The Freshness, but as fresh as I could. I had heard the director and Wes Craven say in an interview that the scene in the trailer was much more brutal in this version than in the original, and that the MPAA said it was too much and they had to cut some stuff that will be on the unrated DVD, which gave me hope for both the movie in general, and the future DVD release.

Well, I liked the movie, although I have to say that reading about the trailer scene being more brutal probably elevated my expectations too high, as I thought it wasn’t really anything that bad. The Freshness explained the differences in that scene compared to the original, and it is harsher compared to the old version, but nothing that bad by today’s standards. In general, the violence was pretty decent, I especially liked the gore during the scene with the gas station attendant in the outhouse, and there was some good pickaxing throughout.

[The Verdict]

[The Freshness] I must say that I find this movie quite Fresh, especially considering I did not care for the original. Lots of gore, the only thing really missing is the nudity. Good times.

[The Staleness] With no original to compare it to, I would judge this movie as Fresh standing on it’s own. I will agree on the nudity front, that was the only thing lacking, perhaps we can look forward to nudity and violence on the unrated DVD?