Before creating the horror icon Freddy Kruger, Wes Craven launched his career with two gritty horror films — THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972) and THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977). In HILLS, we learn right from the start that there are dangerous people leaving in the hills of an abandoned nuclear test site in the desert.
The Carter family is heading out that way to see an old silver mine that’s been in the family for years. The old gas station owner Fred (John Steadman, THE LONGEST YARD) warns them not to go out there, because he knows the secret that the wild people in the hills are hungry cannibals. As the Carters head for the mine, they get into a car accident, stranding them in the middle of nowhere. Angry ex-cop and patriarch Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve, FOXY BROWN) and his no-good son-in-law Doug Wood (Martin Speer) head out into the night to find help.
Soon enough when one of their dogs gets loose, Bobby Carter (Robert Houston, 1941) finds out how dangerous the people in the hills are. In an effort to keep calm, Bobby doesn’t tell peppy Brenda (Susan Lanier, THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II), Doug’s wife Lynne (Dee Wallace, E.T.) and prudish matriarch Ethel (Virginia Vincent, TV’s EIGHT IS ENOUGH) what danger may be lurking out in the darkness.
The family dynamic between the savages is fascinating. Father Jupiter (James Whitworth, PLANET OF DINOSAURS) rules over his feral sons Mars (Lance Gordon, LIVE AND LET DIE), Pluto (Michael Berryman, WEIRD SCIENCE) and Mercury (Peter Locke, film’s producer). His daughter Ruby (Janus Blythe, EATEN ALIVE) begs Fred to take her with him when he’s about to leave the gas station behind. Mama (Cordy Clark) is an obese Ma Barker-type who sticks by her man.
The tension created is wonderful. Craven does a superb job of knowing the right balance between mystery and character development for the bad guys. Keeping us guessing up until the big siege of the camper is perfect. In addition, the big siege is shocking, because it is not driven by horror clichés. From this point on, the film takes on a mind of its own, allowing the characters to act and develop in surprising ways.
Craven presents a typical family in an extraordinary situation and the extents they will go to save themselves and their loved ones. In too many horror films, the good guys are merely the next potential victims with the most unlikely of the group forced to stand as the unlikely hero. That’s not how things play out here. The film works as an extreme version of DELIVERANCE. Surprised is usually not a feeling I feel during most horror films, but it’s the chief emotion I felt during this horror film. This disturbing flick attains something unique by developing original enough characters that it keeps us guessing.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
