And We Call This Entertainment...

"Torturing the audience is not the same thing as scaring them, and I'm not sure Aja can tell the difference." – Miami Herald

Well, well, well… since I had a somewhat uneventful weekend I jumped at the chance to go see the new movie, The Hills Have Eyes. As you may be able to tell from my posts on Saw II and Hostel, I’m not too crazy about horror films. Why I even go see them is beyond me, and after seeing this film I’m seriously considering stopping. The past few horror films I’ve seen, including Saw II, Hostel, House of Wax (forgive me for actually seeing that), etc. have just seemed as though it’s a competition to see how many bloody limbs and startling deaths movie makers can fit into an hour and forty five minutes. It’s all about shock value. But does the audience really get anything out of it? I, for one, do not.

So… for the plot. A family of seven (or nine, including the dogs) are tricked into taking a dirt road into the barren desert. Immediately, a friend of mine pointed out to me that the preview featured neither a pregnant woman nor a baby as one of the main characters, but both definitely were. I wonder why. Of course, the family has car troubles and gets stuck in the desert. Big surprise. I will give it to Alexandre Aja, he was able portray a realistic and very believable family. Anyways, it’s not long before the genetically deformed cannibals begin attacking. They were affected by the nuclear bomb testing (which we learned about in physical science freshman year) and are out to get revenge on “our people” for doing this to them. These mutants waste no time raping and molesting the girls, killing members of the family, and kidnapping the baby. This scene was incredibly uncomfortable and I was absolutely disgusted by the way the characters were unremorsefully disposed of. Then, there is a turning point in the movie where the surviving members of the family basically become savages to survive and get the baby back. In the end of the movie, I felt as though Aja tried to make us feel a little better by saying “Look! They’re not ALL that bad!”… it didn’t work.

Overall, I thought the score of this movie was well done. It really caught my ear. During many of the scenes, there was this noise in the background music that sounded like warning bells. However, at the end there was this extremely corny epic-like music that just wouldn’t stop. It was actually kind of ridiculous and laughable.

Now, I understand that I knew what the movie was about. I also understand that the particular movie genre is not my favorite. Thirdly, I understand this film was a remake and was very much similar to the original. Halfway through the movie I thought to myself, “Did I actually pay money to see this?”. So, I picked up my purse, put on my delightful new green heels and declared I would not watch it. Then, I cried a little (OKAY, so I’m a pansy) and reminded myself this was a movie and it was completely fake. I was able to watch the rest of the movie with a pretty cynical approach. That’s my ritual for horror films. However, I did not cease to be completely repulsed. Movies like this just make me angry. After the movie, I asked my friend why these kinds of movies are even made. He responded with the question “Why did the Romans go to the coliseum?”. They considered the mortal combats of gladiators to be games, and we consider seeing the brutal slayings of innocent people to be entertainment- EVEN if it’s fake. I guess I’m looking at this movie from a conventional point of view. I feel that there is a way to tastefully make horror films, without completely butchering the human body for brownie points. I’m just glad I now know not to take a dirt road into the desert because a weird old man at the gas station tells me to. Thank God SOME ONE told me.

It’s obvious that I thought this movie was disturbing and horrible. If you’re anything like faint-hearted little old me, spare yourself. In the words of Carrie Rickey from the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I endured it so you don't have to."


Liz