Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes

• 23rd Mar 2011

Continuing Filmwerk’s retrospective of the great Wes Craven, we come to his second feature, The Hills Have Eyes, and it’s a real doozie. Coming a full five years after his ultra disturbing and groundbreaking debut The Last House On The Left, Craven once again sets out to explore the mechanisms of violence and brutality.

This retrospective is based on re-watching the 2003 Anchor Bay DVD 2-disc release of the movie.

Although pretty successful on its initial cinema run (a release clash with the all conquering Smokie & The Bandit not exactly helping), this pre-slasher era movie became something of a major cult classic in the years following (particularly with the advent of home video). It spawned several dubious sequels and eventually led to a very successful modern remake in 2005 which also spawned a sequel. It also launched the careers of genre regulars Dee Wallace (Lynne Wood) and the excellent Michael Berryman (Pluto).

Craven’s personal involvement in the sequels and remakes has varied, and although he has completely disowned one or two over the years, he’s never not been involved at all. Of course this retrospective is concerned only with the original, low budget 1977 movie written and directed by Craven and produced by Peter Locke.

For those who haven’t seen it (shame on you), or need reminding; this is the story of an average white bread extended family (the Carters and the Woods) who, while journeying through the desert, become stranded in a remote area after crashing their car and Winnebago. They are then preyed upon by a feral family of mountain dwelling cannibals led by the vicious Papa Jupiter (James Whitworth). The movie pits the two families against each other in what becomes a battle for survival. It examines how, when stripped of all of civilisation’s comforts and faced with extreme unprovoked and irrepressible violence, we can discover our own barbarism bubbling beneath the veneer of common decency.

My personal journey with The Hills Have Eyes started with its release on VHS in the early 80s. While it wasn’t really a card carrying member of the video nasty list like Driller Killer or SS Experiment Camp, Craven’s movie was still one of those rentals that you tended to keep secret from your mum. It also had a healthy schoolboy word-of-mouth reputation (Berryman’s unusual physical appearance being a big part of the draw for us at that age).

Back in those early’ish days of video (around 1983/84), my home town had a slightly dodgy rental shop called ‘Emprise Video’ which stocked everything in VHS and Betamax formats and had a pretty liberal attitude towards allowing obvious minors (me) to rent gory movies. Titles like Spawn of Evil and The Exterminator spring to mind, as well as Cannibal Ferox, Zombie Flesheaters and even the original Phantasm and Evil Dead movies. Some of these titles were blacklisted as ‘nasties’ and weren’t always available over the counter to a young teen like me (although there were always ways and means). The Hills Have Eyes sat within this group very well and held its own as a fierce and visceral horror trip.

In approaching this retrospective it was clear that the business of assessing old horror movies in 2011 is complicated by several factors that can act as veils to an unseen truth, or as layers of separation not present when it was originally shown. Firstly, it’s not always easy to figure out which cut you saw back in the day, not to mention which one you’re watching in review now and how they may differ. Horror genre movies are often plagued with multiple cuts and recuts at different times and for different markets. You multiply that by some 30 odd years and you potentially have a cut that’s had a bit of a butchering compared to what audiences may have originally seen in theatres. Hmmm… problematic.

Secondly, there’s a very real possibility that certain aspects of a 30-year-old low budget movie (particularly special effects and other production values), can render once effective set pieces somehow slightly toothless and tame in their 2011 on-screen effectiveness. Particularly when compared to today’s more well funded, excessively blood-soaked and convincingly staged screwed-up torture porn flicks.

Older horror movies have to rely more on context, acting, mood, etc to sell a dodgy low budget effect. The only area where, in my opinion, modern filmmaking technology really hasn’t gained the advantage is the insistence on using CGI to create wounds or gore effects. Old school FX gurus like Tom Savini and Rob Bottin created truly stomach churning ‘in camera’ gore effects; the best of which in this humble reviewer’s opinion are yet to be topped by anyone, and certainly not by anything churned out by a computer.

The Hills Have Eyes is actually surprisingly light on real blood and guts gore. There are some choice moments to be sure – everybody remembers Pluto’s wince-inducing achilles tendon injury, which even today gives me a little shiver of revulsion. But there’s not that much else in that department. This could be thanks to the film falling foul of the MPAA censors and initially receiving a full on X certificate. This being a commercial ‘kiss of death’ the film was recut and recut with much of the gorier frames ending up in the bin. The infamous scene where Papa Jupiter is addressing the recently deceased, burnt and decapitated head of Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve) while gnawing on Carter’s cooked severed arm is still disturbing and powerful. But with much of the originally filmed gore cut out, the scene’s effectiveness is dependent on one’s own sense of disgust, alongside Jupiter’s convincing performance and the very brief shots of the err… ‘props’.

The movie’s power really comes from somewhere other than blood and guts. It reminds me a little of the tone of Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chainsaw Massacre which is also surprisingly claret free but nonetheless immensely tense and scary as hell.

At such an early point in his career Craven already seems to be excelling in the ability to ratchet up the tension levels, and is immensely courageous in showing extended high tension drama and violence, often without any music. It’s quite effective even now, and a small but significant step beyond the disturbing humiliation and degradation tactics so prevalent in The Last House On The Left. It’s actually films like this that coined the expression ‘roller-coaster ride’ – referring not to action and SFX thrills and spills, but to the continuous wrenching of the audience’s stress/tension levels.

Once again though, Craven’s aggressors in the movie suffer heavy losses in retribution for their deeds. Ultimately they’re all killed except for the feral clan’s seldom seen mother figure (Cordy Clark) and daughter Ruby (Janus Blythe), who starts the movie wanting to escape her life and eventually betrays her kin (their plans to kill and eat the Woods’ young baby being just too much for her).

Ultimately Papa Jupiter is shot and wildly axed to death by the remaining Carters after surviving being blown up in their booby trapped Winnebago. The movie ends with the violent murder of major baddie Mars (Lance Gordon) at the hands of the stolen baby’s father Doug Wood (Martin Spear). It’s a powerful and startling scene as Mars is finally dispatched but at what cost? Has Wood lost his humanity in order to save his family? Or has he done what he had to do while still preserving his belief in the sanctity of life? Craven is ambiguous here and deliberately fades to red (not black) on Wood’s face directly after the last brutal and fatal plunge of the knife into Mars’ chest. His expression is given to us, the audience, to interpret. It’s a combination of physical and mental exhaustion, massive adrenalin, relief, intense grief, extreme trauma and shock. Even now, it’s a bold ending.

Filmed with a final budget somewhere around the $300k mark, but on an actual shooting budget of a good deal less than that, the movie does betray its lack of financing here and there. Nature helps out massively though, as the location is nothing short of stunning. However, costuming and makeup for Papa Jupiter and his brood in particular doesn’t hold up too well. Only Pluto looks convincingly disturbing and that’s obviously because Berryman’s the real deal. His appearance lends an almost Freaks-like quality to the proceedings. Brother Mars, who’s arguably the most vicious member of the clan other than Jupiter himself (but along with Pluto quite obviously living in terrible fear of his father), by contrast sports the worst woolly perm wig this side of the Muppets. Even Papa Jupiter’s prosthetic split nose looks every bit the stuck on Play-doh lump, and tends not to convince any more (if indeed it ever did).

Overall the movie is still a powerful and bold statement, but it has to be said; if you hadn’t seen the recent 2005 remake, you could watch the original and write a list of every major change a modern filmmaker would make in order to make it appeal to a 21^st century audience used to a diet of Hostel and Saw movies. We are that predictable now.

The upshot then is that Craven’s movie can’t help but look and feel dated. This isn’t a bad thing per se but if you think you could play this movie to your average 18 year old and hope to shock or disturb, I think you’d be disappointed (unless they really know and appreciate their classic horror shit). The genre has moved on to a point where seemingly filmmakers are all out of ideas, except to throw in more and more gore and sexual depravity and hope that it’s enough. In my opinion it’s not.

Personally I would like to have seen the original X-rated cut of the film first submitted to the MPAA, as this was after all the movie Craven and Locke intended Hills to be. I think the extra viscera would serve it well now, and would’ve pushed cinema audiences right over the edge back in 1977 

.

Continuing Filmwerk’s retrospective of the great Wes Craven, we come to his second feature, The Hills Have Eyes, and it’s a real doozie. Coming a full five years after his ultra disturbing and groundbreaking debut The Last House On The Left, Craven once again sets out to explore the mechanisms of violence and brutality.

This retrospective is based on re-watching the 2003 Anchor Bay DVD 2-disc release of the movie.

Although pretty successful on its initial cinema run (a release clash with the all conquering Smokie & The Bandit not exactly helping), this pre-slasher era movie became something of a major cult classic in the years following (particularly with the advent of home video). It spawned several dubious sequels and eventually led to a very successful modern remake in 2005 which also spawned a sequel. It also launched the careers of genre regulars Dee Wallace (Lynne Wood) and the excellent Michael Berryman (Pluto).

Craven’s personal involvement in the sequels and remakes has varied, and although he has completely disowned one or two over the years, he’s never not been involved at all. Of course this retrospective is concerned only with the original, low budget 1977 movie written and directed by Craven and produced by Peter Locke.

For those who haven’t seen it (shame on you), or need reminding; this is the story of an average white bread extended family (the Carters and the Woods) who, while journeying through the desert, become stranded in a remote area after crashing their car and Winnebago. They are then preyed upon by a feral family of mountain dwelling cannibals led by the vicious Papa Jupiter (James Whitworth). The movie pits the two families against each other in what becomes a battle for survival. It examines how, when stripped of all of civilisation’s comforts and faced with extreme unprovoked and irrepressible violence, we can discover our own barbarism bubbling beneath the veneer of common decency.

My personal journey with The Hills Have Eyes started with its release on VHS in the early 80s. While it wasn’t really a card carrying member of the video nasty list like Driller Killer or SS Experiment Camp, Craven’s movie was still one of those rentals that you tended to keep secret from your mum. It also had a healthy schoolboy word-of-mouth reputation (Berryman’s unusual physical appearance being a big part of the draw for us at that age).

Back in those early’ish days of video (around 1983/84), my home town had a slightly dodgy rental shop called ‘Emprise Video’ which stocked everything in VHS and Betamax formats and had a pretty liberal attitude towards allowing obvious minors (me) to rent gory movies. Titles like Spawn of Evil and The Exterminator spring to mind, as well as Cannibal Ferox, Zombie Flesheaters and even the original Phantasm and Evil Dead movies. Some of these titles were blacklisted as ‘nasties’ and weren’t always available over the counter to a young teen like me (although there were always ways and means). The Hills Have Eyes sat within this group very well and held its own as a fierce and visceral horror trip.

In approaching this retrospective it was clear that the business of assessing old horror movies in 2011 is complicated by several factors that can act as veils to an unseen truth, or as layers of separation not present when it was originally shown. Firstly, it’s not always easy to figure out which cut you saw back in the day, not to mention which one you’re watching in review now and how they may differ. Horror genre movies are often plagued with multiple cuts and recuts at different times and for different markets. You multiply that by some 30 odd years and you potentially have a cut that’s had a bit of a butchering compared to what audiences may have originally seen in theatres. Hmmm… problematic.

Secondly, there’s a very real possibility that certain aspects of a 30-year-old low budget movie (particularly special effects and other production values), can render once effective set pieces somehow slightly toothless and tame in their 2011 on-screen effectiveness. Particularly when compared to today’s more well funded, excessively blood-soaked and convincingly staged screwed-up torture porn flicks.

Older horror movies have to rely more on context, acting, mood, etc to sell a dodgy low budget effect. The only area where, in my opinion, modern filmmaking technology really hasn’t gained the advantage is the insistence on using CGI to create wounds or gore effects. Old school FX gurus like Tom Savini and Rob Bottin created truly stomach churning ‘in camera’ gore effects; the best of which in this humble reviewer’s opinion are yet to be topped by anyone, and certainly not by anything churned out by a computer.

The Hills Have Eyes is actually surprisingly light on real blood and guts gore. There are some choice moments to be sure – everybody remembers Pluto’s wince-inducing achilles tendon injury, which even today gives me a little shiver of revulsion. But there’s not that much else in that department. This could be thanks to the film falling foul of the MPAA censors and initially receiving a full on X certificate. This being a commercial ‘kiss of death’ the film was recut and recut with much of the gorier frames ending up in the bin. The infamous scene where Papa Jupiter is addressing the recently deceased, burnt and decapitated head of Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve) while gnawing on Carter’s cooked severed arm is still disturbing and powerful. But with much of the originally filmed gore cut out, the scene’s effectiveness is dependent on one’s own sense of disgust, alongside Jupiter’s convincing performance and the very brief shots of the err… ‘props’.

The movie’s power really comes from somewhere other than blood and guts. It reminds me a little of the tone of Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chainsaw Massacre which is also surprisingly claret free but nonetheless immensely tense and scary as hell.

At such an early point in his career Craven already seems to be excelling in the ability to ratchet up the tension levels, and is immensely courageous in showing extended high tension drama and violence, often without any music. It’s quite effective even now, and a small but significant step beyond the disturbing humiliation and degradation tactics so prevalent in The Last House On The Left. It’s actually films like this that coined the expression ‘roller-coaster ride’ – referring not to action and SFX thrills and spills, but to the continuous wrenching of the audience’s stress/tension levels.

Once again though, Craven’s aggressors in the movie suffer heavy losses in retribution for their deeds. Ultimately they’re all killed except for the feral clan’s seldom seen mother figure (Cordy Clark) and daughter Ruby (Janus Blythe), who starts the movie wanting to escape her life and eventually betrays her kin (their plans to kill and eat the Woods’ young baby being just too much for her).

Ultimately Papa Jupiter is shot and wildly axed to death by the remaining Carters after surviving being blown up in their booby trapped Winnebago. The movie ends with the violent murder of major baddie Mars (Lance Gordon) at the hands of the stolen baby’s father Doug Wood (Martin Spear). It’s a powerful and startling scene as Mars is finally dispatched but at what cost? Has Wood lost his humanity in order to save his family? Or has he done what he had to do while still preserving his belief in the sanctity of life? Craven is ambiguous here and deliberately fades to red (not black) on Wood’s face directly after the last brutal and fatal plunge of the knife into Mars’ chest. His expression is given to us, the audience, to interpret. It’s a combination of physical and mental exhaustion, massive adrenalin, relief, intense grief, extreme trauma and shock. Even now, it’s a bold ending.

Filmed with a final budget somewhere around the $300k mark, but on an actual shooting budget of a good deal less than that, the movie does betray its lack of financing here and there. Nature helps out massively though, as the location is nothing short of stunning. However, costuming and makeup for Papa Jupiter and his brood in particular doesn’t hold up too well. Only Pluto looks convincingly disturbing and that’s obviously because Berryman’s the real deal. His appearance lends an almost Freaks-like quality to the proceedings. Brother Mars, who’s arguably the most vicious member of the clan other than Jupiter himself (but along with Pluto quite obviously living in terrible fear of his father), by contrast sports the worst woolly perm wig this side of the Muppets. Even Papa Jupiter’s prosthetic split nose looks every bit the stuck on Play-doh lump, and tends not to convince any more (if indeed it ever did).

Overall the movie is still a powerful and bold statement, but it has to be said; if you hadn’t seen the recent 2005 remake, you could watch the original and write a list of every major change a modern filmmaker would make in order to make it appeal to a 21^st century audience used to a diet of Hostel and Saw movies. We are that predictable now.

The upshot then is that Craven’s movie can’t help but look and feel dated. This isn’t a bad thing per se but if you think you could play this movie to your average 18 year old and hope to shock or disturb, I think you’d be disappointed (unless they really know and appreciate their classic horror shit). The genre has moved on to a point where seemingly filmmakers are all out of ideas, except to throw in more and more gore and sexual depravity and hope that it’s enough. In my opinion it’s not.

Personally I would like to have seen the original X-rated cut of the film first submitted to the MPAA, as this was after all the movie Craven and Locke intended Hills to be. I think the extra viscera would serve it well now, and would’ve pushed cinema audiences right over the edge back in 1977.

Ben Pegley