"The Hills Have Eyes" The Lucky Ones Die First

Director: Alexandre Aja

Starring: Aaron Stanford & Dan Byrd



At the time of this writing, I can say I have not seen the original "The Hills Have Eyes" and not feel bad. This is due to the excellent remake French Horror film director Alexandre Aja gives us of "The Hills have Eyes."

In "The Hills have Eyes," families that were living in the New Mexico desert, during the testing of the atom bomb, are affected by the radiation and turn into bloodthirsty mutants. The mutants have survived by living in towns they have created, feeding off of those that fall prey to them.

Years later, a family, the Carters, are traveling across the country and are given a "shortcut" through the New Mexico desert. The mutants, aware they are coming, sabotage their vehicle and quickly make things go from bad to worse.

There is a rape and three people murdered, two getting shot and one getting set on fire, in a single scene!

In the movies, revenge is sweet, and now it is time for the remaining Carters to get theirs and retrieve a newly born infant that was kidnapped from them by the mutants.

Aja's "The Hills have Eyes" is a horror remake that was done right and since that is a bit of a rarity in the horror genre, that should be enough for people to want to watch it.

Be sure to pick up the "unrated" DVD of "The Hills have Eyes" due to Aja knowing the importance of a gnarly goreshot.

Highly Recommended
For Fans of Gore and Remakes
8 out of 10

Trailer for "The Hills have Eyes:"

"Cannibal Holocaust" Ripout! Barbeque! Devour! How long can you take it?

Director: Ruggero Deodato

Starring: Robert Kerman



Cannibal Holocaust is one of those films, I think, that you just have to watch to see if it actually lives up to all of it's hype.

Did the director really go to jail upon the film's release?
Were the actors really killed?
Did they really kill real animals?
Is the film really banned in several countries?

To keep the hype level high for those of you that have yet to watch "Cannibal Holocaust," I will tell you that the answer is yes to three of the four questions above.

Cannibal Holocaust is about a documentary crew that heads deep into South America to film a documentary on a cannibalistic tribe. The thing is, the documentary crew never returns. So Professor Harold Monroe of NYU sets out to find them, but only returns with their footage. The majority of the film is the "real" footage of the documentary crew.

Possibly too much for sensitive viewers, Cannibal Holocaust may have you sitting on pins as you witness murder, rape, and cannibalistic rituals.

Upon the completion of my first viewing of Cannibal Holocaust, I felt like I should have been awarded some type of award for making it all the way through it. The second time I watched it, I saw a cut, censored version of it and it did not have that same impact on me like after my first viewing. I decided to watch it a third time and since I own the "Deluxe Edition" of Cannibal Holocaust (from the fine folks over at Grindhouse Releasing), I decided to watch it uncut (the Grindhouse Releasing version gives the option to watch it censored or uncut). I still found it to be brutal, but I guess I wasn't shocked since it was my third time going into "Cannibal Holocaust."

There is probably worse out there, but make up your own mind and watch "Cannibal Holocaust" at least once.

Recommended
For fans of Italian, Cannibal, and Gore Cinema
7 out of 10

Trailer for "Cannibal Holocaust:"