By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Alexandre Aja, oh how I love thee. His directing style and his writing skills speak to me on every level. I wish he made every horror remake. The film world would be a far better place. Where other directors hold back, he revs it up. In a time when everyone was PC crazy, he went hardcore raw. He’s old school dark with a modern twist.
In THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006), he takes a familiar story and a cult classic smash then turns it into something new, insane, intense and fucking splendid. I love this movie! I loved it when I first saw it in 2006. I loved it every year since. I still love it!
Though many would disagree, it’s both a feminist anthem and a story of male comradeship. Beyond that, it conveys how significant a compromise of one’s ethics can be. In it we see the protagonists adopting vastly different philosophical stances than they had in the beginning of the flick because of the horrific circumstances they’re thrown into. It’s heavy, smart and human.
The film begins with right-wing, republican gun-enthusiast Big Bob (Ted Levine) taking his family on a trip into the desert. In the car with him is his dutiful housewife Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan) and his daughters teenage Brenda (Emilie de Ravin) and twenty-something Lynn (Vinessa Shaw).
Trailing behind in a small attached camper is their beloved two dogs, Lynn’s passive liberal husband Doug (Aaron Stanford), their infant baby Catherine (Maisie Camilleri Preziosi) and Bob and Ethel’s teenage son Bobby (Dan Byrd). Bobby tries to fit in with both Doug and Bob. He has a love of guns and the outdoors. He wants to impress his dad, but he also has a softer more sensitive side. He’s the in-between.
The male archetypes shown are extremely important. We have Bob who is the alpha male. He is the epitome of masculinity. Picture Dirty Harry and Major Dad having a baby, and that would be Big Bob.
Doug is the more modern man. He’s not a fem boy, but he isn’t a full masc either. Doug begins as an elitist liberal who looks down on men like Big Bob.In fairness, the feelings are more than mutual. As Doug views Bob as a Neanderthal, Bob views Doug as a pussy. Doug isn’t into guns and doesn’t know how to work with his hands. He tries to fix a broken AC in the trailer, but can’t. Bobby Jr. can though; and it is Bobby who struggles within the philosophies of both of the other men.
Bobby is still very much a boy who stands in the corner of anyone he’s in the room with. He has no backbone at the start. He’s too afraid of being a man because he can’t live up to his father’s image and also doesn’t want to look badly in Doug’s eyes. Instead of taking the best out of both approaches, he takes the worst. It’s not because he’s a bad guy, but he’s just a kid looking for the approval of those he looks up to.
Bob goes to a gas station where the owner (Tom Bower) offers an off-the-map shortcut. The route only leads to a booby-trap set up by the hill people. In the middle of nowhere, the truck gets totaled. Doug gets pissed at Bob as there’s no cell service and they are virtually screwed. Leaving the girls, the baby and Bobby behind, Doug and Bob take different paths to try and find help.
At this point, they don’t know that there are a band of mutants watching them. They’re not friendly. Years ago, the mutants were regular miners who refused to leave the area during government chemical war testing. Their appearance and physical anomalies are the result of this Agent Orange manner of attacks. The gross ass villains see themselves as victims. Fuck them. I hate them. I usually side with the bad guys, but this is one flick I want every one of them killed and then killed again. They hurt animals.
Early on, one of Bob’s dogs gets out while the men are gone. When Bobby goes looking for him, he finds the pup cut opened and dead. Poor dog! He decides to keep it to himself because he doesn’t want to scare anyone. Once again, he’s torn and doesn’t know how to be a man. He’s taking on too much and is ready to crack. He eventually does.
Bob meanwhile goes back to the gas station and is the first casualty when his DEATH WISH (1974) Paul Kersey attempts at being a badass backfires.
Doug returns home and Bobby finally tells him and Lynn about the dog. They don’t know what’s really going on until it’s too late. They see Big Bob crucified on fire while Brenda and Lynn are sexually assaulted by the mutants.
Now, this is a graphic scene and one that spawned a shitload of controversy. Even now, when watching with my husband Steve, he despised it. I disagree. I think it was necessary and I commend Aja for having the balls to go so far with it. He showed the ugliness of rape and didn’t romanticize it. Did he get kudos for that? No.
Afterwards, Brenda goes through several different breakdowns because of it. She isn’t suddenly Wonder Woman because she was raped. Many films will make sexual assault a catalyst for strength without showing the steps that preceded it. Aja took great care to show the steps. If not for Bobby helping her thru it and standing up as a brother, she may have not made it. He offered her emotional support. His soft side came in handy and in many ways helped save his sister’s sanity if not her life. Through that and despite her fear, Brenda comes to play. She finds the inner resolve to fight back and fuck a mutant or two up. She’s done. She’s been hurt, but not broken. I love her character.
In the beginning, Brenda is so vain. When everyone else is running around because they’re stranded, she’s sunbathing. She’s immature and silly. She’s a fem with an attitude, who isn’t that big on the trip. She becomes a woman when shit gets real and she has no choice. It takes Catherine being kidnapped and the instinct of self-preservation, but the evolution occurs. It’s a splendid watch.
Another avenue explored was maternal instinct. When Brenda is being raped, it is Lynn who runs back into the trailer to save her. She sacrifices herself and her body for her sister and child. Her nurturing side extends beyond her infant and to her sister. In an earlier scene, Lynn offers Brenda some sibling advice. It’s a nice scene between the two gals and it solidifies their bond later on so when Lynn comes in ready to do whatever it takes, you understand fully the sentiment. It’s a disturbing scene. I won’t deny it, but it’s well-done and makes it a far more horrifying experience.
Doug is left with the task of making the biggest change. He’s on his own. Big Bob is dead. Katherine has been kidnapped. He’s seen a lot of death. His passivity will not work with the mutants, but neither did Bob’s aggressiveness. It has to be something in the middle.
When things are at a fever-pitch and the survivors are scared, Bobby jumps on Doug. It’s my favorite scene. Bobby emotionally and passionately criticizes Doug for not going after the mutants. Bobby’s instincts are to grab a gun and go out blazing, but Doug knows that’s a suicide mission. He wants his daughter back more than anything. He’ll die to get her back, but they need a plan. Bobby thinks Doug is just being a coward. It’s such a great scene and both actors sell the fuck out of it. I love it.
In Doug’s evolution, we see the meeting of the minds. You need both brawn and brains. Sometimes you can’t call someone to fix it for you, so you need to know how to fix shit yourself. That said, you still need to chill before you act. You need to think. You can’t just try to be a ninja killer when you’re outnumbered and surrounded in an unfamiliar environment by a pscyho misfit gang who know the surroundings well. It didn’t work for Big Bob. The mutants aren’t going to negotiate. They aren’t going to set up a business meeting with Doug, so the passive and laid back modern man needs to dig deep. His usual tactics are useless. Therefore the evolution is a forced one but something that is spectacularly done.
Again, I love this movie. I hear people say it’s anti-woman. Bullshit. I hear them say it’s too violent. Bullshit. It is necessarily dark, twisted and insane. This is the closest we have to a modern 1970s drive-in flick.
Aja brought his A-game and I love it more than the original. Let me say that again, I love this more than Wes Craven’s flick. This is a brilliant movie. It’s fabulous.
The cast was phenomenal and the production is beyond great.
Admittedly, this is a hard find. I had to buy it from a used DVD shop, but it’s worth it. Get it. Get it now.
Scared Stiff Rating: 9/10
