After seventeen plus years you’d think I would have relayed all of my childhood kindertraumas by now but it seems there’s always yet another gremlin hiding under the bed. Once upon a time, in the land of wood paneling and shag carpet the color of guacamole, the standard family had a giant crate sized TV with an extendable antennae that when fiddled with precisely offered there major networks, one mostly boring public channel and most importantly, around three local UHF stations (there was also likely a scrambled porn station but we won’t get into that here). Having moved about the country with my family a bit I feel I can say from experience that Philadelphia had exceptional UHF channels that I’ll always be indebted to in the the form of channels 17, 29 and perhaps particularly, 48. These channels for the most part showed cartoons during the day, sitcom repeats during the dinner hour, dramas and detective shows in the evening and then late night became a wild free-for-all of thrillers , science fiction and horror. This is how I first came across horror master Wes Craven’s sophomore effort THE HILLS HAVE EYES. How could anyone turn the channel on a title like that?
THE HILLS HAVE EYES as I’m sure you all well know, involves a nice normal family named the Carters (which includes genre queen Dee Wallace) who along with their two dogs (Beauty & Beast) are traveling with an awesome towed trailer through the Nevada desert to vacation in San Diego. They foolishly decide to take advice from an obviously loony geezer and take a more “scenic” route to their destination and find themselves stranded and hunted down by a terrifying counterpart clan of cannibalistic savages the scariest of whom is named Pluto (the great Michael Berryman). The two groups battle it out for survival and dominance and we’re left wondering just how thin the line between the so-called civilized and the uncivilized actually is. One thing is left crystal clear, if the Carters wish to have any chance of living, they'll have to fight on the same feral level as their foes.
As a kid, I found so much relatable within this mesmerizing movie, in fact, it still resembles a vague memory of my youth. All of the earthy colors, the familiar family dynamics, the evergreen awesome seventies attire, the covet worthy vehicle, the way it all mirrored so many popular fairy tales and the fact that canines played major roles as valued family members, all appealed to me. Long before Freddy Krueger was even a mere glint in his father Wes’ eye, lumbering, giant, bald headed, sunken-eyed Pluto stalked my nightmares. As much a this movie freaked me out to my core (especially when it involves a kidnapped baby threatened to be cooked and eaten by a witch equivalent) it also thrilled me to no end. Much like RACE WITH THE DEVIL (’75) another road movie involving bad decisions and comfy means of transport, it was always an adrenaline rush to see it listed in the TV GUIDE and I was lucky enough to catch it multiple times. I’m in agreement with anyone who points out that the 2006 remake is superior (how often does that happen) but HILLS ('77) will always have a special place in my horror loving heart.
Unk,
I know you'll hate me for this, but I gotta do it.
In direct contrast to David Lynch, much like with George Romero and for much the same reason, when Wes Craven died, flags were not flying at half mast around here. I see a lot of comparisons with them as well.
Both were leftist subversives (although he and Romero had nothing on Romero's buddy, John Russo and his shit-tacular film, Midnight), both had a couple wildly influential movies sticking out like landmarks on wider filmographies which, in my opinion were pretty bad.
I mean, Summer of Fear, Deadly Blessing, Swamp Thing, The Hills Have Eyes II (even if you like the first one, you gotta admit part 2 is shit), Shocker, Vampire in Brooklyn, New Nightmare, the Scream sequels (hate Scream myself, but I know most people like it), Cursed- meh, at best.
Never was a fan of his stuff and it's not surprising he was initially a pornographer. I saw The Hills Have Eyes way back when and really don't remember many specifics, aside from my impression it was pretty boring. I heard the remake was better, but not being a fan of the original, I have still never seen it; maybe I will at some point.
I can honestly say I'd take something like Wrong Turn-an underrated movie in my opinion- over THHE any old day.
The one film of his that is really of any consequence to me and which really did traumatize me, is The Last House on the Left. In so far as it is somewhat related to The Virgin Spring, I like it and like THHE, it also received a sequel, which I did actually see and felt was superior to the original (a very rare thing indeed).
My gripe with Craven's Last House is it's meant to subvert. It of course lacks the spiritual dimension that The Virgin Spring had and most egregious of all, at the end the father is questioning his actions against his daughters rapists, torturers and murderers, calling the police, crying and like "I'm just as bad, if not worse than the scum I just killed". I tell you, the morally retarded really are a sickening bunch.
Let me tell you something, pops- if anyone was ever deserving of a good hearty, robust chainsawing, it was Krug and Company. No. Tears. Shed. Fuck'em.
The remake was having none of that bullshit, it was straight up righteous killing of scumbags, no "soul searching" lamentations, no self flagellating nonsense. He felt good doing it and I felt good watching it.
The other thing is, it's this super intense movie with all of this terrible shit going on and then Buford T. Justice and a chicken truck show up and I was like "what is this? what the fuck am I watching?"- same sort of thing with The Town That Dreaded Sundown. I love films from the 70's, but the bumbling idiot Keystone Kop in an otherwise serious movie is one staple of the times, I am glad has been left behind.
*My gripe with Craven's Last House is it's meant to subvert. It of course lacks the spiritual dimension that The Virgin Spring had and most egregious of all, at the end the father is questioning his actions against his daughters rapists, torturers and murderers, calling the police, crying and doing the "I'm just as bad, if not worse than the scum I just killed" moral equivalency bit. I tell you, the morally retarded really are a sickening bunch.