The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
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A family traveling through the New Mexico desert becomes the target of a group of cannibalistic mutants after their vehicle breaks down.
The story
Retired detective 'Big' Bob Carter and his wife Ethel are traveling through the New Mexico desert for their silver wedding anniversary with their children and a baby. After a gas station attendant suggests a different route, their tires are punctured by a hidden spike strip, causing their vehicle to crash. As the family attempts to navigate the remote area, they are stalked by a group of cannibalistic mutants whose deformities were caused by past nuclear testing. The family must fight to survive against these desperate and dangerous inhabitants of the wasteland.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After their car breaks down in the New Mexico desert, the Carter family is hunted by a group of cannibalistic mutants. While Bob and Doug search for help, the children remain with the trailer. A mutant named Ruby protects young Bobby, while the others are hunted by the mutant leader, Papa Jupiter, and his followers, including Lizard and Pluto. The mutants attack the trailer, resulting in the deaths of several family members. Doug eventually finds a hidden nuclear-testing village and battles several mutants, eventually rescuing the baby. In the final confrontation, the remaining family members, Brenda and Bobby, set a trap for the mutants. They manage to defeat the primary threats, and the survivors are left alone in the desert, while a mysterious mutant watches them from a distance.
- First release year
- 2006
- Runtime (minutes)
- 106
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Alexandre Aja
- Writers
- Alexandre Aja · co-writer; Grégory Levasseur · co-writer
- Cast and characters
- Aaron Stanford · Doug Bukowski; Kathleen Quinlan · Ethel Carter; Vinessa Shaw · Lynn Carter-Bukowski; Emilie de Ravin · Brenda Carter; Dan Byrd · Bobby Carter; Robert Joy · Lizard; Ted Levine · 'Big' Bob Carter; Billy Drago · Papa Jupiter
- Genres
- horror; thriller
- Themes
- survival; mutation; cannibalism
- Tone and mood
- violent; tense
- Setting
- The New Mexico desert.
- Premise and plot tags
- remake; post-apocalyptic; survival horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- Wes Craven's 1977 film of the same name
- Franchise connections
- The Hills Have Eyes
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- Reviews were mixed, with a critical consensus noting it was faster-paced and more gory than the original, but potentially alienating casual audiences.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 51% · scale: percentage · review count: 137
- Production trivia
- The film was originally rated NC-17 for violence but was edited down to an R rating.; The production team used real documents and footage from the effects of nuclear fallout in Chernobyl and Hiroshima to design the mutants.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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