THE HILLS HAVE EYES – Movie Review

THE HILLS HAVE EYES

• RELEASE DATE: Available Now on Blu-ray (Click Here to Purchase a Copy)
• WRITTEN BY: Wes Craven
• DIRECTED BY: Wes Craven
• STARRING: Dee Wallace, Michael Berryman, John Steadman, Peter Locke, Russ Grieve

Let’s just cut to the chase; THE HILLS HAVE EYES is a classic of horror cinema; I love the ever-lovin’ shit out of it, and chances are all of you in my Coffin Club dig on it too. So right off the bat, this release has a lot going for it; but I already own a perfectly suitable version of this film already…so the worth of this baby is going to lay firmly on the strength of its extra features.

Before we get to the aforementioned bonus content on this Blu-ray from Arrow Video; let’s do a quick re-cap of the storyline of THE HILLS HAVE EYES for the none of you that haven’t seen this film. When a hapless family takes a detour during a trip to California; they find themselves stranded in the desert and at the mercy of a crazed group of cannibalistic mutant primitive who proceed to go absolutely shit house on our heroes. No one is safe from the savage appetite of the calamitous clan as the menu grows to include infants, pets, and everyone else unfortunate enough to get in their way.

Now that we have that out of the way; let’s dive into the extras! First up, we have a few carry-overs from previous HILLS releases; namely a commentary track from Wes Craven and producer Peter Locke, the Looking Back documentary about the film’s production, and trailers/TV spots. New for this release are a cast commentary, a commentary with film scholar Mikel J. Koven (in which the legends that inspired the film’s story are explored), an interview with actor Martin Speer, an interview with composer Don Peake, a collection of outtakes, a gallery of posters and lobby cards, and the option to watch the film with its alternate ending in place (the ending is also included as a separate extra, remastered in HD).

If this release were just to be judged on the well-established awesomeness of the film, and the quality of the transfer utilized (which by the way looks pretty damn great); I would tell you to immediately pick this up; but the new bonus features make this release of THE HILLS HAVE EYES absolutely essential for your fright flick library!