The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

The 2006 remake of Wes Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes" was set in motion by Craven himself after he saw how commercially successful the reboots of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Amityville Horror" were. The updated version is clearly more violent, gory, has a larger mutant family, is set at a quicker pace to keep the action going. What I liked best about the cast was that the actors looked their ages unlike the 70's version where the teens do not look like teens at all (it's how they did things back then). The mutant family actually look like possible mutants instead of just being extras from the "Road Warrior".


"The Hills Have Eyes" is a simple story about a family that is on a cross country road trip who, after following the advice of a local gas station attendant, become trapped within a former nuclear test site. With their vehicle badly damaged, the family is left vulnerable to the murderous blood lust of a family of mutants.

Maniac (2012)

“Maniac” is a “stalker/slasher” film about a serial killer who scalps his victims and staples his trophies to the headpiece of his mannequins. Starring Elijah Wood in a very different role than we are used to, this was a remake of a movie from 1980. The movie is film from the perspective of the killer, Frank, using the P.O.V technique. We rarely see Frank except for moments when he sees his own reflection or at brief moments that are used for artistic purposes. Because you are watching the film through the eyes of the killer, the viewer isn’t able to experience the horrible events from a distance and in a different context. The film was produced and the script was co-written and Alexandre Aja, who was also the producer and writer for the excessively violent French film “Haute Tension”. This was a very difficult movie to watch and I found very few moments entertaining. I will admit that the best scene in the film is at the end when Frank is killed by his inner demons, and oddly enough, the perspective is from his victims looking down at him as they tear his face apart.

Haute Tension (2003)

“Haute Tension” is a gruesome French horror film from 2003 that has a few major plot holes and a bit too much violence than is necessary. The movie was pretty interesting until the plot twist is revealed at which time the viewer (me!) is left with a feeling of “oh, that’s it?” With its weak story line that makes the movie feel shorter than it is this film is really just a fancy, slick slasher film that has some unique death scenes. This is not a bad thing as the director, Alexandre Aja, shows a lot of promise and has gone on to direct several other horror movies that I intend to see. And for the record, I am never comfortable with scenes that include realistic violence against children; luckily the one that is in the film is quick and the violence is merely implied and not shown graphically as all of the others are.

Marie and Alex, her best friend, are going out to the country to study for the weekend. Alex’s family has a large house which they recently bought and it’s the perfect place to get away and focus for a while. After meeting the family and settling in for the evening, Marie goes out for a smoke. When Marie is preparing to go to sleep, a stranger comes up to the house and begins a violent and brutal attack, killing the family and tying up Alex. Marie is able to hide from the assailant and watches him kill Alex’s mother and brother. She finds Alex and tries to untie her but is unable to. Marie is able to sneak into the stranger’s truck after he throws Alex into the back. The three end up at a gas station where Marie tries to get help but the stranger kills the attendant. The stranger drives off without Marie who then steals a car to follow. The stranger notices Marie and forces her vehicle off the road; now that he knows about her, Marie is forced to run for her life and eventually fight for her life in order to save her friend.