"The Hills Have Eyes” horror movie

"The Hills Have Eyes" movie by Alexandre Aja (2006)
In the desert of New Mexico, the U.S. Government conducted atomic tests during the 1950s. A small group of people refused to leave their homes despite the urging of the government, and were caught in the nuclear explosions. Their descendants - a horrible, hideous band of mutated sub-humans - has survived to the present day. Just over a half-century later, an all-American family looking for a shortcut to California for a holiday is directed down a back road that is quite literally a dead end. When their vehicle's tires blow, what seems like an unfortunate accident becomes a horrifying nightmare - it was actually a trap! One at a time, these horrible sub-humans emerge from their hiding places to torture & kill the family. However, some of them - and their pets - strike back at their tormentors, and only one group will survive...
"The Hills Have Eyes" movie review

During the 1950's, the government performed nuclear tests in the desert. Families were ordered to leave their homes, but one family refused and hid in the hills. As a result of the nuclear tests, this family's descendents are cannibalistic mutants. When a family, on a road trip to California, decides to drive through the desert for site seeing, they soon find themselves stranded when their tires blow out. What seems like a normal accident soon becomes a horrifying nightmare when they realize that this was no accident and there are people living in the hills.

The original was made in 1977 by Wes Craven, a well deserved master of horror. With so many remakes coming out, most of them are not worth seeing, however there are a few exceptions; the Hills Have Eyes being one of them. This remake is directed by a new master of horror, Alexandre Aja who is fresh off of his modern horror masterpiece, High Tension.

With the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, Aja created something that is faster moving and far more threatening. The mutants in this film actually look like mutants. Greg Nicotero did an excellent job with the make-up effects. The film isn't excessive in the gore department, but the violence in this film leaves a lot to the viewer.

One scene in the remake that will be remembered is the attack on the trailer home scene. It runs 10 minutes in length and is one of the most brutal and disturbing scenes to watch. From the gun pointed to the baby, to the sheer violence of our inhuman antagonist.

The cinematography is great. The Hills seem to have a life of their own. During the last act in the film, Aja had the shutter speed cranked all the way up and it made everything move at such a fast pace.

Overall, I would highly recommend you checking out this new version of The Hills Have Eyes. In a time when remakes are taking over the horror genre, this is one that shouldn't be missed. Alexandre Aja has made it clear that he's here to stay.

Genre: Horror

Technorati : horror, movie, review

"Snakes on a Plane" horror movie

"Snakes on a Plane" movie by David R. Ellis (2006)


A young man named Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) witnesses vicious and powerful mobster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) brutally murder a prosecutor bent on putting the crime mogul behind bars. Soon Kim's men raid Jones' house and attempt to kill him, but are stopped by Nelville Flynn (Samuel L Jackson): an experienced FBI agent who convinces Jones to fly to LA to testify against Kim. Aboard the flight are an obnoxious British Buisnessman, a famous Hip Hop star, an anxious man with severe flight anxiety and his wife, a young woman and her dog, and a ticking crate full of vicious and venomous snakes unleashed by an assassin to bring down the plane along with the witness to Kim's brutal murder. Can the passengers come together to survive or will Kim's plot succeed.



"Snakes on a Plane" review by Johnny Betts


The beautiful thing about Snakes on a Plane is that its title automatically and immediately removes all pretense. It intentionally screams, "I'm a bad movie, so criticizing plot and acting is a waste of your time!" Hey, I love the philosophy. If your movie is ridiculous then swing for the fences and embrace the cheesiness that your title will not allow you to avoid.

But here's my problem. For the average movie the following statement would be at least somewhat of a compliment (or less of an insult), but in regard to Snakes on a Plane, it's a disappointment - the movie isn't as bad as I was hoping it would be.

Oh, there's plenty of fun to be had. The movie starts a little slow, but once the snakes get loose on the plane, effectively turning the movie into "snakes on a [choose a body part]," moments of out-loud laughter abound. If you're the type of person who can laugh at snakes attacking people in ridiculous ways, that is. You have to be willing to tap into your juvenile sense of humor, and I was along for the ride.

But once the third act arrived, everybody focused way too much on figuring out how to land the plane, and the snakes took a back seat. Or would that be a window seat? Bwahahahaha! *ahem* My apologies. I wanted more deaths by snakes! I wanted things to get even more and more outlandish!

You see, as the movie rolled along I kept thinking of crazy scenes or actions that would be perfect, but I couldn't help but be disappointed when my ideas were never explored. For example, why have a kickboxer on the plane but not have him deliver at least a single roundhouse kick to a snake? Now THAT is the kind of silliness I wanted more of. Can you imagine how good this could have been if Chuck Norris had co-starred? Man, a snake attacking Chuck's beard only to be repelled by its beard-like powers would have been pure gold.

And where are all the bad, cheesy, pun-laced one-liners? Sure, we got "Make it fast. Time is tissue," but overall this isn't nearly as quotable as I had hoped. Come on, couldn't Samuel L. throw us a little, "It's time to kick some asp," to savor or something? I want cringe-inducing dialogue! Here, let me treat y'all to another example that would have been perfect. Picture the scene...

Everybody is running around the plane, freaking out. Somebody off screen yells, "Snakes! On the plane!" Then the camera focuses on an old man with a cane, wobbling down the plane aisle, doing his best to flee the snakes. Samuel L. Jackson's partner would then turn to Jackson and say, "Looks like he has even bigger problems - he's got shakes on a cane!" Then Jackson would give his partner a turned-up-nose glare the likes of which is usually reserved for horrific smells. The line would rock, but Jackson's silent response would totally sell it. Everybody goes home happy. But alas, the film didn't dare get that campy.

Another problem with Snakes is that "bad cinema" is usually at its best when it isn't intentionally trying to be bad. Take A Sound of Thunder, for example. That movie is one of the biggest $80 million disasters to ever hit the screen. But it's also one of the funniest bad movies I've ever seen at the theater. There's just something magical about people putting a lot of effort and money into trying to make something good only to have it turn out painfully bad. When Hollywood jobs are lost because of how big a failure has been delivered then that's when the real fun begins.

When you're delivering cheesiness with a wink and a nod to the audience then you've gotta go all-out over-the-top. Just inserting a few "f" bombs and some nudity merely to get an R rating isn't gonna do it.

I still don't know if the movie's original intent was to be bad, or if that was just a byproduct of the Internet hype. Did the filmmakers realize that no one was going to take the film seriously so they decided to do a little re-shooting and THEN play it as an intentionally cheesy movie? After all, Snakes on a Plane was only a working title and at one time it was going to be changed to Pacific Air Flight 121.

Movie executives and Jackson's agent were in favor of the title change, and that's what leads me to believe that everybody initially wanted to play this straight until they realized they couldn't turn back.

I have to give Samuel L.

Genre: Horror

"Horror" movie

"Horror" movie by Dante Tomaselli (2002)


Writer/Director Dante Tomaselli merges two disturbing storylines into this visually arresting chiller. The first involves a band of five teens that escape from a drug rehabilitation center to cash in on a questionable promise of salvation from the psychopathic Reverend Salo Jr. (Vincent Lamberti). Leader of the pack Luck (Danny Lopes), fueled on major hallucinogens, transports the gang to the reverend's isolated house where the basis of the second plot has been set simultaneously. Here lives Grace (Lizzy Mahon), Salo Jr.'s daughter, whom he and his equally bizarre wife (Christie Sanford) have enslaved through enforced drug addiction and psychic brainwashing. Grace's only salvation appears to be by the guidance of her paternal grandfather Reverend Salo Sr.
(The Amazing Kreskin). But this hope is quickly jeopardized when it becomes revealed that his comforting visitations may be being made from beyond the grave. Regardless, it is through Grace's visions involving him that she learns of her parent's demonic pastimes, which include abduction, murder, and possibly worse. Shortly after the arrival of the rehab escapees, Luck shoots and kills Salo Jr. and his wife. This eruption of bloody violence becomes the catalyst for the unleashing of dark forces with terrifying results.

Genre: Horror