The Hills have eyes

I was at a Pre Screening yesterday, and must say that I'm quite impressed. Definately worth seeing. If this is Aja's second feature, then he did an amazing job. Really great camera movements.
 
SimonB said:
I was at a Pre Screening yesterday, and must say that I'm quite impressed. Definately worth seeing. If this is Aja's second feature, then he did an amazing job. Really great camera movements.
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Cool. I've heard some early praise. My fingers are crossed hoping for the best.
 
Overall I enjoyed it, but there were somethings that bothered me as far as story goes. very much like the original with better acting, fx , and camera work. I guess I thought it was going to be more after seeing High tension.
 
well after how he had to cut alot out to get a r rating, i understand but overall a good piece.
 
I read he only cut out 90 seconds of the rape scene, the rest of it is intact. so I don't image it wil be like watching the Abyss special edition with the extra story line and hour of film....

And it was a good film just not what I hoped for.
 
I heard he cut....


SPOILER





Another shot of the creepy bad guy getting shot by Bukowski at the end. Supposedly, that was a disappointing cut because it made him look like he was definately dead. The theater I saw it in, everyone knew that he was gonna get it when he drops the shotgun by the twice shot guy.














END


that said, I thought this movie was on a whole other plane in comparison to current remakes (The Fog.... Jesus, The Fog....) and that was a very pleasant change. I like his visual style. The shot where Bukowski spins the axe was sweet.

However, there was a bunch of stuff I didn't like, such as the dialogue in the beginning, and most importantly the end. MORE SPOILERS

From what I've heard of High Tension and after seeing this, it seems as if Aja sabotages his endings. This is probably another qualm I have with him and the other screenwriter. Couldn't he have just made it so that Bukowski and Bobby save the day, and Brenda sticks a pickaxe in a guy's forehead (who, apparently, was the leader of the group? Jupiter, right?), and they stand in the middle of the desert, triumphant that they survived it, devestated they endured it, and ready to walk back home? Nope, he had to make it so that there are more of the mutants watching him. lame.






End The Addendum Spoiler


I'm glad there wasn't a skimping on violence, even though they did cut that zoom on the clip I showed you guys earlier in this thread. It was very gritty, and a lot of stuff made me feel uneasy, and the story errors and stuff didn't really bother me until afterwards. Overall, this was better than what Ebert rated it (1.5 stars) but not as good as the early response would leave you to believe.
 
i watched it last night, not having watched th craven version yet i though it was pretty good, except the middle kinda got dragged on. Also i noticed a lot of color change in the early desert parts, so im not sure if it was the print in the cinema or aja doing. Some shots would turn redish and go back into regular color, wtf????

The violence was good, i heard it was super gory etc, i guess i'm so decensetized that i didnt find anything super gory. Acting was good, fx, gore were great. Rubber Johnny was pretty good..althought i'd like to have seen an axe in his brain or somthing so all this blood and crap would come out, but tht didnt happen.

over all i was happy with it.....
 
Okay, saw this last night...

This film hit me like a train wreck. I was expecting something good from the director of High Tension, but this was beyond any of my expectations.

First off, i must say the cinematography is the best I've seen in a horror film in quite some time. Simply beautiful and breathtaking.

After about a half hour or so of great character development, things really kick into high gear. And for the first 45 minutes, all the characters are actually enjoyable and believable, which is something of a rarity in horror films these days. There is always that one annoying character who you can't stand. Well, it wasn't the case here. Every single actor holds there own and make a believable performance. Quite frankly, the acting is top-notch, making the film seem all the more "real".

Once things get started, there pretty much isn't any time to breath, as the characters descend into hell and back; characters that never even touched a gun before, now have no choice and must fight for there lives...

This improves upon the original in so many ways, but mostly on a technical level. There is a high level of craftsmanship going on here and by the end of the film, you realize you're in the hands of a master horror filmmaker. This is what Aja was born to do.

This is the best horror remake yet, far surpassing garbage like The Fog.

Another thing to mention is the brilliant score. It is unnerving and fits the story perfectly.

I'm still shell-shocked.

A must-see for horror fans.
 
I saw this last night after hearing and reading many good things about it. To paraphrase one critic's review I read - its definitely the best (Hollywood) horror film to come out in a long time, which is more a sad statement about the horror genre right now than praise for a great film. Please allow me to explain, as that just sounds like some pretentious thing critics love to spout out about films people work very hard to make, and its not the kind of snap judgment I ever usually pass on films.

Technically the film was very well done. The acting, camerawork, make-up and gore effects (N & B - woohoo!!!) were all top notch. And it was definitely as hard an R as the MPAA is going to allow these days, whether it be the actual violence shown or just what the poor people go through. (As someone else already pointed out, they did chop a few seconds out of that scene with a link to it earlier in the thread, and I think the original way it is shown in the link plays is much, much better.) To me there is nothing more pointless and stupid than a PG-13 slasher-type horror movie. I also really loved the back-story for the bad guys added to this version from the original. A fake little village with mannequins where you know a nuclear bomb went off is just a creepy place.

That said, I am completely split on this film - I hated it and was frustrated by it as much as I enjoyed watching it. I'm only sharing all of this because its bothering me so much and I was wondering if anybody else felt this way. I think throughout the entire movie, characters repeatedly act in ridiculous and stupid ways that do not make sense with who the characters are supposed to be and how the writers have built them up so far. A very quick example would be a retired detective not knowing the difference between what a spike strip does to all four tires as opposed to one or even all four for that matter blowing out from the heat. I know this is a horror movie we are talking about and that is a much joked about staple of the horror genre, and maybe this is only bothering me so much with this movie because it is definitely more well written than most of the crap that passes for horror movies these days… This kind of stuff never usually bugs me. Any thoughts…?
 
the score film junkie was always, i was thinking 80's and 70's horor then when when he so badass its like sergio leone theme type music I loved that.
 
Filmjunkie677 said:
yeah, Spidey, the score had a spaghetti Western feel to it. Definitely. It rocked.
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You know what it reminded me of most was the Once upon a Time in Mexico score, which definately makes sense with the whole spaghetti stuff. but the electric guitar at times is what made it sound Rodriguez-y to me. Later in the movie, it was more traditional.

The cinematography, the score, and the acting was what really did it for me; the script and plot holes annoyed me.
 
It was pretty solid, but not one of my favorites, sure beats most of the horror fluff they put out today that's for sure... Tons better than Hostel...
 
I was psyched to see this, based partly on the praise I had heard from here and others in the horror circles. I thought it was one of the most vile movies I've seen in a long time. I really hated it.

I thought the look and feel of it was good. I like what he's done, and it shows some nice growth from High Tension... but I hated the story and script. Just vile.

I don't want to new face of horror to be just about mindless brutality and torture. Hostel dealt with similar themes in the torture department but it didn't feel as vile to me in some respects probably because I felt like hey you know what I wouldn't be surprised if some rich scum bag is out there doing this. And the violence wasn't in your face as much... nor was it as over the top as the slasher genre.

Part of it is my own issue with the need for people to kill dogs and animals in horror movies... I hate that crap. Part of it is the characters were just dumb. They started off as seemingly intelligent, non-cookie cutter peeps, and then just became dumb horror movie victims.

Stylish, well execute but vile. I felt dirty. I don't like where this new trend of horror is going. All it is doing is upping the brutality of the grindhouse films of the 70s without understanding why they existed in the first place, much in the same way the slaher movies of the 80s all competed for the gorier more inventive kill... now its how we torture humans (and our audiences) for 90 minutes in new ways.
 
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