The Hills Have Eyes 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Torturing the audience is not the same thing as scaring them, and I'm not sure Aja can tell the difference. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's fair to say that this is one of the better horror films in recent months but that's more a comment on the weak field than it is a statement of unqualified praise. Read more

Nathan Lee, New York Times: Snobs may balk, purists will be appalled, but this new and exceedingly nasty version of Wes Craven's 1977 cult shocker is awfully good at what it does. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: ... a brilliantly reimagined version of Wes Craven's 1977 micro-budget horror classic ... Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's just nasty. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The story is more focused on a kind of meat-market smorgasbord mixed with political the-government-did-this-to-us overtones. It doesn't really work. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Hills isn't terrible, only terribly unnecessary. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: The film has an unpredictable quality that keeps viewers unnerved. Read more

Erin Meister, Boston Globe: From complete dismemberment to extreme shotgun violence, Aja & Co. not only pull out the stops on this one, they decimate them. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Like the Chainsaw rehash, Eyes borrows its title and narrative from a memorably grungy '70s artifact and then proceeds to hammer each new atrocity into your skull with a quarter of the skill and 10 times the blatancy of the original. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Hills' new mix of old elements somehow feels fresh. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The desert may look barren, but fear not, bloodthirsty irradiated mutants soon show up to party hearty. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Consider it as one of the first decent 'Why do they hate us' horror flicks. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Filled with gristle, gore and mutant mayhem, The Hills Have Eyes is a blood feast for horror fans hungering for something more than the by-rote splatter platters that lately have been filling movie theaters. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Yes, folks, it's a message movie. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Hills is the unadulterated stuff, no cut, no chaser. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: And to think that the French wonder why we hate them! Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: When its makers, director Alexandre Aja and his co-writer Gregory Levasseur, apply the fresh gloss to the old grit, they remember to apply the thinnest layer possible without skimping on the roughhouse humor. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The Hills Have Eyes is the latest revision to reach theaters, and it's one of the ugliest. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: New horror films, like Aja's, simply shock us with the blunt imagery of heads being axed or blown up, and of limbs being chopped or ripped off. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: These Hills are more to be endured than enjoyed. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It is not faulty logic that derails The Hills have Eyes, however, but faulty drama. The movie is a one-trick pony. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: ... a blast. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Using considerable creative intelligence and millions of dollars with no purpose other than profit by inspiring bloodlust is monstrous. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: This is not a remake or reinterpretation of Craven's film so much as a recapitulation of ideas from that film and other movies. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: ... Aja and his gorehound ilk are making movies that simply wallow in state-of-the-art displays of torture, sadism and sexual humiliation. Read more

Chris Tilly, Time Out: A rather pointless exercise that reinforces the age-old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't remake it'. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There is a strange lack of tension and no real jolts of fear in this remake of the 1977 Wes Craven film. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: There's a distinct letdown after an astonishing and unexpected opening section, as if the gravitational pull toward trash-kitsch horror was too much to resist. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: The net effect would be doze-inducing if in fact the Dolby didn't attempt to wake the dead. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: This remake of the alleged 1977 Wes Craven classic has one very disturbing quality: It's too damned good. Read more