Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes UMD-Video For PSP Review

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Title: Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes

Region: One

Genre: Horror

Stars: Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, Martin Speer, Dee Wallace, Russ Grieve, John Steadman, Michael Berryman, Virginia Vincent, and James Whitworth

Writer: Wes Craven

Director: Wes Craven

Feature length: 89 minutes

Languages: English Dolby Headphone Track

Subtitles: N/A

Packaging: Keep Case

Sound: Dolby Headphone Track

Year of Theatrical Release: 1977/UMD Release: 2006

Home Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Wes Craven’s follow-up to “The Last House On The Left” thematically is quite similar. Both deal with the line between humanity and inhumanity where seemingly domestic people encounter frightening outsiders and must become as ruthless as the marauders in order to avenge the deaths of others and survive. A Midwestern family traveling through the desert on their way to California ignore the warnings regarding staying off side roads and go to investigate an abandoned silver mine the family inherited. Midway down the road their camper breaks down and some family members stay behind while others go up opposite ends of the road to get help. What none of them realize is that this land, which has been frequently used by the air force military exercises, is also the home of a deranged family of cannibals that knock over anyone who trespasses. It is not so much personal matter that they attack, as it is a matter of survival for these brutes. However once the body count starts, the battle between the two families for survival turns ugly as our civilized family resorts to violence and booby traps in turn.

I see lots of horror films so my fear and disgust threshold is a bit higher than normal when it comes to movies like this though I imagine if I saw this on a big screen back in 1977 or maybe when I was a teenager, I’d feel very different. The film is quite suspenseful and over the top with memorable performances by Michael Berryman and James Whitmore as “Poppa Jupiter.” One of my favorite scenes is when Michael Berryman’s character throws a temper tantrum and begins tearing up the kitchen of the camper because it just looks so crazy the way Craven frames it onscreen. Dee Wallace does a great job at looking as if she’s about to have a nervous breakdown and by the end of the film I can honestly say if there was anything that disturbed me it was not so much the actions of the marauders as it was how the family goes through the various stages of coping from denial, to fear, to anger, and with some a strange kind of acceptance and death. Virginia Vincent is almost haunting as the tragic mother who can’t believe what is happening around her and who could? This is a movie that combines elements of macabre humor with genuine thrills and has a cathartic influence on the viewer. Everyone is capable of just about anything I suppose given the situation and motivation so perhaps that is what is truly scary about “The Hills Have Eyes.”

Anchor Bay Entertainment has released UMD version featuring a restored anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio from the original 16mm film source though there are still segments throughout the film that reveal the grain from the print used as well as the age of the film. “The Hills Have Eyes” will never look as sharp as some modern motion pictures including the remake I’ve seen TV spots for at the time of this writing, but all things considered I think the gritty muted look was appropriate since this is a film about desolation as much as it is about survival and the thin line between being a human being and being an animal. In fact one could argue the cannibals come through as being more human than the family the prey upon at times. What it all comes down to is our own view of what is civilized behavior and what is not. Personally I still root for the family going to California because it is the marauders who prey upon them first, but I also think much of the circumstances behind the events ultimately lead me to believe that no one is blameless or innocent by the film’s finale. One can argue that once the action starts there was no choice, just instinct.

The English Dolby Headphone track is remarkably clear and layered so the whistling wind really feels far off and select sound effects just jump out, but the track tends to favor the right channel more than the left though there is a good use of spatiality so sounds travel back and forth to give a three-dimensional sound field like experience. There are no extra value features on this UMD and aside from a main menu with images from the film, the only element on the UMD is the film itself. No captions or subtitles are encoded onto the UMD either.

“Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes” will debut on UMD-Video for PSP on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at retailers on and offline courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.

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