Once it had been decided that every single notable horror movie to have ever existed was going to be remade at one stage or another in the early 2000s, it was inevitable that the Wes Craven back catalogue would be near the top of the list. Sure enough, 2006 brought a brand new spin on The Hills Have Eyes, but the eye-watering levels of gore didn’t compensate for an otherwise inferior retread.
The story is much the same second time around, with a family running into trouble when their cross-country journey in an RV winds up with them being hunted down and picked off by a hardy band of cannibal mutants. Co-writer and director Alexandre Aja was European horror’s hot new thing after breaking out with the squeamish High Tension, and the filmmaker luxuriated in having a Hollywood budget at his disposal to up the bloodshed by an almost-worrying volume.
Reviews were mixed across the board, with those praising and panning The Hills Have Eyes both referencing the unflinching violence as either a highlight or low point, underlining the film’s divisive nature. It’s packed to the brim with guts, goop, and guttural screams, though, which has proven more than enough to hook streaming subscribers.
As per FlixPatrol, the vicious remake has dumped buckets of blood and miles of entrails on the Rakuten charts this week, with the post-Halloween blues ensuring that at-home audiences are still indulging their penchant for the gnarly, even after Mariah Carey has been defrosted for her annual stint in the spotlight.