The Hills Have Eyes



"They wanted to see something different, but something different saw them first!"

- Trailer for '77 version

"The lucky ones die first."

- Tagline to both the original and the remake

This article covers both the '77 and '06 The Hills Have Eyes.

'77 film made by Wes Craven, '06 by French director Alexandre Aja, who is also responsible for Haute Tension.

A typical American family is on vacation and, depending on the version, either cut through the desert to save time or for the trip itself. On the way, they break down thanks to sabotage and are stranded in the middle of the desert and are terrorised by a family who are mutated from nuclear fallout by government testing in the area. Though, ironically, they hate the people they rely on to survive, and lecture their victims before killing them about how it's their fault, which is terrifying and sadistic.

It can be seen as a statement on what people will do to survive and how the family unit can be corrupted, or a hardcore Gorn flick with some genuinely disturbing images.

The two versions are almost identical, and have both spawned a sequel each... both of which are almost entirely ignored by fans. See Sequelitis for the reasons.

The films contain examples of:

 * Adaptation Distillation/Adaptation Expansion - Oddly, the remake is a case of both. While Aja's 2006 film adds an extended sequence in a nuclear testing town and adds considerable depth to the characters of the Carter family, it also greatly dials back and Flanderizes the mutant characters, who barely have any dialogue, and are portrayed almost entirely as soulless monsters, . Also, it reduces the role of Fred, the gas-station man.
 * Anyone Can Die - Not even the pets were safe. In the original
 * The remake's promotional comic plays this trope shockingly straight when  See below for further complaining on the subject and Canon Discontinuity for peace of mind.
 * Attempted Rape - The "stopped violently" part of this trope is yeah.
 * Only in the remake. In the original there is no attempted.
 * Auto Erotica
 * Ax Crazy - Lizard, Pluto and Papa Jupiter.
 * Bald of Evil - Pluto and Papa Hades.
 * Beard of Evil - Papa Jupiter in the '77 version.
 * Big Bad - Papa Jupiter and his children.
 * Chekhov's Gun - In the original, Ethel won't stop talking about rattlesnakes.
 * Crucified Hero Shot - Literally, in both. And on a Joshua tree, no less.
 * Driven to Suicide - Via shotgun (Remake Only). Attempted in the original with a noose, only to be foiled and subsequently replaced with a worse death
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him -  in the remake's comic tie-in/prequel. Not perfectly fitting of this trope, but they may as well have killed him off in the opening panels. It's made all the more frustrating to witness when considering the fact that
 * in the original sequel.
 * Fade to White - The original movie's ending fades to red.
 * Feuding Families - On this side, the civilized family. On this side, the cannibal clan. Winner takes all. Loser is dinner.
 * Flash Back - The sequel to the original is largely made of them. The dog gets one, for goodness sakes.
 * Flanderization - The mutants in the remake, though particularly Pluto.
 * Giant Mook - Pluto.
 * Gorn
 * Gratuitous Rape - A very shoddily done example that could have easily been cut out without changing a thing.
 * Hand Cannon - Big Bob's weapon of choice
 * Heel Face Turn -
 * I'm a Humanitarian - "I wanna eat the baby!"
 * It Runs in The Family - Granted, because of the fallout there's no choice in the matter.
 * Kill'Em All - The mutant's plan in the original,.
 * Kill It with Fire - Combined with the crucifixion, terrifying, in both
 * Mutants - In the original, the mutation of Papa Jupiter and his children is only subtly hinted to be the result of fallout (though casting Michael Berryman as Pluto is a rather... strong hint); in the remake, it's outright stated.
 * Red Right Hand - Papa Jupiter's split nose in the original.
 * The Savage South - Full of sadistic, inbred cannibals no less.
 * Spell My Name with an "S" - In Wes Craven's it's "Doug Wood". In Aja's it's "Doug Bukowski".
 * Bilingual Bonus - Bukowski is a Polish name which literally means "of the beech [tree]". Thus, wood.
 * Straw Political - The civilized family in the remake is made entirely of Straw Conservatives, except for Doug, the token Straw Liberal (and the only one presented as having to turn barbaric).
 * Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome - in the original series, making the ending of the first something of a Shoot the Shaggy Dog.
 * Talking to the Dead - In the original, Papa Jupiter talks about how his family will devour the outsiders to.
 * Theme Naming - All of the males in the original's cannibal family are named after planets; Ruby, the only female child, is the odd one out.
 * Took a Level In Badass - Doug Bukowski, the bespectacled pacifist telecommunications worker who, near the end of the movie, goes on a bloody rampage through the hideout of cannibalistic mutants to save his baby daughter.
 * The last 30 minutes of the remake is pretty much pure, unfiltered badass.
 * Villainous Breakdown - Pluto suffers this when Lizard avoids him to rape Brenda.