Ethan Switch - Sunday, 26 March, 2006 - Print Version
Dead doors make for hard entry, the locks open in their own special way and the eyeballs inside the projection room appear only after a near incident leads to burning down some canisters. All accidents, all chance to waiver indemnity and a few minutes through the darkness in broad daylight back again at the start of the card.
Very much like the waffling of empty popcorn, the opening scenes of The Hills Have Eyes works a magic to pass over quickly. Quicker still when timing transport and breaking through gates makes for a tardy appointment.
Dusty and yet with an all cool charm about the desert air, the landscape of peril naturally features heavy tones of brown against red. Sharp lines with every chance to count the crows.
The Carters are a family out in the pitch of nowhere, looking for a good time family vacation that doesn't involve flying outside of the United States of America. Trailblazing through the dead heartland and all the boulders that kill communication waves that exist outside of sleeping in the cakes of soil.
Violence and gore amount to the sick bag of pus hanging off the unattended goitre. Dangling ever apparent, a mutant mob freak family set about to rule the day only to find that the pretty will always rule out in Hollywood. And if not the pretty, the ones with the closest thing to symmetry in facial structure.
It's a literal and metaphorical battle between the feasts of beasts as the hill folk and the travelling campers take each other on. No guesses as to which side wins as the fun unequivocally lies in the manner and styles of execution between the teams. Brutal and without a chance to breathe through the mucus and blood pooling at the back of the throat.
Environmental impact statements are at a medium in this film. Nature and nutrients of nuclear infested grounds leaving an undeniable mark on the population bunkering down in the blast radius.
Watching horror films for a science lesson is certainly not part of the fascination for most, though some may wander in looking for a few creatures otherwise seen in hazy day dreams brought lucid through the manic delight of mystery pills from the hands of sweaty merchants.
Satisfying a need to witness skulls crack open and brains splatter the plastic sheeting, horror in this case lies in the mutant freaks and not so much on the pacing and ambient mood. Frenetic and loud as this one is.
Finagle with our bagel and keep a fresh and up-to-date eyeball on our latest reviews, articles and filthy somesuch. Mmm doughy.
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