PopHorror Let's Get Scared
In Wes Craven’s classic 1977 film, The Hills Have Eyes, a family on their way to California has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack. We take a look back at this film on its 40th birthday.
The Hills Have Eyes is a classic and a favorite in so many horror lover’s collections. The film was released 40 years ago this month on July 22, 1977, and was the third film directed by genre master Wes Craven, who originally wanted it to be called Blood Relations, but actor producer Peter Locke wasn’t a fan. Numerous titles were then considered and the film tested best under the title The Hills Have Eyes, though Craven himself initially disliked the title himself. Originally submitted to the MPAA, the film was given an X-rating which would have relegated it to the porno circuit and severely hurt the box office returns. Craven cut it just enough to make it an R rated film.
Wes Craven said that he thought of actually killing the baby in the film but the cast and crew—including Michael Berryman, Dee Wallace, Janus Blythe, and Peter Locke—strongly disagreed with it. Craven wasn’t scared to break the rules: one thing this film showed us was quite unusual—more unusual than a dog dying, an event that lets us know that anything could happen—is the presence and use of a baby. There were constant hints hat the infant was in danger. Even for a horror film, this was seen as pushing the boundaries. Other facts about the film is that it was based on a true story of the cannibalistic Sawney Bean and his family. Another sad but true fact: the dead dog was really dead. However, the crew did not kill it. It had been purchased from the local Sheriff’s department as a stand in for the real Beauty, who was still living at the end of filming.
I feel like The Hills Have Eyes picked up fairly quickly, and the filmmakers didn’t need gore to make it good. Ken Horn, now the curator of the Hollywood Wax Museum in Hollywood, used special effects makeup, but it wasn’t what you would see today. It was very subtle. Something as simplistic as a lifted lip was enough to imply that something was off about these people. Many of the props in the feral family’s cave were from Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Any other similarities to Hooper’s film were on purpose – Craven considered The Hills Have Eyes to be an homage to the 1974 film.
We suggest you watch The Hills Have Eyes to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this disturbingly terrifying film, because a classic like this one deserves more than one viewing.
