The Hills Have Eyes (2006) 720p

The Hills Have Eyes is a 2006 American horror film and remake of Wes Craven's 1977 film of the same name. It was written by filmmaking partners Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur of the French horror film High Tension, and directed by Aja. The film follows a family that is targeted by a group of cannibalistic mutants after their car breaks down in the desert.

The film was released theatrically in the United States and United Kingdom on March 10, 2006. It earned $15.5 million in its opening weekend in the U.S., where it was originally rated NC-17 for strong gruesome violence, but was later edited down to an R-rating. An unrated DVD version was released on June 20, 2006.

A group of scientists, who are searching the New Mexico desert, are killed by a mutant named Pluto (Michael Bailey Smith).

Bob Carter (Ted Levine) and his wife Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan) are traveling from Cleveland, Ohio to San Diego, California for their silver wedding anniversary. With them are their children Bobby (Dan Byrd), Brenda (Emilie de Ravin), and Lynn (Vinessa Shaw), Lynn's husband Doug (Aaron Stanford), Lynn and Doug's baby daughter Catherine (Maisie Camilleri Preziosi), and their two German Shepherds, Beauty and Beast. At a gas station in the desert, they meet an attendant named Jeb (Tom Bower), who tells them of a short-cut through the hills.

Not long after taking the supposed short-cut, their tires are punctured by a hidden spike strip. Doug and Bob go look for help, while the rest of the family stays behind. Beauty escapes from the trailer and, when Bobby chases her into the hills, he finds her mutilated corpse. Frightened, he runs and falls, knocking himself unconscious. A young woman named Ruby (Laura Ortiz) finds him and protects him from her brother Goggle (Ezra Buzzington).

Bob arrives back at the gas station, which appears abandoned. Inside, he finds news clippings detailing various disappearances in the area and realizes the attendant purposefully led them to danger by suggesting the short-cut. Finding a severed ear, he flees from the station. Outside, he finds a hysterical Jeb, who commits suicide. Bob attempts to flee in an abandoned car, but is subdued by the leader, Papa Jupiter (Billy Drago). Jupiter and his sons Lizard (Robert Joy) and Pluto drag Bob into the mining caves.

Meanwhile, Doug heads towards the interstate and finds a huge crater filled with numerous abandoned cars and other items. Having no luck finding help, he turns back.

Bobby returns to the trailer but does not mention Beauty's death, not wanting to frighten the rest of the family. Later that night, the family is awakened by Bob's screams, and they all rush from the trailer, except for Brenda who stays with the baby. Outside, they find Bob crucified to a burning tree. They frantically try to save him, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Pluto and Lizard use the distraction to ransack the trailer. Lizard beats and rapes Brenda.

When Lynn returns to the trailer, Lizard and Pluto confront her. While baby Catherine is held at gunpoint, Lizard sucks on Lynn's breasts and forces her to let him. When Ethel returns, Lizard shoots her. Lynn stabs him in the leg, prompting him to shoot her in the head. Lizard and Pluto flee with the baby. Returning to the trailer, Doug and Bobby discover Lynn and Ethel, who dies shortly afterward. Goggle, who is watching the family from afar with a pair of binoculars, is killed by Beast.

The next morning, Doug, along with Beast, sets out to rescue Catherine. He comes across an abandoned nuclear testing village and is knocked unconscious by Big Mama (Ivana Turchetto). Awakening in an ice box filled with human body parts, he escapes and encounters Big Brain (Desmond Askew). After Big Brain tells him the mutants' origins, Pluto attacks him and severs two of his fingers with an axe. Pluto almost kills Doug, but Doug manages to gain the upper hand and kills him with his own axe.

Heading outside, Doug kills the mutant Cyst (Gregory Nicotero) and continues searching for Catherine. After ordering Lizard to kill Catherine, Big Brain is mauled to death by Beast. Lizard takes a cleaver and prepares to kill Catherine, but finds that Ruby has taken her and replaced her with a piglet. Doug sees Ruby running through the hills with Catherine, and pursues her. Meanwhile, back at the trailer, Brenda and Bobby discover their mother's body missing and track it to find Papa Jupiter eating her. They lure him towards the trailer and prepare an explosive trap, which destroys the trailer, apparently killing Papa Jupiter.

Doug catches up with Ruby but Lizard attacks him. Lizard and Doug fight and Lizard is shot several times. Ruby then gives Doug his daughter back, and Lizard, still alive, aims a shotgun at Doug. Ruby tackles Lizard off a cliff, sending them both falling to their deaths.

Bobby and Brenda find that Papa Jupiter managed to survive their trap, and Brenda finishes him off with a pickaxe. They are then reunited with Doug, Catherine and Beast. As the survivors of the Carter family embrace, an unknown mutant watches them through binoculars from the hills.

Directed by Alexandre Aja

Produced by Wes Craven

Marianne Maddalena

Peter Locke

Screenplay by Alexandre Aja

Grégory Levasseur

Based on The Hills Have Eyes

by Wes Craven

Starring Aaron Stanford

Kathleen Quinlan

Vinessa Shaw

Emilie de Ravin

Dan Byrd

Robert Joy

Ted Levine

Music by Tomandandy

Cinematography Maxime Alexandre

Edited by Cainan Baxter

Production

company

Dune Entertainment

Major Studio Partners

Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Release date

March 10, 2006

Running time

106 Minutes

Country United States

Language English

Budget $15 million

Box office $70 million

Cast  :

Aaron Stanford as Doug Bukowski

Kathleen Quinlan as Ethel

Vinessa Shaw as Lynn Carter

Emilie de Ravin as Brenda Carter

Dan Byrd as Bobby Carter

Tom Bower as Jeb, the Gas Station Attendant

Billy Drago as Papa Jupiter

Robert Joy as Lizard

Ted Levine as "Big" Bob Carter

Desmond Askew as Big Brain

Ezra Buzzington as Goggle

Michael Bailey Smith as Pluto

Laura Ortiz as Ruby

Maisie Camilleri Preziosi as Catherine Bukowski

Gregory Nicotero as Cyst

Ivana Turchetto as Big Mama

Maxime Giffard as First Victim

Judith Jane Vallette as Venus

Adam Perrell as Mercury

The soundtrack score was composed by tomandandy. The record was released on March 7, 2006 via Lakeshore Records label.

Track listing

US edition

Tracks 10 to 29 are all original music composed by tomandandy

Leave the Broken Hearts – The Finalist

Blue Eyes Woman – The Go

Highway Kind – Moot Davis

Summers Gonna Be My Girl – The Go

More and More – Webb Pierce

The Walls – Vault

In the Valley of the Sun – Buddy Stuart

Daisy – Wires on Fire

California Dreamin' – The Mamas & the Papas

Forbidden Zone

Gas Haven

Out House

Praying

Beauty

Ravens

Daddy Daddy

Beast Finds Beauty

Trailer

Aftermath

Ethel's Death

Next Morning

Mine

Village Test

Breakfast Time

Play with Us

The Quest I

The Quest II

Sacrifice

It's Over?