WES CRAVEN'S ORIGINAL EXPLOITATION 'THE HILLS HAVE EYES'

Not one horror film geek hasn't had a crush on Suze Lanier in THE HILLS HAVE EYES Year: 1977

THE HILLS HAVE EYES is generally regarded as a classic horror film. Because of the blood, guts, and killer cannibals, but especially since Wes Craven, who’d later scare us on ELM STREET and make the next generation SCREAM with delight, wrote and directed: Thus the plot has the usual horror elements: a trailer-traveling family gets derailed in the middle of nowhere and, like the title implies, they’re not alone.

The setting is fitfully spooky: the surrounding valley of sharp canyon cliffs where just about anything is possible, especially after the antagonists show themselves in the bright daylight — yet perhaps too bright for a movie meant to keep us on edge in a genre where darker is better. The Neanderthal hillbillies are liken to a group of mutant hippies had they wandered into the Town of Bedrock after hearing The Beatles White Album. Or something.

The iconic Michael Berryman in THE HILLS HAVE EYES Rates: ***

Michael Berryman, the iconic staple of horror films who, born with Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia — a rare condition leaving him with no sweat glands, hair, fingernails or teeth — is anything but a victim to his fans: he can really act and steals the show as Pluto, the intrepid scout of the hill-dwelling psychos.

Sadly, future scream queen Dee Wallace of THE HOWLING (and that cute alien movie) gets taken out before the real stuff occurs — leaving her boyfriend, brother, and screaming little sister, played by adorable horror starlet Suze Lanier (now Suze Lanier-Bramlett), to carry on in this low budget thriller with surprisingly little payoff, leaving the best scenes to the last twenty minutes when the protagonists deliver their own style of creative revenge.

Suze Lanier in THE HILLS HAVE EYES

Suze Lanier in THE HILLS HAVE EYES

Dee Wallace in THE HILLS HAVE EYES

Michael Berryman in THE HILLS HAVE EYES