 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
- Review Date: June 18, 2006
- R
- Genre: Horror
- 2006
Common Sense Media says
Grim remake of '70s slasher film. Not for kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this film is absolutely not for kids. It includes incessant, vicious attacks on a family traveling through the New Mexican desert by a group of mutants. The violence is startling, explicit, and aggressive (dogs are knifed and eviscerated; humans suffer knifing, dismembering, shooting, burning at a stake). Someone bites off a parakeet's head. The monstrous mutants watch their prey through binoculars, which the film renders as spooky "surveillance" imagery. Women appear undressed as monsters try to rape them. Characters smoke, drink beer and margaritas, and refer to "the chronic"/pot. Opening credits sequence features ghastly victims of radiation, in jars and photos.
What's the story?
Gruesome and then some, the new HILLS HAVE EYES again pits two families against one another. In one corner of the New Mexico desert traipse the Carters, including retired cop Big Bob (Ted Levine), his churchy wife Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan) and their mostly grown kids, new mom Lynn (Vinessa Shaw) and her liberal-leaning husband Doug (Aaron Stanford), adolescent Bobby (Dan Byrd), and slightly younger Brenda (Emilie de Ravin). In the hills, a family of mutants watches the Carters, until it's time to strike. Their faces are doughy and misshapen, bodies bent and filthy, and snaggly-sharp teeth perfect for ripping flesh from bones. First, they kill one of the Carters' two German shepherds, leaving it for young Bobby to find. He's so scared that when he makes his way back to the broken down trailer where the rest of the family awaits a never-coming rescue, he doesn't tell them what he found, concerned he might scare them. This is only one of many bad ideas made by the California-bound vacationers (the first is to take the "shortcut" directions down an unpaved road).
Is it any good?
Alexandre Aja's revisitation of Wes Craven's 1977 original is true to its source, making the same basic social and political points with about as much subtlety. (In 1945, the U.S. military irradiated miners during atomic testing, and the victims' kin remained fond of eating people.) Most of the mutants are men, which explain their kids, including a little girl in a red hood. She provides an emotional and ethical counterpoint to her elders, though she's more mascot than complicated character.
The mutants descend on the hapless travelers in veritable droves. Aja and DP Maxime Alexandre's mobile, precise camerawork creates a perverse elegance, even as the film exploits ugliness and abuse. While Craven and his peers conjured nightmares in the wake of the Vietnam war, this new generation of slasher aficionados and makers is working amid mass mediated torture, war, and moral mayhem. No wonder their visions are bleak.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the film's two family units: How do the travelers/victims turn desperate and become like their attackers? How do the film's graphic displays of violence (now a staple of horror/slasher movies) serve specific functions? Do viewers want to be scared or repulsed, to identify with victims or monsters, or to take pleasure in the technical expertise of the violence? Why do horror movies remain so popular, especially with teens?
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- Parents
- Teens & kids
AGE
OMG...SOOO DISGUSTING!!!
I am 12...my mom finally let me watch this...i loved it and really hated it at the same time...a girl gets raped...the crazy mutants steal babies...one man almost dies about 6 times...so many sharp objects to the head...moms and dads...dont let kids under 13 into the room!!!
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AGE
i rate ths title OFF for ages 16+
What to watch out for
*
Messages:
Mutants are mad; bumbling humans are dumb; only the enraged, vengeful young father triumphs.
*
Violence:
Bloody, grotesque assaults on traveling family by human mutants; infant in danger (carried off by mutants); dogs yelp off screen and their bloody bodies are discovered by horrified humans; mutants eat human and dog corpses; bird's head bitten off; graphic injuries and body parts (including a bloody head and some deformed heads).Repulsive rape of a young mother, plus repeated sexualized violence.
*
Sex:
Sexualized violence.
*
Language:
Frequent profanity, including repeated use of f-words, s-word, "-of-a-bi-ch."
*
Consumerism:
Not an issue.
*
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Characters smoke, drink, and show effects of radiation (deformities and cannibalism).
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AGE
I just saw this movie. Great horror flick!! Warning to parents: This movie is absolutely insanely gory and brutal (mostly in the final half of the movie) Mutated man get foot stabbed by a screwdriver, then gets a mini flagpole through his neck, and then finally, an axe straight into his skull. Also many other scenes of brutal and gory violence. Also contains some language and in the unrated version, a mutant rapes a girl. Also don't watch if you are an animal lover.
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AGE
Great Movie, Off For Some Adults
Brutal, bloody, disturbing, and violent. It depends on the kid and how mature they are. This is something that could possibly happen out in N.M. where they test this stuff. They've found messed up animals out there that were extra violent, why not humans?
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AGE
watch horror movie with your parents
I think this movie is off 8 and iffy for 12-15
it is a very voilent movie many jump scenes
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AGE
it was good
if u like scary movies u will like this it is a littie gore but it is good
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AGE
this movie is sick, gross, and disturbing. Noone, and i mean NOONE should see this. If someone enjoys it, they need help
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AGE
Good movie, good message,... I liked it!
The whole rape and muder was diturbing and unneccicary but if you think about the message you'll realize the movie's not half bad! The strong-willed father encounters many hardships and enemies along the way, shortly after a majority of his family dies, including his wife, while looking for his kidnapped daughter... Also, the mutant-girl in the red hoody turns out to be good,... she saves the baby, has to kill her brother and herself to save this man and -what's left of- his family. Good ending.
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| Studio: | Fox Searchlight |
| Director: | Alexandre Aja |
| Cast: | Aaron Stanford, Emilie de Ravin, Ted Levine |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Run time: | 105 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | March 10, 2006 |
| DVD release date: | June 20, 2006 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong gruesome violence and terror throughout, and for language. |
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