The reviews for the remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” seem to be off base for the most part. Alexandre Aja (Writer/Director of “Haute Tension”) delivers the goods and then some. It’s a very solid thrill ride with plenty of cheap thrills and buckets of blood and gore.

I have found it interesting that some reviewers who praised “Hostel” as being hardcore have lambasted “The Hills Have Eyes.” Trust me … “Hills” is the movie that “Hostel” promised us and never delivered.

Aja showed lots of promise with “Haute Tension.” That film was basically an exercise in using gore to help ratchet up the overall dread of the film. “The Hills Have Eyes” gives Aja a good chance to do something with a little more character and lot more with the gore. I found the violence in “Hills” to be a lot more vicious than that of “Haute Tension.” It makes me wonder if the MPAA harder on “Haute Tension” because it’s a foreign film and has let “Hills” slide a little more because it’s American.

I did like that the remake makes more sense of some of the plot points that never really worked in the Wes Craven version. The car wreck that strands the Carters in no-man’s land isn’t totally silly like before. Plus it’s nice to see the gas station owner be more active in getting the story rolling. The fact that our inbred, mutant cannibals are the by products of nuclear testing is a wee dull and standard … but it give us a great final act in a nuclear test site full of buildings and creepy 50’s style mannequins. That was fun! Some of the reviews have cried “foul” and have tried to make the argument that the filmmakers have a “message” about the effects of nuclear testing. Ummm, no. Aja isn’t on a soap box. He’s just using the nuclear issue as a basis not as a rallying cry. Those cannibals are evil and have no qualms about killing your mother and then pulling out her entrails for a light snack.

There are a few problems. There’s a pretty major scene that should have been in the film but is only referenced after the fact. I can only imagine that it ended up on the cutting room floor for some reason. Missing from the film also a family structure for our killers. To me that seems pretty important as the film’s thrust is Carter Family verses Cannibal Family. It works to set up the killers better as they aren’t all so random like so many other horror films treat the villains. Plus, it helps make Ruby’s act of defiance in the final act all the more plausible.

The acting is good all the way ’round. It real shame though that Emile de Ravin (of “Lost” fame) has nothing better to do than act totally hysterical after the first attack. Her character never really gets a chance to redeem herself past a cheap shot at the very end of the film.

So, hell yeah! There’s messy gunshot wounds, pick axes to the head, munched on entrails, eviscerated dogs, gnawed off arms, burned bodies and a baby that could potentially be lunch! “The Hills Have Eyes” was pretty rockin’ in my opinion.~