The Hills Have Eyes 1977
The story of one American family's refusal to die.
This was one I actually wasn't allowed to watch until I think roughly around when I was 13/14ish: because of the themes and content (sexual violence etc). My parents were lenient with Freddy, Jason, Michael, Victor, Chucky etc but this along with Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a no go until that point. So it (along with its Remake) built up for years on account of me watching the trailer a lot of times in anticipation.
And its pretty good. In terms of Craven's work its not quite up there with The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream but in its own right it works.
I can see why my parents were a bit anxious about this one. Its different watching a standard slasher film with any of the main bad guys just killing people with over the top death scenes that you can't possibly take seriously. Even the original Evil Dead wasn't an issue. But the sequence in this, where the cannibals assault the family in the trailer is vicious even today. Its really intense and hard to sit through: a testament to the genius of Wes Craven's direction. Some of the family are killed, the daughter is raped (its not quite as bad as most of the stuff in Last House on the Left but its obviously not nice) and one of the dogs ends up dead.
The whole sequence with attack on the trailer is definitely the strongest part of the film (I also liked the creepy opening credits and the music which accompanies it) and the rest is pretty good.
You obviously root for these people to get revenge on the cannibals and when they set out to do so, you cheer for them
Its fascinating how this wasn't a video nasty. I know it was a section 3 title but its just another example of how clueless our esteemed moral guardians were back then (and they still are, but they're pretty much powerless now against horror now thanks to the internet, thank god). How exactly was The Funhouse, which is now a 15 rated film btw, a video nasty but this wasn't? Rape, brutal violence, cannibalism: surely that's a video nasty? Even the BBFC didn't think it was so bad given they only made them cut a measly 2 seconds from the film in 1987 (Mars shoving the gun in Brenda's throat): and this was during the dark days of the Ferman era where you would have expected cuts to anything with knives and rape. Least its as uncut as it'll ever be now (MPAA cut a lot more out back in the day and the footage is still missing).
Its a good watch: not the best but good.
7/10
Oh and I love the infamously bad sequel
