On This Day In Horror Movie History
It’s a film about a family road trip with trials and tribulations along the way. Car trouble, the wilderness, and dads not taking directions from gas station attendants are just a few of the conundrums in this tale of fish out of water. No, I’m not talking about National Lampoon’s Vacation. This is the 1977 Wes Craven survival horror The Hills Have Eyes and it was released on this day in horror movie history.
Synopsis
Big Bob Carter, a retired detective, takes his family on a road trip to California. The route leads through a long desert highway. Stopping at a lonely gas station along the way, Big Bob is warned of staying on the highway. Does anyone ever heed these warnings? No, they don’t. If they did, would there even be a movie?
Big Bob, knowing better than the gas station owner, takes a shortcut through a nuclear testing site and wrecks his station wagon. With the family stranded in the middle of the desert, Big Bob and son-in-law Doug walk on the road trying to find some help. Prying eyes follow all members of the family and even kill the family dog. We know this always happens to even the odds (see Funny Games). Later that night the Carter family is attacked by a group of psychotic desert dwellers. Facing sure demise, the Carter family has to fight to survive without its patriarch. How can you survive the elements when the hills have eyes?
The Eyes See Beyond the Film
Director Wes Craven has said that the film expresses rage against the upper class, well-to-do types in America. The antagonists possibly representing any number of marginalized groups. This is often the case in these type films. Examples can be found as recently as the numerous Wrong Turn films. It can be argued that film is about the class divide in America, with the Carters symbolizing the wealthy and Papa Jupiter’s family representing the poor. After all, both sets of groups are clearly American.
Craven, a One Man Gang
Wes Craven both wrote and directed The Hills Have Eyes. Partly an homage to Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this film has intentional similarities to the historic film. Originally given an X rating, Craven was forced to cut parts out in order to not damage the box office. If not for producer Peter Locke, the film may have been called Blood Relations, The title didn’t sit well with Locke, so eventually the title The Hills Have Eyes was agreed up, although Craven was not in favor of it.
Some of the inspiration for this film came from a personal experience for Craven. While taking a motorcycle trip with his wife, they stopped in a small town, some locals shot an arrow past his head and insulted him. When Craven threatened to sue them, they replied they could easily kill him, leave his corpse in a nearby salt mine, and no one would ever know. Big Bob Carter wouldn’t stand for such nonsense.
Theatrical Trailer
Promotional Taglines
Wes Craven’s classic original!
Just keep telling yourself it’s only a film…It’s only a film…
Camping out with the family can be murder.
Esta tranquila familia no quería matar… pero tampoco quería morir (Mexico)
We guarantee you will jump out of your seat and scream in fear!
The lucky ones died first…
A nice American family. They didn’t want to kill. But they didn’t want to die.
They burned the father, killed the mother, and raped the sister!
Top Billed Cast
Susan Lanier
Robert Houston
Janus Blythe
Dee Wallace
Box Office Info
The film premiered on July 22, 1977, in Tucson, Arizona, where it earned $2 million by October 1977, the same month the film gained a wider release. The Hills Have Eyes ultimately earned $25 million, and was a greater box office success than The Last House on the Left. Craven noted that the film managed to break box office records at some of the individual theaters that it opened in. The film’s gross was impeded by the financial success of the Burt Reynolds film Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Locke characterized the film as neither a huge hit nor a box-office bomb, and was pleased with the amount of money it generated. – Wikipedia
Ribs with Raimi
While watching The Hills Have Eyes, director Sam Raimi noticed a ripped poster for Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws (1975) in a scene of the film. He “took it to mean that Wes Craven…was saying ‘Jaws was just pop horror. What I have here is real horror.'”
This inspired Raimi to include a ripped The Hills Have Eyes poster in his film The Evil Dead (1981), as a humorous way of telling Craven “No, this is the real horror, pal.” Craven reacted to this by having Nancy Thompson fall asleep while watching The Evil Dead in his film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Raimi responded to that by including Freddy Krueger‘s glove in a scene of Evil Dead II (1987).
Later, Craven would have characters in his film Scream (1996) choose to watch a VHS of Halloween (1978) instead of the VHS of The Evil Dead (1981) that they had. Then, in a first-season episode of Raimi’s television show Ash vs Evil Dead, Krueger’s glove can be glimpsed, while a poster for The Hills Have Eyes can be seen outside a movie theater in an episode of the show’s second season. – Wikipedia
Hammer Award
To begin, I need to preface. This should not be taken too seriously.. We’re not here to objectify or degrade anyone. Growing up, I once heard my father refer to Sophia Loren, as “an absolute hammer”. This award is a silly recognition to whom we find in this film to be the “hottest” in the cast. At the end of the day, don’t take it too seriously. We don’t. With that said…..
A huge thanks to both IMDB and the fact finders who did so much legwork on Wikipedia. Your research is invaluable.
Watch on TubiTV
You can watch The Hills Have Eyes on TubiTV (possibly time sensitive link)
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