The Hills Have Eyes (series)

The Hills Have Eyes
Release date(s)	1977 – 1995 (original series) 2006 – 2007 (remake series)
Country	United States
Language	English

The Hills Have Eyes series of films began in 1977 with The Hills Have Eyes by Wes Craven. The film spawned two sequels and a remake, which had its own sequel in 2007.

The films center around an inbred clan living in the desert, killing anyone who they encounter. The films draw inspiration from the legend of Sawney Bean, a serial killer who is said to have murdered and eaten over a thousand people with his family.

Original series

The Hills Have Eyes

Main article: The Hills Have Eyes (1977 film)

Created by director Wes Craven, the first film in the series involves a family, the Carters, becoming stranded in the desert and being forced to fight for their lives against a demented family of cannibals, essentially a perverted version of themselves. The film did reasonably well at the box office and possesses a small cult following.

The Hills Have Eyes Part II

Main article: The Hills Have Eyes Part II

Made in 1985, The Hills Have Eyes Part II concerns a group of motocross racers becoming stranded in the desert and being preyed upon by the remains of the cannibalistic clan and a new member of it, Reaper; several characters from the original film made return appearances, though largely in minor roles.

The Hills Have Eyes Part II is regarded as a flop by most and has been disowned by Wes Craven, who apparently made it due to a need for money; the film has an over-the-top and camp style and also had several flashbacks to the original film, with even the dog, Beast, having one.

The Hills Have Eyes III

Main article: The Hills Have Eyes III

Also known as The Outpost and Mindripper, The Hills Have Eyes III (1995), despite its name, has little to nothing to do with the previous films and instead has a completely new storyline, involving a super-powerful monster known as Thor (Dan Bloom) created through science gone wrong. The Hills Have Eyes III was the first in the series to not be created by Wes Craven; instead it was made by his son, Jonathan Craven, alongside Joe Gayton and Phil Mittleman.

Remake series

The Hills Have Eyes

Main article: The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film)

In 2006, French director Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur remade the original film after a discussion with Wes Craven, who produced the film. The film, though essentially having the same plot as the original, has several changes, such as reimagining the clan of cannibals as freakish mutants resulting from nuclear testing and replacing several of the established characters with new ones. Released in theaters on March 10, 2006, the film grossed $15,500,000 on its opening weekend in the United States.

The Hills Have Eyes 2

Main article: The Hills Have Eyes 2

The 2007 sequel to the remake of the original film, despite its name, The Hills Have Eyes 2 is not a remake of The Hills Have Eyes Part II and has a different plot, involving a group of soldiers battling another group of mutants.

Reception

Box office

Film	Release time	Revenue			Rank  (All time domestic)	Budget	Reference
		United States	Foreign	Worldwide
The Hills Have Eyes	March 10, 2006	$41,778,863	$27,844,850	$69,623,713	1,328	$15,000,000
The Hills Have Eyes 2	March 23, 2007	$20,804,166	$16,662,372	$37,466,538	2,384	$15,000,000
Total		$62,583,029	$44,507,222	$107,090,251		$30,000,000

Critical reaction

Film	Rotten Tomatoes		Metacritic	Yahoo! Movies
	Overall	Cream of the Crop
The Hills Have Eyes	49% (134 reviews)	40% (5 reviews)	52% (28 reviews)	C+ (14 reviews)
The Hills Have Eyes 2	11% (61 reviews)	43% (7 reviews)	32% (18 reviews)	C- (6 reviews)

Documentaries

The Hills Have Eyes documentaries are the documentary films made in relation to The Hills Have Eyes film franchise. Many of The Hills Have Eyes documentaries were all about the interviews and the film characters throughout the series.

Some of the documentaries were made short and some long.

Looking Back at 'The Hills Have Eyes'

Looking Back at 'The Hills Have Eyes' was a documentary film made in 2003. It was directed, written and produced by Perry Martin, edited by David Deelo, cinematography by Ira Speir, and other crew. The documentary was filmed in Hollywood, California and in San Bernardino, California. The documentary was released on September 23, 2003 and included in "The Hills Have Eyes" DVD.

This laid-back interview-laden documentary about the film The Hills Have Eyes (1977) details the entire production of the movie. All of the financing and weather problems are explained, as well as many other difficulties on set. The interviewees also talk about their starts in the film industry, which took place in and around when the film was made.

The documentary featured Wes Craven, Peter Locke, Robert Houston, Dee Wallace, Susan Lanier, Janus Blythe, Michael Berryman, and Eric Saarinen.

The Hills Have Eyes 2: Mutant Attacks

The Hills Have Eyes 2: Mutant Attacks (AKA Mutant Attacks) is the ten-minute documentary on The Hills Have Eyes 2. The documentary was released on September 14, 2007 around Finland, and had a video premier on July 17 around the United States. This documentary was minor to all other documentaries.

It featured Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup, Derek Mears, Wes and Jonathan Craven, Marianne Maddalena, and many more cast & crew.

Exploring the Hills: The Making of 'The Hills Have Eyes 2'

Exploring the Hills: The Making of 'The Hills Have Eyes 2' is a making documentary film. This documentary ran about 13 minutes according to the Internet Movie Database. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment distributed the documentary, and Trailer Park produced the documentary.

The documentary starred newly Martin Weisz, Lee Thompson Young, Daniella Alonso, Sam McCurdy, and Keith Wilson.

Surviving the Hills: Making of 'The Hills Have Eyes'

Surviving the Hills: Making of 'The Hills Have Eyes' is another "Hills Have Eyes" documentary. The documentary was released on June 20, 2006 in the US. Co-X Entertainment producted the documentary, and was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, special effects by Rez-Illusion, and others include the Shapeshifter company.

The documentary had Aaron Stanford, Emilie de Ravin, Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Vinessa Shaw, and Alexandre Aja (most of The Hills Have Eye cast).

Comics

Main article: The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning

In 2007, to coincide with the release of The Hills Have Eyes 2, a graphic novel, taking place in the continuity of the remake series, was made by Fox Atomic Comics. The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning reveals the genesis of the mutants, how they were once normal people, ignorant to the rest of the world, who were devolved into horrific creatures, filled with nothing but rage at the world that destroyed their once simple lives.

References in other media

• In the 1981 horror film The Evil Dead, directed by Sam Raimi, a tattered poster advertising the original The Hills Have Eyes can be seen in the basement of the cabin the bulk of the film takes place in. The purpose of this is to symbolize that the horror was minuscule in comparison to what was about to be seen in Evil Dead.

• In the episode "The Country Club" of the documentary television series Torchwood Declassified (a companion show to the series Torchwood) Russell T Davies mentions that when creating the Torchwood episode "Countrycide", he wished "to do a Hills Have Eyes".

• The episode "Funeral for a Fiend" of the long-running animated series The Simpsons features the character Sideshow Bob stating he was hired to direct "The Hills Have Eyes 3: The Hills Still Have Eyes".

References

• Official wiki hosted by Wikia