Did a search and did not find an existing thread about this, I apologize if there is one.
Saw this yesterday and was actually quite impressed! Very much in the spirit of the original, while making just enough small changes to justify doing a remake. Well written and acted, extremely intense and uncomfortable in all the right places, good gore that I did not find over-the-top. There is much that goes on off camera, leaving the viewer to fill in the blanks. I appreciate this approach very much, not only because it inspires people to use their brains, but because there are just some things that I don’t need to see to guess what happened.
Take, for instance, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Total crap. It took everything that was scary about the first movie and tried to wrap it all up in a nice little backstory that destroyed it and made it laughable. The Hills Have Eyes accomplished what TCM wished it could have.
Anyone else see it? Thoughts?
Haven’t seen it yet, but want to know one thing before I take the time to watch it…does the dog still kick ass in this version? 
Dude, I’m totally there. That was my favorite part of the original.
I’m a huge horror fan, but I hated it. Maybe even more than I disliked the TCM remake. I just found it plain sadistic, unlike, say, Hostel, which cut the horror and gore with a little humour and a dash of insight (however meagre).
I did think the teenage boy’s performance was great, and there were a few cool scenes, but if a movie’s going to include rape scenes and dead dogs, I need a little more to go on.
I have a question about the beginning. Was the gas station attendant in some kind of deal with the mutants? He directs wanders into the hills, the mutants bring back the belongings and body parts (for whatever reason)–is that right?
I also have a question following the night of the attack at the trailer. When the arm with the walkie talkie is laying out in the rocks, are we to assume that Beast dragged Goggle’s arm back there with the radio in the hand still after kicking his ass?
yes, and yes
I was a fan of the original, and went in with a pretty good idea of what the new one would be like in terms of ick factor, and I loved it. I’m really not much of a splatter fan, and didn’t see hostel, or either of the saws, but this was good in ways that I can’t really explain. The american dream mannequin assemblies were creepy
Larry
Do any of the mutants have the presence of Michael Berryman?
Does he or anyone from the original (which I have only just seen this past week)
appear in this version?
Btw- in a discussion of Michael Berryman, inspired by the commercials for the new THHE & also his appearance in The Devil’s Rejects, a friend made a perfect description of him- the love child of Bull Shannon (Richard Moll) and Boris Karloff.
It is the first time in a long time that I have questioned why I go to see horror movies. And this was a HORROR movie… Not a scary movie, or a monster movie, but a movie filled with genuine horrors that churn your stomach. During the attack on the trailer, I really did feel like getting up and leaving. Why watch something like that? What am I getting from this? Entertainment?
After the attack, it settles down quite a bit, and goes into more familiar hunt and stalk territory, with monsters and heroes. Even still, it left a seriously bad taste in my mouth, and made me question if I should really go see Hostel, which I believe is equally hard going.
Never saw either, thinking that they would be really creepy. But knowing alot about the original, I had to wonder if the new one wuold be any good. I’m thinking maybe Mom(norinew) and dad, the non-doper in the family would like it.
Well. I saw it this afternoon- had to hide my eyes during the titles when they started flashing pics of the radiation-affected babies eeewwww!- last week,
I watched the original on DVD (never having seen it before)- and now my
assessment-
Improvements- the acting quality of the Carter family;
how the Mom (ultra-Milfy Kathleen Quindlan) is proper & religious but not wacky;
the wider age range of the kids;
the gory details of the depravity of the mutant family;
the actual resolution in this version (the last one falls flat)
Disappointments- the flatness of the mutant community (with the
exception of Big Head- the only real mutant “character”);
the lack of “family” rapport among the Mutants- Jupiter is not “Papa”,
just another mutant- and his lines are totally cut out;
the reliance of FX mutant make-up to replace the lack of characterization;
no mutant with the presence of Michael Berryman (I was so wishing for a
cameo!)
Good Interesting aspects-
Ted “It rubs the lotion on its skin” Levine as Dad Big Bob Carter;
The good “mutant” girl - Rose/Ruby(?)- who did more acting with her
eyes than any of the evil Mutants except for Big Head.
The Beast still rocks!
Speaking of The Beast, they showed an “untitled” teaser for the remake of
THE OMEN, release date- when else?- June 6.
Ehhhh. It was kind of boring…The mutants were cartoons really. The rape scene was half disturbing, half awkward. I was surprised when the young mom was killed. The editing was pretty good at that part. I was sure that the brother had made it back to the trailer and shot Spikey (I have no idea what his name was so I call him Spikey) (does anyone else think he looks like that guy from SNL).
I wanted to see the mutants having an actual community. An f-ed up cannibal community but still.
Other than pointing a gun at a baby the other disturbing part were the two little kids. “Mister do you want to play with us” was creepy… but the other little kid who had a full face mask on… Whoa…
So what was Ruby’s story?
I, too, saw it this week. Afternoon matinee: I was the only one in the audience.
Wasn’t as creeped out by it as I was expecting to be, under the circumstances. It was an okay film, but nothing spectacularly tripped my trigger.
Saw V for Vendetta the next day, and liked it much better.