The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

The Hills Have Eyes
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Wes Craven
1977/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
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Brenda Carter: We’re gonna be french fries! Human french fries!

Wes Craven dials the “sadistic cannibal mutants attack family” genre up to eleven.

Retired detective Bob Carter, his wife, son and daughter and their significant others are traveling in the desert in search of an old silver mine, accompanied by a four month old baby.  They take a short cut that deposits them in the middle of nowhere in a broken R.V. Their dogs “Beauty” and “Beast” run off and the men scatter in many directions to find help and/or the dogs.

Unfortunately for the Carters, they are in a wasteland inhabited by a cannibal clan who could be best described as “the scum of the earth”.  They are hungry for human meat, particularly tender young baby, and relish in making each killing as sadistic and grizzly as possible.

The movie is one scene after another of murders and attempted murders as well as a lot of verbal abuse.  The DVD cover describes the movie as “harrowing and nasty”. I agree. It goes right over the top but not in an amusing way.  Recommended only for those with high tolerance for gore and female screaming.