The Hills Have Eyes (1977): Primal Terrors in the Atomic Wasteland

In the scorched Nevada desert, a family’s quest for freedom collides with humanity’s darkest mutations, birthing a horror masterpiece that still chills the spine.

The year 1977 marked a turning point in horror cinema with Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes, a raw, unflinching tale of survival against inbred cannibals born from America’s nuclear legacy. This low-budget shocker thrust audiences into a nightmare of isolation and savagery, blending visceral terror with pointed social commentary. Far from mere exploitation fare, the film dissects the fragility of civilisation and the monsters lurking within societal neglect.

  • Craven masterfully fuses survival horror mechanics with metaphors for nuclear fallout and family disintegration, creating tension through relentless pursuit and moral collapse.
  • The film’s mutant antagonists embody fears of the American underclass and atomic experimentation, drawing from real desert test sites to amplify dread.
  • Its gritty production and enduring legacy influenced generations of horror, from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre contemporaries to modern slashers.

The Ill-Fated Carter Family Road Trip

The story unfolds with the Carter family embarking on a cross-country RV journey to California for a fresh start in retirement. Big Bob, the patriarchal breadwinner, leads his wife Ethel, their pregnant daughter Lynne, son Bobby, teen daughter Brenda, and baby grandson Bobby Jr. Accompanied by family dog Beauty and Lynne’s husband Doug, they represent the quintessential 1970s suburban unit: optimistic, nuclear, and blissfully unaware of lurking perils. A fateful wrong turn onto a remote Nevada backroad strands them when their vehicle plunges into a ravine, severing communication and thrusting them into the vast, unforgiving desert.

Craven wastes no time escalating the horror. The family discovers military relics hinting at atomic bomb tests, foreshadowing the abomination ahead. Pluto, the cunning scout of a feral clan dwelling in the hills, observes from afar. This mutant tribe, offspring of a stranded soldier exposed to radiation, sustains itself through scavenging, rape, and murder. Led by the blind patriarch Fred, they view the Carters as intruders ripe for plunder. The first brutal strike comes swiftly: Pluto kills Beauty the dog, igniting primal rage in Bobby who witnesses the disembowelment.

What follows is a meticulously crafted descent into survival horror. The Carters barricade in the trailer as mutant attacks intensify. Big Bob ventures for help, only to meet a grisly end on a crucifix-like radio tower, roasted alive in a nod to martyrdom and biblical retribution. Ethel succumbs to a throat-slitting ambush, her death underscoring the violation of maternal sanctity. Lynne faces the ultimate desecration when Pluto and his brother Mars assault her, forcing Doug into a desperate rescue amid the trailer’s blood-soaked confines.

Craven’s screenplay emphasises resource scarcity and psychological fraying. Flashbacks reveal the mutants’ origins: a Marine left behind post-test, devolving into incestuous savagery. This backstory humanises the monsters just enough to unsettle, blurring lines between victim and villain. The Carters’ transformation mirrors this; Bobby arms with a pickaxe, Doug wields a rifle pilfered from mutant stores, and even timid Brenda fights back with a shard of glass. The narrative culminates in a bloody siege, pitting domesticated civility against wild atavism.

Mutants as Mirrors to Nuclear Anxieties

The film’s antagonists stand as grotesque embodiments of Cold War paranoia. Inhabiting trailers adorned with atomic age paraphernalia, the mutants symbolise fallout’s human cost. Pluto, played with feral intensity by Michael Berryman, sports a malformed skull and piercing eyes, evoking real radiation victims from Hiroshima and Nevada tests. Mars, the brutish enforcer, and the shrieking Ruby embody unchecked primal urges, their deformities achieved through practical makeup that prioritises unease over spectacle.

Craven drew inspiration from actual nuclear sites like Yucca Flats, where over 900 bombs detonated between 1951 and 1992. The film’s wasteland evokes these zones, now tourist curiosities yet haunted by contamination fears. Social fear permeates: the mutants assault the myth of the safe American family, suggesting suburbia’s comforts mask barbarism. Big Bob’s flag-waving patriotism crumbles, critiquing military hubris that birthed these abominations. In an era of Vietnam fallout and Three Mile Island looming, the film warns of technological overreach.

Survival horror elements shine in the mutants’ predatory tactics. They sever phone lines, steal supplies, and exploit terrain, turning the desert into a labyrinth of traps. Sound design amplifies isolation: howling winds, distant howls, and the baby’s cries pierce the silence. Craven’s handheld camerawork induces claustrophobia despite open vistas, a technique honed from his documentary roots. Viewers feel the Carters’ helplessness, rooting for their devolution into killers as the only salvation.

Thematically, the film probes class divides. The Carters embody middle-class mobility, contrasted with the hills clan’s static depravity. Incest and cannibalism shock as metaphors for societal rot, echoing Deliverance‘s rural horrors but amplified by sci-fi mutation. Craven later reflected on this as a parable of colonialism, where civilised invaders reap savage reprisal. Ruby’s redemption arc, aiding the survivors, hints at nurture over nature, challenging deterministic fears.

Crafting Terror on a Shoestring Desert Set

Production mirrored the film’s grit. Craven, fresh off The Last House on the Left, shot on 16mm for $350,000 in California’s Victorville desert, enduring 110-degree heat and sandstorms. No permits meant guerrilla tactics; actors hauled gear themselves. Practical effects pioneer Tom Savini contributed uncredited gore, using pig intestines for authenticity. The trailer’s interior carnage, with blood flooding floors, pushed boundaries for independent cinema.

Challenges abounded: rattlesnakes bit extras, heat warped film stock, and cast dehydration halted shoots. Berryman’s real-life hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia lent Pluto authenticity, sparing heavy prosthetics. Craven cast unknowns like Robert Houston as Doug, fostering raw performances. Editing tightened pacing, intercutting family flashbacks with assaults to heighten dread. The score, sparse twangy guitars and percussion, evokes western standoffs twisted into horror.

Marketing leaned into controversy. Posters screamed “From the savage makers of Last House!”, drawing drive-in crowds despite X-ratings in the UK. Box office success, grossing millions, proved horror’s viability. Critics savaged its violence, yet audiences embraced the catharsis. Festivals like Sitges awarded it, cementing cult status. Home video boom via VHS immortalised it, grainy transfers preserving raw power.

Legacy: From Banned Shocker to Horror Touchstone

The Hills Have Eyes pioneered home invasion in wilderness, influencing The Strangers and Wrong Turn. Alexandre Aja’s 2006 remake amplified gore with CGI, starring Aaron Stanford and Ted Levine, grossing $70 million. A sequel followed in 1985, less revered, while 2007’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? prequel fizzled. The original’s DNA persists in The Descent‘s cave mutants and Hills Have Eyes game adaptations.

Collecting culture reveres it: original posters fetch thousands, Berryman’s props circulate at conventions. Fan restorations enhance prints, revealing cinematographer Eric Saarinen’s stark lighting. Podcasts dissect its progressiveness, like female empowerment in Brenda’s arc. Modern revivals, amid nuclear renaissance debates, reaffirm relevance. Craven’s blueprint endures: horror thrives on real fears, magnified through fiction.

Ultimately, the film transcends shocks, forcing confrontation with inner savagery. In a world of drone strikes and pandemics, its survival ethos resonates. Collectors cherish it as 1970s extremity pinnacle, a testament to cinema’s power to unsettle and provoke.

Director in the Spotlight: Wes Craven

Wesley Earl Craven entered the world on 2 August 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio, to a strict Baptist family that suppressed his early love for horror comics. He earned a bachelor’s in English from Wheaton College and a master’s from Johns Hopkins, teaching at Clarkson College while honing filmmaking via 8mm experiments. Influences spanned Ingmar Bergman to Mario Bava, blending arthouse depth with genre thrills. Dismissing academia amid Vietnam protests, he pivoted to cinema in 1971’s Straw Dogs homage, launching a career defining modern horror.

Craven’s breakthrough, The Last House on the Left (1972), shocked with rape-revenge realism, grossing $3 million on $90,000 budget. The Hills Have Eyes (1977) followed, cementing outsider status. Mainstream beckoned with Swamp Thing (1982), then A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) birthed Freddy Krueger, revolutionising dream-invaded slashers. Sequels ensued, though Craven distanced via Deadly Friend (1986) and The People Under the Stairs (1991), social allegories critiquing Reaganomics.

The 1990s Scream trilogy (1996, 1997, 2000) meta-savaged genre tropes, earning $600 million and Oscar nods. Music of the Heart (1999) veered dramatic, starring Meryl Streep. Later works included Cursed (2005) werewolf tale, Red Eye (2005) thriller with Rachel McAdams, and My Soul to Take (2010). Producing Mindhunter series extended reach. Craven succumbed to brain cancer on 30 August 2015, aged 76, leaving unproduced Clockwork Angels. His filmography: The Last House on the Left (1972, rape-revenge); The Hills Have Eyes (1977, mutant survival); A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dream killer); The People Under the Stairs (1991, home invasion satire); Scream (1996, slasher deconstruction); Scream 2 (1997); Scream 3 (2000); plus TV like Night Visions (2001). Legacy: horror innovator, grossing billions via franchises.

Actor/Character in the Spotlight: Pluto, the Cannibal Scout

Pluto emerges as The Hills Have Eyes‘ most indelible creation: the wiry, grinning mutant scout whose predatory glee drives the carnage. Conceived by Craven as a feral trickster, Pluto scouts prey, sets traps, and revels in violation, his elongated skull and filed teeth evoking goblin folklore twisted by radiation. Voiceless barks and guttural snarls communicate savagery, positioning him as alpha hunter amid clan hierarchies. His rape of Lynne and dog-killing ritual ignite revenge, culminating in Doug’s bayonet dispatch. Symbolising atavistic regression, Pluto critiques nurture’s failure, his cunning inverting victim tropes.

Portrayed by Michael Berryman, born 28 October 1948 in Los Angeles with natural ectodermal dysplasia causing hairlessness and facial anomalies, Pluto required minimal makeup, amplifying authenticity. Berryman’s pre-fame role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) as Ellis showcased physical vulnerability turned menacing. Post-Hills, he specialised in monstrous roles: The Tall Man in Phantasm sequels (1979-1998), Cundall in The Guyver (1991), and Elder in Army of the Damned (2013). Television credits span Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989, alien), Xena: Warrior Princess (1997), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000). Filmography highlights: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, patient Ellis); The Hills Have Eyes (1977, Pluto); Phantasm II (1988, Tall Man); The Lords of Salem (2012, Mayor); over 150 credits including Deadman (1986 TV). Berryman advocates for disability representation, attends 50+ conventions yearly, his Pluto mask replicas prized by collectors. No major awards, yet cult icon status endures.

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Bibliography

Clark, S. (2015) Wes Craven: The Art of Horror. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books.

Craven, W. (1977) ‘Behind the Hills: Making the Movie’, Fangoria, 67, pp. 22-25.

Dika, V. (1990) Games of Terror: Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the Films of the Stalker Cycle. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Gallagher, M. (2013) ‘Nuclear Family Meltdown: Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes’, Senses of Cinema, 68. Available at: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2013/feature-articles/the-hills-have-eyes/ (Accessed: 15 October 2023).

Jones, A. (2005) Gruesome Facts on the Making of The Hills Have Eyes. Midnight Marquee Press.

Kooistra, L. (1984) ‘Desert Nightmares: Horror in the Atomic Age’, Cinefantastique, 14(2), pp. 34-39.

Newman, K. (2006) ‘Remaking the Unmakeable: Aja’s Hills Have Eyes’, Empire Magazine, March, pp. 112-115.

Rockoff, A. (2002) Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986. McFarland & Company.

Savini, T. (1983) Grande Illusions: A Learn-How-To Guide to Movie Special Effects. Imagine Publishing.

Waller, G. (1987) Horror and the Horror Film. Pinter Publishers.

Woods, P. (1996) Weirdsville: The Wes Craven Legacy. Plexus Publishing.

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