When Wes Craven Writes Bad Characters He Thinks of North Amercian Indians

The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven's original, has one of the finest opening music scores. I don't what it is about banjos or gee-tars that makes you realize just how hick and in-bred white-trash something really is, but it does it alright and this movie's introduction score is trash through and through.

The movie is exactly what you would expect from Wes Craven; creepy idea, bad-to-mediocre dialogue, terrible acting and a really nasty mustache.

The mustache belongs to a weird democrat who wears short shorts. The terrible acting is a group effort which works wonderfully. The bad-to-mediocre dialogue is the sole responsibility of Wes himself. At least the idea is creepy enough to keep your attention.

Desert. Nuclear testing grounds. A retired police man who hates 'niggers', 'hill-billies' who throw dogs off of rooftops, and his wife. Did I mention the gross humanoid creatures in the hill that grunt and grunt and grunt? Well, they top the whole story off as a nice bitter, rotten cherry.

There is a religious factor to the story. This factor interacts with the human factor. The family prays to God to keep them safe while they unknowingly trespass on the land of the forgotten, the land of people who a loving God would never let exist. Wes doesn't let you focus solely on this but he puts it there and lets you cook it on the back of your brain, he even crucifies a character in a roundabout way.

All the forgotten people seem to dress like Indians. They also talk like Indians. If Wes Craven ever met a Native man who's seen this movie I expect that Native man to kick him in the balls. I've met quite a few Indians and they certainly aren't the result of exposure to nuclear testing, nor are they all descendants of the once great and holy land Chernobyl.

Wes craven is a master of horror. There is no question about his place in history. Not only does he creep us out but he lets us creep ourselves out as well. Damn imaginations. One thing is for sure though, if you don't already have an healthy and natural fear of white people, you've got plenty of reason to now.