DVD review: The Hills Run Red-You've got the cutest little Babyface

“Fetch”


That one word jump starts what had been simply a fun and watchable entry into the modern slasher genre into something that turns itself on its ear and sets itself up as something fans of the genre should hope continues on as a franchise.

Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrink) is an aspiring filmmaker obsessed with finding a print of "The Hills Run Red", a notorious video nasty pulled from theaters just as fast as it had been released due to its shockingly realistic depctions of violence and gore. All prints had allegedly been destroyed and shortly thereafter the director as well. Following up on his only lead, he tracks the director's daughter down, finding her emplyed in a seedy strip club and supporting a heroin habit. Determined to find the movie, he holds her hostage and forces her to quit her habit cold turkey, waiting until she sobers up before having her lead him along with his girlfriend and best friend to the remote cabin that may hold the answers he is seeking. along the way, The Hills offers enough twists and turns to leave the viewer guessing as to what happens next. Parker made sure to avoid or at least shift around the standard conventions of the slasher.

While the cast isn't going to be thanking the academy anytime soon, the performances are a cut above what you'd normally see in this type of movie. Hilgenbrink does a good job of playing the obsessed, in over his head film geek that somehow remains likeable enough to convince his friend and girlfriend to tag along. He even shrugs of discovering they're schupting behind his back, figuring it's a price he'll have to pay for being so consumed in his work.

As Alexa, Sophie Monk has the hardest job in having to portray so many diverse sides in one film; the damaged junkie, the sexpot stripper, the cleaned up tour guide and the psychotic she bitch. Aside from some overacting towards the climax, she comes off very well. The second act of the film has her befriending the group and she comes off so genuine and warm here it makes her later actions all the more shocking. It doesn't hurt that she's a stunning beauty, I won't lie about that. Special props go out to Janet Montgomery as Serina, Alex's long suffering ignored girlfriend. She manages to pull off being a cheating harpie that tries to turn the table son her faithful man without coming of completely heinous. She also seems to have the best head on her shoulders when it comes to dealing all the carnage going around her, and the actress needs a commendation for two other things. First, she bravely immerses herself in a completely disgusting looking tub of goo in one of the coolest visuals of the film. Second, she does an amazing job of conveying fear and disbelief with her eyes and facial contortions. Also, she does a great job faking an american accent. Her native British one never slips out in the film, I would have pegged his as an American if I hadn't watched the behind the scenes. Surprisingly, only long time character actor William Sadler comes up short in his won't be spoiled here role. He's way too over the top in his delivery in what should have been a more subtle role where he simply guides the action to its conclusion.

The Babyface character is definitely one of the more interesting ones to pass through in a long time. Physically, he is far and away one of the more disturbing icons of fright to come along in awhile, with a massive hulking presences and a mask that resembles a broken doll’s head wrapped in barbed wire. The look is only half of the appeal. While he may be “slow”, he’s not simply the semi-retarded man-child we normally find in a slasher film. In one sequence, which I really wish Parker had explored just a tiny bit more, our potential final girl attempts to mollify the brute by singing the lullaby ‘Hush little Baby’-the ditty that had calmed the monster down in his cinematic debut. There’s a great little twist here, and I just deleted what I’d initially wrote, because it came so far out of left field, I’d feel like a jackass for spoiling it.

Dave Parker addresses the nagging details ignored so often in the genre. For example, he tackles the cell phone issue head on. It’s the simple reality that mobile devices are now tethered to everyone’s hip, and storytellers need to find something other than "there’s no reception out here" as a means to write the devices off. In The Hills Run Red, our characters remark that they’re getting ‘better reception than in the city’, and when the time comes, they’re able to contact emergency services. However, as they’re in the middle of a remote and unfamiliar woodlands, emergency services informs them that the area they’re in is comprised of many different sites, and without a landmark, it will be improbable anyone can find them in anything resembling a timely matter. With that thirty second scene, the cell phone has once again been rendered useless in a much more realistic manner than the ‘no service’ hackneyed chestnut.

Beauty and the Juggalo reject.

When Warner Premier first decided to release this direct to DVD, they had planned to release it as unrated in order to leave in all the extra crunchy gory bits. Somewhere along the way, the decision was changed and they submitted the film with the intention of getting an 'R' rating. The version that currently exists has ten minutes exised from the original version. While that news may disappoint some, I'm befuddled as to what they could have cut, becuase this is a veey raw and bloody movie, along the line sof french gorefests such as Inside or Frontier(s). The film's title sequence has a young boy slowly cutting off his own face with a pair of scissors and one of the best FX in the film has one of the victims bound in a metal corset that squeezes his intestines through the openings. The tree scene will have gorehounds standing up and applauding before going back to rewind the scene for multiple vieiwngs.  While there's not a ton of bonus features on the disc, there is a good thirty minute behind the scenes documentary that shows how many of the FX were created as well as the look and feel for the Babyface character. There's also a cool little bit when Janet Montgomery sees Babyface in makeup for the first time and it's a genuinely funny moment as she seems both scared and slightly embarrassed for being so at the same time.

The Hills Run Red was definitely one of the better thought out and creative I've seen in a while, and along with Hatchet, infused some new life into a sometimes stale genre. I'd love to know if they filmed more of the movie within a movie, as the faux trailer they created reminded me thematically of Eli Roth's Thanksgiving, right down to the voice overs and grainy print. Hopefully this does well enough on video to garner a follow up. Make sure to scan ahead in the closing credits to find the chilling fate of one of our characters.