The
"Hills Run Red" is a movie that is committed to the message
its villain believes in. No sub textual bull…just give them the
flipping kill. With some patience from the audience, this new take on
the killer in the woods genre delivers to the gore starved with enough
intelligence that it will not waste the casual moviegoer's time.
Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrink
from "The Lost Boys 2") is obsessed with the concept that
there was a movie that was so shocking that all of its prints were pulled
from theaters to never be seen again. This movie is the late director
Concannon's (William Sadler from "Die Hard 2" and "Bill
and Ted's Bogus Journey") only film, "The Hills Run Red".
Desperate to see this film, he has tracked down the director's daughter
Alexa. In exchange for dragging her away from stripping and her heroin
addiction, she has agreed to take Tyler, his best friend, and his girlfriend
to where the film was shot.
Of course when
anyone goes out to the woods in the name of horror, there are crazed
rednecks and a legendary killer to torment and hunt them down leaving
us wondering who or what will survive. Will it be a protagonist, a killer,
or the documentary footage, or could something even more twisted be
all that remains where the hills run red?
If more than
just a made for video effort was put into "The Hills Run Red",
a good January/February theatrical release could have come from producer
John Carchietta's ("Wicked Lake") story. It has all the gore
and nudity needed to draw the horror fans in, and a story that seems
far more interesting than desecrating one of Wes Craven's classic or
any 80's gimmick slasher. The film's slasher, Babyface, is definitely
far more interesting than a Jason or a miner. The blame may fall squarely
on the producer because aside from the frenzied climax, director Dave
Parker's documentary style works well, and John Dombrow and horror authority
David J. Schow's script is so twisted that the viewer will enjoy the
absurdity of it.
Instead,
the lack of funds prevents the film from looking any better than a Syfy
original movie. Not to say that is a bad thing. "The Hills Run
Red" maybe for Parker what "Dog Soldiers" was for Neil Marshall ("Doomsday",
"The Descent"). A lot of credit has to be given to Parker
and the very Eastern European crew for capturing a fun performance from
Sadler, and for making us believe that this was shot in the rural US
instead of Bulgaria.
"The Hills
Run Red" is a great made for video horror film, but sadly nothing
more. It is almost a tragedy to have wasted a possible indie smash by
only giving it enough to exist instead of ripping out the hearts of
those who are so quick to forget the original Craven classics for a
big budget knock off. Hopefully this film will lead to better things
for its director and writers, but if people do not go out and rent
it, "The Hill Run Red" team's may impersonate its own art.
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