The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Star Rating- 3
Length of Film- 89 minutes 
Director- Wes Craven
Cast- Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, Martin Speer, Dee Wallace-Stone, Russ Grieve, John Steadman, James Whitworth, Virginia Vincent, Lance Gordon, Michael Berryman, Janus Blythe, Cordy Clark, Brenda Marinoff, & Peter Locke

"Horror continued to infiltrate the most common place visions of domestic bliss, turning the American dream inside out... most horror films portrayed red-blooded Americans fighting for their own life...it was all about random violence, about unpredictability, about seeing the things you couldn't imagine around the next corner."

-Nightmares in Red White and Blue   

Which takes us to the 1977 film, "The Hills Have Eyes". This movie is a stereotypical 70's horror film. Much like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre where they stumbled upon this horrific event by accident. In this film, the Carter family was traveling across the dessert,  got stranded in the middle of nowhere, and their party got split up. Inbred savages preyed the area, and decided to have some fun with the Carter's. 

This movie made the list in my opinion because of gruesome rape scene, talk of cannibalism, the odd look of actor Michael Berryman, death of the family dog, kidnapping a child, and the huge winnebago explosion.

When I first saw the film, I thought they did special effects on Pluto (Michael Berryman), but they did not. That's what he looks like, and once I researched on Berryman, I found out he has a disorder called Ectodermal Dysplasia. 

"Ectodermal dysplasias are described as "heritable conditions in which there are abnormalities of two or more ectodermal structures such as the hair, teeth, nails,sweat glands, cranial-facial structure, digits and other parts of the body"-www.wikipedia.org

Pluto (Michael Bailey Smith) -2006 remake

Pluto (Berryman)-1977

I commend Berryman for using what God gave him, and choosing to go down the path of acting in the horror genre. Because when you look at him, you know there's something not right, and he played the inbred neanderthal very well. If you look at the photos up above, I believe that Pluto, 1977 looked more realistic, than when they remade "The Hills Have Eyes" in 2006. Pluto (Michael Bailey Smith) looked fake. You could tell that they enhanced his features with make-up, so I commend the casting directors who chose to hire Berryman for the role. 

The movie wasn't scary in my opinion, it was more gut wrenching/high anxiety, because you had sympathy for the family, and that's scary in itself. This was just a normal family that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone sitting in the theater in 1977, could've gone on a road trip, and it could've happened to them. Some people are scared of Godzilla, but in reality, that would NEVER happen. Savages stalking, murdering, and taking advantage of your family IS possible, and that's what makes this movie memorable and worthy to be on the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list.

Watch the movie and make an opinion for yourself, Craven hit the nail on the head writing this movie, because it fit in perfectly with what was popular at the time; the most horrifying thing that could happen, could be right around the corner.