The Hills Run Red (2009)

Having similarities to other movies in the genre is not always a bad thing, and this handsomely bloody flick proves that imitation is the best form of flattery.

In this finely tuned death-fest, Dave Parker directs the story of Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrink, Disaster Movie, American Pie Presents Band Camp), a film student obsessed with a long lost, ultra-taboo film that he vows to himself to unearth and bring credit where credit is due. After finding the now grown-up little girl from the movie, and the directors daughter Alexa (Sophie Monk, Spring Breakdown), Tyler volunteers his girlfriend Serina (Janet Montgomery, Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead) and his buddy Lalo on a expedition traveling to the scenes found from production stills and the only known footage of the movie, the trailer. Alexa leads them through middle of nowhere, dense forest in search of the house where she spent her childhood, and where daddy kept all his film stuff. But between bad news locals and a demented, real life killer who's kept the movie going for all these years, who will be the last to survive and bring new light to the lost horror?

It's so much fun watching these straight to video movies, and though hoping for the best, you expect the worst. Thankfully this one landed in the "for the best" category. It started off slow, but after finding Alexa, the movie really picked up to a watchable pace. The acting, though not A-class, was pretty standard of a B film so I was happy with that. The cinematography and music really, really helped frame the situations, without it, this movie could have been a dumper. From first glance of the cover, you might think The Hills Have Eyes... well the title is the only similarity to it. This movie has more in common with Wrong Turn than anything else. The gore and special effects were pretty sweet, I can only think of one scene where it didn't look believable. The twist at three quarters through was pretty predictable, but the last five minutes are pretty insane, in the clinical sense.

6.7/10

Rated: R
81 mins