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Late to the Party: The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

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Carrie

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) was a film that was just a few years before my time. I have seen the 2006 remake, but the original by Horror maestro Wes Craven was never one that really popped up on my radar. Even if you’ve kept up on the current crop of horror, and seen the remake, you should watch the original if you haven’t.

You will likely be familiar with the basic premise of the story. The Carter family is traveling through a barren landscape and suddenly becomes stranded. There is no help for miles around. In fact, the only ones for miles around are a family of twisted, feral cannibals, and they’re already sizing the Carters up as their next several meals.

The family isn’t completely helpless though. They do come with a few guns, and a pair of dogs, Beauty and Beast. Unfortunately, Beauty, is the first to go, as the cannibals know how dangerous the dogs are.

Then the terror begins. The Carters separate to look for help, and while the men are away, the monsters strike the women, killing two of them, and leaving you with one scene that heavily implies rape. They then steal the family’s infant and disappear back into the hills.

Beast steps up while the cannibals are returning, pushing one of them off a cliff in a moment that almost had me cheering. Then the dog returns to the family, before heading out with the lone man to take back the infant.

In the final confrontations, Beast manages to first maim and then kill a second of the bloodthirsty hill-dwellers, making him the most heroic character in the movie, taking revenge for the death of his partner in the beginning.

The ending is abrupt, rolling the credits while the audience is still holding their breath. There’s a sense of finality, but not one of closure, instead allowing the viewers to simmer in the horror of what they just watched, giving the film a final punch to the gut you can’t just walk away from.

While The Hills Have Eyes is not gory in any real sense of the term (and certainly not compared to today’s movies), it makes sure you know what’s happening in scenes that remain brutal even without blood splashed across the camera lens.

In the age of found footage and torture porn, it’s hard for old movies to stay relevant. This one may not have the shock value it once had, but it still stands as a strong entry in the list of the best horror films ever made.

Check in next week for a look back at The Dead Zone by our own Kelly McNeely.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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