A woefully unprepared suburban family makes a quick detour in Nevada to visit their family's silver mine on their way to California. Unfortunate circumstances cause them to become stranded in the desert where they are then set upon by a group of deranged cannibals. There's a lot of buildup to the big assault which includes crucifixion, rape, and kidnapping. Until that happens it's mostly just watching the characters roam around in the dark. Something that is meant to build tension as you know the cannibals are watching from the top of the nearby hills, but I never found it to be really effective. For me the movie didn't take off until the sun came back up and the remaining members off the Carters started fighting back with some good old-fashioned ingenuity, rage, and a pet dog truly deserving of the name "Beast." Even the rape victim doesn't waste any time curling up into a ball. A nice touch as usually these are the kinds of characters that have been written to shutdown and become burdens on the other survivors. Having Susan Lanier's "Brenda" keep going and giving her the mental fortitude to come up with the movie's best trap after what happened to her is a nice feministic touch. One of the greatest strengths in this Wes Craven project is the setting. The arid desert scenery and backwater psychopaths make this feel like Mad Max meets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It's got a great tone that's only slightly marred by the film's greatest weakness; goofy villains. Something I've noticed in a lot of older horror flicks with insane antagonists is that these unhinged individuals will do some really silly stuff like absurd changes in the manner of which they speak. Like going from low growls to baby talk. This might have been frightening back in the day, but it hasn't aged well. Coming off as more corny than frighteningly deranged. Whether or not this was intentional on Craven's part in an attempt to imbue the film with some dark comedy I can't say for sure. I just know that it pulled me out of the experience a bit. While not one of the best in his catalog, The Hill Have Eyes is still a solid example of why Wes Craven is so iconic. An original idea that helped cement him as one of the greats of the genre. A good time for anyone who loves seeing victims strike back at their attackers and refusing to go down without a fight. You just have to make it through the slow first half, some annoying comedic moments with the cannibals, and be willing to accept an oddly abrupt ending.