Ruptured Review: The Hills Run Red

Country of origin- U.S.A
Year of release- 2009
Director- Dave Parker           
Stars- Sophie Monk, Tad Hilgenbrink, William Sadler 


 

I didn’t originally plan to review this film, but after seeing its opening credit sequence in which a small child cuts their own face off with a pair of scissors, I thought it was ideal for a review. The films surprisingly well crafted plot centres around a film obsessed college student who is attempting to find an obscure 80’s slasher film. So far I find the plot very relatable. The film he is looking for is called ‘The Hills Run Red’ when it was released it shocked and appalled everyone who watched it and was quickly buried and forgotten. The student looking for the film (Tyler) is so obsessed with finding the film he tracks down the director’s daughter. Who tells him that she can take him to the house where her father lived and worked from. Tyler eagerly agrees to go to the house and brings his friend and girlfriend along to film the whole thing as some sort of documentary project. But as the group begin to trek through the wood to the house they begin to see and hear strange things, and begin to realize that one cast member of the original film is still alive. The original films killer ‘Baby face’ begins to stalk his prey in an attempt to make his own film.  

 

I honestly went into this one with low expectations; both the poster and the trailer made the film seem like a very standard cookie cutter modern slasher with no personality or charm. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this film had its own little quirks and charm that made it very enjoyable to watch. From its fond homage’s to slashers gone by with its flash backs to the original film, to its at times almost self aware story which actually delivers some enjoyable twists that keep the story from becoming stagnant it was fun. I was also pleased to see the use of CGI had been kept to a minimum to make way for some fun practical effects. The film also offers some surprisingly unsettling, even disturbing scenes of torture and abuse that took me a little surprise.

 

However the film does have a few flaws, the first being the often poor acting; it could have definitely been worse but it was in no way good. My second problem with the film is something I have talked about before, and that is ‘torture porn’. The last 10 minutes of the film contains a great deal of what I would describe as tortureploitation i.e ‘torture porn’. This completely killed the pace the film had built up and caused the film conclusion to be not only unsatisfying but a little annoying. However overall the film was very good fun with penalty to keep you entertained. I give this one a 6.5/10 it is well worth a look.