Hillside Cannibals

Unrated

3/28/20061h 23m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ For 400 Years They've Hunted One Animal Only, Man. ~

Overview:

A group of teenagers in the desert become the prey of cannibalistic inbreds who live in the nearby hillside.

Director:

Leigh Scott

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$600,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

gore
cannibal
desert
mockbuster

Cast

Heather Conforto

~ as ~

Linda

Tom Nagel

~ as ~

Bill

Vaz Andreas

~ as ~

Callum

Frank Pacheco

~ as ~

Magnus

Erica Kessler

~ as ~

Rhian

Marie Westbrook

~ as ~

Tog

Thomas Downey

~ as ~

Towart / Mr. Pratt (as Tom Downey)

Crystal Napoles

~ as ~

Tearlach

Chriss Anglin

~ as ~

Ted

Louis Graham

~ as ~

Sheriff Lachlan

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Wuchak
Written 1 year(s) ago
6
Caves darkly lit, blackening the night

Several youths take a trip to the empty wastelands of SoCal to camp out and explore caves, but their plans are quickly ruined by the primordial denizens thereof.

“Hillside Cannibals” (2006) is a mockbuster of the remake of “The Hills Have Eyes,” which was released eighteen days earlier. One character makes a reference to “Deliverance on amphetamines” and I understand this, but the flick isn’t really reminiscent of that iconic film due to the Southwest desert milieu (as opposed to lush northeast Georgia). Rather, it’s a mixture of “The Naked Prey,” “Gargoyles,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and, of course, the original “The Hills Have Eyes.” S. Craig Zahler was obviously inspired by it for his superior “Bone Tomahawk.”

Long stretches feature no dialogue, combined with hellish caves, mostly at night, and a great primal percussion-oriented score, which is in the tradition of “The Naked Prey.” While the title might elicit giggles, the proceedings are (thankfully) taken seriously by the filmmakers & cast.

Costing $600,000, they did the best they could within their limitations, but it’s a little too one-dimensional and grim. There are several noteworthy females, but not enough is done with them. With more funds and a rewrite to flesh-out the potential, this would’ve been more memorable.

Still, it’s worth checking out if what I said trips your trigger. Considering what's been going on in places like Haiti recently, it's not something out of the realm of plausibility.

The movie runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, and was shot at Calico Ghost Town north of Yermo, California, a two-hour drive northeast of Los Angeles in the desert high country.

GRADE: C+/B-