The Hills Have Eyes Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

After his 1972 debut "The Last House on the Left," Wes Craven wanted to break away from the horror genre. But try as he might, Craven could not find anyone to finance a non-horror project. Producers wanted more thrills and chills from the filmmaker, and so Craven relented. The result was 1977's "The Hills Have Eyes," a nasty little movie in which a group of cannibals torments a suburban family in the Nevada desert. The film was a box office hit and spawned a sequel, a remake, and a sequel to the remake. Let's take a look at the franchise as we rank "The Hills Have Eyes" movies from worst to best. 

Wes Craven shot about two-thirds of "The Hills Have Eyes Part II" before the studio pulled the plug due to budget reasons. Then an unexpected thing happened: Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" became a box office smash. Desperate to cash in on Craven's name, the studio behind "Hills Have Eyes Part II" now wanted the film released — even though it wasn't finished. To compensate, Craven cut in footage from the first movie. The end result is, to be blunt, a piece of crap. It's mostly a rehash of the first flick with a few new characters. This is probably Craven's worst movie, although you can't really blame him for the wobbly production. 

In 2006, we got a "Hills Have Eyes" remake (more on that in a moment), which in turn spawned its own not-so-good sequel. In "The Hills Have Eyes 2," a group of National Guard trainees head into the New Mexico desert and end up running into the group of mutant cannibals we met in the first film. While the 2006 remake is surprisingly strong, this sequel feels lazy and tired. Sure, there's plenty of gore, but there's no real life or energy. It's better than the first, original "Hills Have Eyes" sequel, but honestly, that's not saying much. Feel free to skip this one.

As far as remakes of horror classics go, Alexandre Aja's 2006 "The Hills Have Eyes" is surprisingly good. It's pretty much the same movie as the first — a family on a road trip gets stranded in the desert and runs afoul of cannibals. But Aja adds a slick, polished style to the production and ramps up the brutality. He throws in the specter of nuclear testing creating the mutant cannibals and underscores the original film's underlying message that any of us can turn into bloodthirsty savages if we're pushed too far. This is a pretty nasty movie overall, especially for something released by a major studio. 

When it came time to make a new horror movie after "The Last House on the Left," Wes Craven headed to the library to research the horrific. During his research, he came across the legend of Sawney Bean, who allegedly lived in Scotland in the 16th century and fronted a clan of cannibals that killed (and ate) over 1000 people. Thus the germ was panted for "The Hills Have Eyes," which follows the Carter family. The Carters are headed to Los Angeles when they get stranded in the Nevada desert. That's bad enough, but things get worse when they're targeted by a family of cannibals lurking nearby. While Alexandre Aja's remake is good, Craven's original is still the best, primarily because the filmmaker's sensibilities elevate the pulpy material into something fresh and exciting.