Review of The Hills Run Red (2009) by Brett B — 07 Jun 2016

THE HILLS RUN RED exists simultaneously as both a throwback to and a postmodern update of the slasher film. In the early going, it offers a fantastic hook for its plot, one which builds a legitimate feeling of lore and also gently skewers the sort of pretension that is found in a certain breed of film student.

The central characters are decently interesting, which is to say they don't fully feel just like stock "types." The narrative also takes some unexpected turns, including a development in the third act that I didn't see coming and which gives the final section a certain amount of freshness.

Also on the positive side, we have William Sadler going delightfully over-the-top in just the right ways. Where the movie stumbles is in its look; it's marred by a cheap aesthetic, and not cheap like classic '80s slashers were cheap, but cheap in that bland and nondescript way low rent movies look these days.

Even the lower budget horror films of the 1970s and 1980s still managed to look like actual movies with some amount of visual personality, but this film looks barely TV-level. The violence and nudity are gratuitous, as well, but that sort of comes with the territory.

THE HILLS RUN RED knows exactly what it is, isn't overly sleazy, and satisfies on the level that most average slashers do; it breaks no new ground, but I can't deny that I found it a fun watch.