The Hills Run Red (2009 Video)
3/10
Unfortunately didn't run out of filmtape
14 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Back in the 1980s famous great horror aficionado Wilson Wyler Concannon (William Sadler) was renowned for no movies whatsoever apart from one that wasn't even released, as it went missing. That movie is "The Hills Run Red", a story about Baby-Face, a guy who cut off his own face and sewed on a dolls mask to replace it and soon afterwards goes on a horror rampage. Enticed by the story and hoping that it becomes his own claim to fame aspiring director Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrink) decides to track down the long lost picture and its infamous director. This leads him to Concannon's daughter Alexa (the beautiful and oft naked Sophie Monk), now working as a stripper in a biker's pub. After convincing her to partake in his endeavour he takes a camera and two filmmaker friends to retake that which had been forgotten.

Dark Castle Entertainment has an unrivaled gift of releasing crappy horror flicks in succession with the odd gem hidden behind a cascade of crappiness. This one unfortunately flows down straight to the gutter together with flicks such as "The Reaping" or "Thirteen Ghosts". The main flaw of all these seems to be exceptionally poor character development and script inadequacies substituted by extreme gore. This time around we actually have a lot of promise in the movie, which runs like a "Friday the Thirteen" ripoff for large parts of its runtime, only to counterpoint this with some "Scream" type movie references. Some scenes hilariously hit the spot, with Baby-Face's out-of-character response to one of the hapless victims a delightful highlight of this otherwise poor movie.

Despite some admirable qualities the twist introduced two-thirds into the movie largely fails. In a big part due to the incapability of William Sadler and Sophie Monk to carry their roles. Their bickering about the art of horror films is irritating and badly written, which doesn't help in the plot resolution, as this was the issue that would either carry or drown the movie (especially the poorly scripted debate between old-fashioned slashers and modern gorno).

It isn't entirely a waste of time and those fans of over-the-top gore (occasionally going into gorno territory), but given the limited emotional involvement and the sub-par payoff it seems like a wasted opportunity for a decent horror. As it is I would suggest passing and seeking out the Rob Zombie "House of 1000 Corpses".
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