Hills Run Red [DVD] [2009] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

As any discerning horror fan knows, sometimes you have to trawl through an awful lot of bilge before you hit upon something worthwhile. Having sat through an awful amount of said bilge of late, it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch "The Hills Run Red". Even the title seemed a little strained.

Thankfully within minutes of it opening, and it has a particularly gross opening by the way, I knew I was in good hands! Firstly, it didn't look cheap and the credits were nicely rendered (it's amazing what a difference this can make to first impressions!) and, secondly, the actors could clearly act, which is always a bonus!

The story, such as it is and without giving much away, involves a young man's obsession with a notorious and unavailable slasher movie from the 80's. His quest to find out about him leads him and his small gang of friends to the woods and, as ever, there are very bad things lurking in them thar woods!

What followed was a good old fashioned, unapologetically nasty and creepy horror with more blood and guts than a messy abattoir!

Those who don't appreciate the genre may pick holes in the plot and moan about the general level of unpleasantness on display here but, for the true horror fans, this is what it's all about!

It's a no-brainer to watch, no doubt about it, but that's generally what I want from my horror, I want to see lots of killing and gore and occasionally, just occasionally mind, ask myself WHY I'm enjoying it!

On that front, THRR certainly delivers! The gore hounds among you will be satisfied by this one. It doesn't shy away from what's going on. It also boasts a pretty creepy, iconic-looking bad guy in Babyface who, once upon a time at least, would've surely been fit for a franchise.

So, all in all, a bit of a straight to DVD gem in the murky horror waters! They don't come along very often, the last one I recall was called Frayed and also rather good, so, if you get the chance, this is well worth a watch!

Not too bad. Lots of graphic imagery but because some of it is presented within the context of a film within a film this dilutes the effect a little, impressively done set pieces though as are all the slayings in this film.
A gaggle of 20 somethings go off into the wilderness to trace the banned and lost print of the extreme horror 'The Hills Run Red' one of them being the daughter of the one time director who hasn't been seen for years. You know what happens next.
Not bad as I said, I thought the directors daughter was wholly unconvincing in just about every scene she was in however, not so much with her acting as her character, direction, storyline etc. The whole initial heroin addiction sex worker thing was lamentably depicted, really dumb and unrealistically presented. That asides it was a horror that endeavoured to put a new spin on an old theme. The 'leatherface' character which always exists in films like this was pretty good though the genre are running out of masks now (cherub was done in 'Valentine') although there was an extra edge to this particular characters disguise.
This will divide many so having inadvertently seen it twice in 3 weeks I'm happy to hog the fence on this one. If you don't tire easily of this type of genre there's probably something here for you.

WARNING!!!CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

Horror director Wilson Wyler Concannon(William Sadler) dissapears after a film he made in 1982 called 'The Hills Runs Red' is pulled from circulation. All that is left of the film, is a trailer on the internet. Film Buff and student Tyler(Tad Hilginbrink) is determined to track down the notorious film, and enlists the help of his friend Gabe and girlfriend Serina. Tyler tracks down Concannon's only known living relative, his daughter Alexa(Sophie Monk), who is pretty messed up and working in a lap dancing club. The four travel to the locale of Concannon's house, with Alexa as their guide, to rescue the elusive film from obscurity. What they find instead is a horror way beyond their imagination.
I really liked this gory slasher. It really does what the title says, as the red stuff does run very freely indeed. It starts off in slightly pedestrian fashion, but once inside Concannon's house of horrors, things get very freaky. I found the film quite disturbing, not only the graphic violence but the implications of child abuse too. Okay, the climax of the film is a little overblown, slightly spoiling the creepy build up, but I thought the closing scenes during the 'special screening' of the film, in Concannon's Cinema of horror were great. I also liked the 'spider and the fly' aspect with Tyler gradually awakening to the fact that he's not in control of the situation at all, but in fact he's been picked by his subjects all along. As for the performances, well they are all competant, but Sophie Monk excels as Alexa. Only Sadler dissapoints, as he's a little hammy as Concannon.
A very enjoyable gory horror. 4 out of 5.