YMMV / The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

• Common Knowledge: No. The cannibal clan seen in the movie are not mutants created due to nuclear testing fallout. That was just an assumption made by audiences and critics at the time due to the film's location and the fact that the members of Papa Jupiter's family are Made of Iron. This misconception has spread into wider pop-culture however, to the point that the 2006 remake runs with that idea as the basis for it's own version of the cannibals.
• Complete Monster: Mars, eldest son of Papa Jupiter's family, is the most sickening and depraved of the lot. Having participated in the murder and cannibalization of numerous innocents over the years, Mars leads the attack on the Carter family, murdering the family matriarch Ethel and her eldest daughter Lynne, kidnapping Lynne's baby daughter, and raping the youngest daughter Brenda for fun with Brenda only surviving because Mars is out of bullets. Mars later attempts to butcher Katie, attempting to kill her father Doug when he tries to save her.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Pluto. He only has 30 minutes of screentime, but his striking appearance, Michael Berryman's performance, and the terrifying sequence where he sneaks into the trailer unbeknownst to anyone make him the most memorable villain and character in the film.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The very concept of the film, especially if you take into account that it was inspired by the story of Sawney Beane.
  • The violence in this movie is very brutal and ugly. It lacks the kind of over-the-top Gorn of so many slasher films. Instead it's more like what desperate people would really be doing if they were fighting for their lives against murderous sociopaths.
• Values Dissonance: The movie was heavily censored and was threatened with an X rating until the scenes were edited to get an R. Ironically, the violence isn’t even all that gory or graphic by modern standards or even compared to other slasher movies.

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