The Hills Run Red (2009)

Film student Tyler is obsessed with "The Hills Run Red," a lost film that is supposed to be the scariest movie ever made. He is looking for both the movie and its missing eccentric director Wilson Wyler Concannon (great fake director name!). After Tyler find's Concannon's daughter Alexa (who acted in the movie as a child) in a strip club, he hauls his girlfriend and friend (screwing behind his back) out into to the woods where the film was made and finds more than he bargained for.

This is a pretty nasty little movie. During the opening credits we see a boy cutting apart his own face before he dons the mask and moniker of Babydoll (the film within the film's slasher). That's the violence that disturbed me the most, but there is plenty more gore to come. I got a bit worried after one really terrible CGI effect early on, but that ended up being the only one I noticed (although it gets replayed later and still looks terrible even with a filter over it). When the twists and backstory get filled in later it includes child abuse, incest, and rape. I don't think this is trying to be a punishing or challenging movie (i.e. an Irreversible or Martyrs) so most of that is off camera, but it definitely wants to push buttons like a reckless 80s slasher.

The characters get just enough development to put the plot in gear and make them unlikable enough that no one will shed any tears when they meet a bloody end. That's a tough line to toe, though, because it means they aren't particularly compelling before the bloodshed starts. The movie is a brisk 75 minutes not including credits, so thankfully there is not too much time to get frustrated with these dipshits. I appreciate that brevity, but it does mean that some interesting ideas are underdeveloped. It's a letdown when the infamous movie finally turns out to just be a clip reel of on camera murders. The whole fake kidnapping with the rednecks made me think it was more elaborate, like they were creating an actual narrative horror film with a mix of actors and unwitting real victims in scenarios they created and filmed. My wife commented that once we find out it's just a snuff film it's no longer creepy, just sad. I guess that lines up with the movie's downer ending, though.

William Sadler as Concannon adds another role to the list of creeps and weirdos he has ably played (he gleefully delivers much of the horrific backstory... "Well... almost 13!"). Sophie Monk is generally just hired to play "hot girl," but she delivers a solid performance as the only character who gets to hit more than one note (She gets three! Junkie stripper/nice recovery girl/"Fetch!"). Tyler is played by Tad Hilgenbrink, an appropriately auto-generated sounding name for a default character creator looking dude. You could switch him out with any other bland white 20something in an 00s horror movie and I would not notice.

If you want a slasher with boobs, blood, a nasty streak, and a mildly clever conceit then this will probably satisfy you. I wish they had pushed the it further, but I'm sure other people will be happy it's not as meta as you would assume based on a post-Scream movie with this concept. Babydoll has a cool design, and there is a late-in-the-game modification to the mask that I liked even more. Not a waste of time, but also left me feeling a little empty with all the darkness for darkness' sake.

Question for the audience: Do you think that Tyler is worse at being a boyfriend, or worse at being a documentary filmmaker (I facepalmed when he yelled "Cut!" in the middle of his interview subject talking then missed something important)? Discuss amongst yourselves.