The Hills Run Red (2009)
Production Company: Dark Castle Home Entertainment in association with Fever Dreams and Ludovico Technique
Executive Producers: Joel Silver, Steve Richards, Erik Olsen
Producers: Robert Meyer Burnett, Jonathan Tzachor, John Carchietta, Carl Morano, Roee Sharon Peled
Director: Dave Parker
Assistant Director/Unit Production Manager: Vessela Banzurkova
Production Supervisor: Jeff Shiffman
Teleplay: David J. Schow, based on the story by John Carchietta and the screenplay by John Dombrow,
Editor: Harold Parker
Director of Photography: Ilan Rosenberg
Music: Frederik Weidmann
Score Performed by: The Czech Film Orchestra, Jan Chalupecky, conductor.
Production Design: Antonello Rubino
Art Director: Ivan Rangelov
Special Effects: Monster FX: Mark Villalobos, Ron Karkoska
Visual Effects: Eran Barnea/Freestyle VFX
Conceptual Artist: Micheal Broom
Sound Effects/Sound Design: Steven Avila, Alexander Pugh
Title Design: Prologue
Costume Design: Jasmina Vasileva
Stunt Co-ordinator: Kaloyan Vodenicharov-Kalata
Locations: Sofia, Bulgaria
Running Time : 81 mins.
Cast: Sophie Monk (Alexa), Tad Hilgenbrinck (Tyler), William Sadler (Concannon), Janet Montgomery (Serina), Alex Wyndham (Lalo), Ewan Bailey (Sonny), Joy McBrinn (Belle), Raicho Vasilev (Babyface), Michael Straub (Gabe), Hristo Mitzkov (Jimbo), Georgi Dimitrov-Bomba (Lance), Ekaterina Temelkova (Sherri), Danko Jordanov (Actor Babyface), Ithai Dyakov (Teen Babyface), Petya Ivanova (Alexa, age 5), Elene Mshvidobadze (Alexa, Age 10).
Synopsis: Obsessed film geek Tyler is determined to track down film director Wilson Wyler Concannon, creator of the lost 80s slasher film The Hills Run Red. Enlisting the help of his friend Lalo, girlfriend Serina, and Concannon's daughter, Alexa, the group set off into the woods where the film was shot to make a documentary and track down the missing footage. Once inside, they discover there is more to the film, and its maker, than they could ever have dreamed.
William Sadler as Concannon, and Tad Hilgenbrinck as Tyler.
Directed by former Full Moon publicity head Dave Parker, who directed one pic for Charles Band's company (The Dead Hate the Living!), and made several behind-the-scenes docs for big budget films (X-Men 2, Spider-Man 2, Superman Returns), Hills began life as a low-budget ($350,000) project for production company Fever Dreams (Flesh for the Beast, Wicked Lake), but was picked up by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis's Dark Castle Entertainment (Thir13en Ghosts, House of Wax), when Bryan Singer, who was present at the shooting of the Fever Dreams teaser, recommended going direct to Warners who had just inked a 10 picture direct-to-DVD deal with Dark Castle.
Parker engaged screenwriter and Fangoria contributor David J Schow (The Crow) to rewrite the original script, and filming took place in Bulgaria, with British-Australian pop singer-turned-actress Sophie Monk as the provocative Alexa, Tad Hildenbrinck (Lost Boys: The Tribe) as Tyler, and William Sadler (Die Hard 2, The Mist) as Concannon.
The result works hard to play with genre conventions and provide richer character development for its characters, but falls a little flat in its execution. The hook of the lost movie is an excellent motivating factor, and the fact that Tyler has to redeem Alexa in order for her to act as a guide, coupled (and explicitly intercut) with the fact that his girlfriend is being unfaithful with his best buddy, are unfortunately counter-balanced by some poorly handled set-pieces – a weak Indiana Jones reference being the biggest missed opportunity - and thin papering over of logic flaws - the explanation of Babyface's parentage is a hard-sell even for an actor of Sadler's standing.
That said, the film delivers on the requisite gore and nudity, delivers a couple of nice surprises I won't spoil here, and allows for some intellectualizing on the effects of horror films on those who view them (adults and children alike), as well as old-school thrills versus the recent trend for wince-inducing gross-outs – Concannon's complaints: "This is a torture show, where's the emotion?", and "You lowered the tone, this is an atrocity." speak for the audience, who might wish for more of the well-designed, albeit dumb-as-a-stump Babyface, and less of the ball gag and straight razors.
The film may overreach itself, and its brisk running time leaves the feeling that something is missing (a longer, more violent cut including the character of Concannons's wife may never see the light of day), but compared to, say, the remake of Friday the 13th, this is still head-and-shoulders above the majority of stalk-and-slash efforts we've endured recently.
Extras are limited to an audio commentary with director Parker, writer Schow, and producer Robert Meyer Burnett, and a 28-minute making-of featurette.
Sophie Monk (Alexa) wearing some clothes.
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