Horror remakes tend to be hit-or-miss, but a 2000s movie that just joined Tubi remains one of the best ever. The free streaming platform just kicked off February with a wave of new streaming content. Now streaming alongside other additions like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Mortal Instruments is an iconic remake of a 1970s classic horror movie that is actually worth watching.
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Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes is a classic for a reason – it’s gritty, low-budget horror that evokes a visceral, unsettling experience. It’s one of those movies that begs the mantra, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” which made it all the more surprising when director Alexandre Aja took a shot at a remake in 2006. That movie, now regarded as one of the best horror remakes of all time, started streaming on Tubi on February 1st. Like the original, the film follows a family on a camping trip who become stranded in the Nevada desert and soon find themselves in a fight for survival when they’re targeted by a family of cannibal savages.
The Hills Have Eyes Is a Rare Example of a Horror Remake Done Right
The Hills Have Eyes isn’t just a prime example of a horror remake done right; it’s a rare example of a horror remake that actually surpasses the original in practically every way. Aja managed to take a decades-old, highly regarded classic and refine it for a modern audience in a way that not only expanded the scope of the 1977 original without losing its gritty, disturbing essence but also transformed it into a polished, relentless, and emotionally resonant horror film that still holds up today and even warranted a sequel, 2007’s The Hills Have Eyes 2.
Under Aja’s direction, the 2006 remake became a much more intense, personal horror. The movie introduced better-written, more relatable characters that resulted in a more emotionally charged climax and impactful survival struggle. Meanwhile, the expanded backstory of the mutants, revealed to be victims of American nuclear testing, added a tragic, complex dimension to their brutality and successfully tapped into the anxieties of post-9/11 America. Aja also delivered a movie with an absolutely unrelenting pace that barely gives viewers the chance to breathe and ups the ante with more extreme, shocking, and gory scenes, and the read-filled atmosphere only adds to that. Although Aja’s remake wasn’t an immediate success – the movie holds a 51% critic score and 58% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the Craven original’s 69% and 54% – it’s now considered one of the best horror remakes ever, and you really can’t go wrong with giving it a watch.
Other Horror Movies Now on Tubi
The Hills Have Eyes was part of a larger horror collection that arrived on Tubi on February 1st. Horror fans looking for a scare can now also stream films like the ‘90s cult classic Anaconda, the 2023 underrated horror movie Dark Harvest, and David Cronenberg’s iconic body horror The Fly. Other horror movies now streaming on Tubi include Escape Room, Insidious: The Last Key, and When a Stranger Calls.
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