Sophie Monk’s investigation into a lost 1980s horror movie brings her into the presence of the dreaded Babydoll in THE HILLS RUN RED, co-scripted by VW’s own David J. Schow.
a San Francisco-based factory worker who avoids human con- tact because the touch of others awakens his gift/curse of being a medium. One carefully con- structed sequence follows an- other till the threads cross at a refreshingly civilized book fair. Going into the light, mes- sages from loved ones: this movie accepts the conventions of near-death experiences we’ve seen in many consoling fanta- sies, sometimes shamelessly escapist (GHOST) or tasteless (THE LOVELY BONES). Rather than resolve these elements, the story indicates the unhelpfulness of explanations and those who exploit them. Peter Morgan’s script is rooted in the pain and loneliness of this world, and the only message is the standard one of the importance of engaging with this life, not the next. It’s also engagingly literary, with Charles Dickens as a motif.
Tom Stern’s 2.35:1 image is crystalline and Eastwood’s clas- sicism feels right. Also appearing are Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr, Derek Jacobi, Thierry Nuvic, Lyndsey Marshal, Steve Schirripa, Richard Kind, Jenifer Lewis, and Meg Wynn-Owen as
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the Mirror Lady. There are En- glish and French soundtracks, with subtitles in those and Span- ish. There are three making-of’s, but the only essential one cov- ers the opening sequence; the $35.99 Blu-ray adds more and throws in Richard Schickel’s fea- ture-length documentary THE EASTWOOD FACTOR.
THE HILLS RUN RED
2009, Warner Premiere, $6.97, 80m 58s, DVD By Shane M. Dallmann
THE HILLS RUN RED (not to be confused with Carlos Lizzani’s 1967 Spaghetti West- ern—though the makers obvi- ously wouldn’t mind if you confused it with THE HILLS HAVE EYES) is the title of both the movie you’re watching and an infamous “lost” 1980s gore film obsessively sought by young horror nerd Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrinck) in the second DTV release from Dark Castle Entertainment. Both the “too vio- lent for theaters” feature (con- cerning the murderous exploits of a masked fiend known as Babydoll) and its director Wil- son Wyler Concannon (William
Sadler) have apparently vanished from the face of the earth, but Tyler has uncovered a juicy lead in the form of Concannon’s highly-troubled daughter Alexa (Sophie Monk), whom he locates working as a stripper. Unfortu- nately for Tyler, his completely non-sexual pursuit of Alexa opens the door for his girlfriend Serina (Janet Montgomery) and best friend Lalo (Alex Wyndham) to spend a little “quality time” to- gether; but secrets between friends or not, all four principals are soon off on a deep-woods pilgrimage to the set of the lost movie.
If you don’t find it remarkable that Tyler has no trouble finding Alexa by asking for her by her real name at a strip club, you might be surprised by where the story inevitably heads—and even then, the notes on the back of the DVD case will happily spell the whole thing out for you ahead of time. Still, the central gimmick is a good one (Ramsey Campbell’s novel ANCIENT IMAGES detailed the quest for a lost Karloff/Lugosi film, which led to significantly different but equally dire results), the cast is reasonably engaging, and the gorehounds to whom the
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