Scream Factory is releasing The Hills Run Red on Blu-ray for the first time on June 16, 2020. The special features will be announced in May.
Meanwhile, here is our previous coverage of this underrated slasher.
The Hills Run Red is a 2009 American slasher horror film directed by Dave Parker (It Watches; The Dead Hate the Living) from a screenplay written by David J. Schow (Abbatoir; Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III; Critters 3 and 4). Sophie Monk, Tad Hilgenbrink and William Sadler star.
Plot:
Tyler is obsessed with the horror film ‘The Hills Run Red’, considered the scariest movie ever made, with the deranged serial killer Babyface in the lead role. However, the film’s director, Wilson Wyler Concannon, disappeared years ago and there is no known copy of the movie. Tyler’s obsession with the film leads him to neglect his girlfriend Serena.
When Tyler discovers that Concannon’s daughter Alexa works in a nightclub as a stripper, he decides to meet her and ask about the lost film.
He visits Alexa and asks her about the project. As she gives him a nude lap dance, the audience sees Serena cheating on Tyler with their best friend Lalo. Alexa informs Tyler that the movie might be in her father’s home in the woods…
Reviews:
“Along with being a solid horror entry in its own right, The Hills Run Red pays tribute to the films that inspired it, making it doubly rewarding to fans, who’ll surely smile at the odd reference to yesteryear, all as they’re being terrified anew by the slaughter playing out before their eyes.” 2,500 Movies Challenge
“What starts off as a potential “young people stalked in the woods” flick mutates into something much more original, twisted, sick and plain entertaining around the halfway mark. Once Concannon shows up, very much alive and well, this rollercoaster takes a whole new direction and very soon you’re forced to abandon what you think is going to happen and just sit back for the ride.” Dread Central
“This maniacal, gory, and smart slasher is exactly what we need more of in the sub-genre. While it does try its hand at being a “Scream” wannabe in some instances, that doesn’t affect what is a maddening, sick and entertaining slasher film with a great new slasher, some interesting horror villains, and a wicked premise that provides us with chills, thrills, and gory, gory kills.” Cinema Crazed
“The Hills Run Red has a solid and interesting, if not entirely original, premise and a terrifying antagonist in ‘Babyface’ but it suffers from a script that’s not nearly as clever and knowing as it thinks it is and some poor plot development. While not a completely wasted opportunity, given the promise it had it ends up feeling a little too much like the prosaic slasher flick that we’ve seen a million times before.” Gore Press
“The killer, lumbering about the woods in a pretty nifty mask made of a broken dolls face does look pretty intimidating, eerier than your average boogeyman, but he too falls prey to genre clichés towards the end of the picture, where you’ll not be in the least bit surprised even by the ‘twist’ that the filmmakers thrust upon us as the end credits role.” Rock! Shock! Pop!
“While The Hills Run Red isn’t blazingly original, that’s not the point with this film. It’s a flick for film geeks by film geeks, horror film geeks in particular. A lot of times, when a film is too self-referential or pandering to “that 70’s/80’s vibe”, I’m usually coughing into my sleeve by the end of the first reel. But in the case of The Hills Run Red, all the tropes work.” Screen Anarchy
“Really, the biggest knock against The Hills Run Red is that it doesn’t offer anything new; then again, slashers have always been caught up in the conundrum of being criticized when they simply rehash and then bashed when they try something new. This effort plays it safe, and it succeeds in delivering what audiences should expect from it (nudity and gore).” Oh, the Horror!
“It becomes another Texas Chainsaw wannabe with an overabundance of psychos, sleaze, unimpressive motives and a downbeat twist ending. And so it ends up in three-star land, a respectable showing for any B-movie of the stomp-and-kill ilk, perhaps a bit of a disappointment for genre aficionados who were hoping for the mooted next great horror icon…” Vegan Voorhees
“It delivers enough bloody mayhem and twists to keep your interest doing a good enough job to distract you from the fact Schow’s script tries to be a little bit too smart for its own good when attempting to deliver its “taking your art one step too far” message in the finale.” The Video Graveyard
Cast and characters:
- Sophie Monk as Alexa – Blood Feast [2016]; Life Blood
- Tad Hilgenbrink as Tyler – Amusement; Lost Boys: The Tribe; Grave Situations
- William Sadler as Concannon
- Janet Montgomery as Serina
- Alex Wyndham as Lalo
- Ewan Bailey as Sonny
- Joy McBrinn as Belle
- Raicho Vasilev as Babyface
- Mike Straub as Gabe
- Hristo Mitzkov as Jimbo
- Ekaterina Temelkova as Sherri
- Danko Jordanov as Actor Babyface
- Itai Diakov as Teen Babyface
Filming locations:
Bulgaria
