Halloween Guide: THE HILLS RUN RED

In the dark spirit of the Halloween season I’ll be taking some time to share with UTF readers a few horror flicks they may have missed and would be great to catch this October. Check out the first instalment in the series – my review of The Horde!

A well layered mystery in the guise of a typical slasher, with a keen sense of homage in the vein of SCREAM and CABIN IN THE WOODS. If this interests you I strongly recommend the criminally under seen THE HILLS RUN RED.  On paper the film sounds cheap, and even the opening 10 minutes support this. All the clichéd elements are here, from rednecks to kids in the woods. Yet John Carchietta’s turns all your presumptions  against you.

The difference though from this film to say scream, he does not find humor in these moments but genuinely cool twists and creepy moments. The film starts with an unremarkable a college student, Tyler (played by Tad Hilgenbrick) obsessed with tracking down a copy of a legendary horror film, screened only once. He has been obsessing over the film’s trailer which is the first clue in this twisted mystery. With two friends he tracks down a cast member from the film named, Alexa (Sophie Monk) who brings him into the wilderness to show where the film was shot.

I know this synopsis sounds typical repetitive and dull, and that’s fair.  THE HILL RUN RED‘s greatest strength is in finding new elements with the tropes that are present. It begins with the cast of explorers who are not merely fodder for the killer. They act intelligently defying all expectations of the genre they are in. If you are in search of a brutally violent horror film, with layers of mystery you will be hard pressed to do better. The final reveal is devastating and will leaving you feeling very satisfied.

M.R. Gott really dug this film and thinks you will as well