Editorials
Underrated ‘The Hills Run Red’ Was an Excellent Meta Slasher That Deserved Its Own Franchise
Now that the second Happy Death Day film is out in theaters – and includes a mid-credits scene that sets up a Part 3 – it appears to have carved out space as a legitimate horror franchise, and has claimed the “Babyface” mask as modern slasher iconography. It’s an effective costume and the films in which it appears are fun, but it has had the unfortunate side effect of eclipsing another memorable slasher named Babyface: the one from director Dave Parker’s 2009 meta slasher, The Hills Run Red.
Whenever some website or blog publishes a list of “Underrated Horror Movies of the 2000s” – and there is no shortage of them to be found on the internet – The Hills Run Red continually shows up across many of them. Whether it’s a film that’s underrated because it doesn’t get the credit it deserves or if it’s simply underseen remains open to debate; what is less debatable is that it’s a movie with a fervent cult following, one that has only grown as the years have gone by and horror fans have had a chance to discover it. This is a movie that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. It’s brutal. It’s bloody. It’s badass.
Released as part of Warner Bros.’ short-lived direct-to-video “Warner Premiere” line, The Hills Run Red remains one of the best DTV horror films ever made – one that should have received theatrical distribution at the very least, and, at most, should have launched a franchise with its instantly iconic killer Babyface almost a decade before Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U. The character design is the stuff of nightmares; his backstory appropriately messed up. (As Freddy and Jason have taught us, never underestimate the value of a good slasher backstory). It’s not just the creation of a new villain that makes The Hills Run Red so memorable, though. It’s the way Dave Parker orchestrates the descent first into Hell, then into madness, that gives the movie lasting power.
The screenplay by splatterpunk legend David J. Schow (The Crow, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III) tells the story of Tyler, an obsessed film fan (Tad Hilgenbrink) who learns of the existence of a “lost” horror film, The Hills Run Red, rumored to be the scariest movie ever made. After locating a woman (Sophie Monk) who turns out to be the daughter of Hills’ reclusive director Wilson Wyler Concannon (William Sadler), Tyler coerces her to bring him into the woods to find Concannon and the film. Instead what he finds is that Babyface, the hulking, silent killer in The Hills Run Red, isn’t just a fictional character. He’s very, very real, and what awaits Tyler and his friends in the woods is scarier than any movie.
The Hills Run Red reimagines Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness for the horror geek set, sharing a commonality with works like Marisha Pesl’s novel Night Film, John Carpenter’s Masters of Horror episode “Cigarette Burns,” or even his 1994 feature In the Mouth of Madness, in which the protagonist becomes obsessed with finding some elusive figure and goes on a nightmare journey to get there, only to discover upon finding them that the nightmare is really beginning. In its way, The Hills Run Red is a self-reflexive story about our own relationship with the horror genre. Like Tyler, we want to see something evil, something dark, something “fucked up” when we watch horror movies. This is what we wanted, right? This is what we came here for. But Hills is about having that bluff called. Are you sure that’s what you want, Parker asks his characters – and, by extension, the audience. Then he proceeds to give us something so dark and evil that we regret having asked.
Coming as it does from Parker and Schow – two guys with a long history in the horror business – there’s a good deal of critique inside the movie, too. As The Hills Run Red enters its third act, as character motivations are revealed and things grow more and more nightmarish, the film also becomes a meta conversation about the genre itself. That’s probably inevitable when making a movie about movies, and to Hills’ credit, it never gets too far up its own ass so as to take away from the horror elements. In fact, it makes a point against doing just that, with one character explicitly stating “Nobody cares about that subtextual shit! Get to the kill!” One spotty CG-enhanced death aside, the violence in The Hills Run Red is glorious and brutal. The movie gets to have its cake and kill it, too.
Despite both properties using a masked killer called Babyface, The Hills Run Red couldn’t be more different from the Happy Death Day movies. The latter are fun, lively, PG-13 outings with a thick streak of sentimentality running through them. The former is a nasty piece of work – one that looks at Ugly straight in its blood-smeared face and refuses to flinch. And, yet, hopefully the popularity of one will lead to a rediscovery of the other. After a decade of flying under the radar, The Hills Run Red deserves it.
Editorials
‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel
The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.
The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.
Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.
With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).
It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.
The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.
The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.
Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.
Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
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