10 Spine-Chilling Horror Movies Set In The Desert
4. The Hills Have Eyes
The mother of all desert-set horror movies, Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes pit an all-American nuclear family against a clan of cave-dwelling cannibals.
French director Alexandre Aja took the concept even further in 2006, with his remake of the same name. Re-imagining the cannibals as victims of nuclear experimentation, the film pits the all-American nuclear family against... well, an all-American nuclear family. Upping the gore and violence at the same time, Aja's remake improves on the aesthetics of Craven's work while staying true to its dark heart.
Setting the stage for this showdown: the unforgiving desert plains (and hills) of New Mexico. A washed-out, dirty, dangerous dustbowl, the desert is almost as threatening and imposing as the cannibals that the Carter family (led by Ted Levine) find there.
The film's sequel (2007) goes even further into the hills - and into the depths of the caves beneath - but ironically, going deeper and darker only loses sight of what made Craven and Aja's original(s) work.