Hillside Cannibals

**_Caves darkly lit, blackening the night_** Several youths take a trip to the empty wastelands of SoCal to camp out and explore caves, but their plans are quickly ruined by the primordial denizens thereof. “Hillside Cannibals” (2006) is a mockbuster of the remake of “The Hills Have Eyes,” which was released eighteen days earlier. One character makes a reference to “Deliverance on amphetamines” and I understand this, but the flick isn’t really reminiscent of that iconic film due to the Southwest desert milieu (as opposed to lush northeast Georgia). Rather, it’s a mixture of “The Naked Prey,” “Gargoyles,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and, of course, the original “The Hills Have Eyes.” S. Craig Zahler was obviously inspired by it for his superior “Bone Tomahawk.” Long stretches feature no dialogue, combined with hellish caves, mostly at night, and a great primal percussion-oriented score, which is in the tradition of “The Naked Prey.” While the title might elicit giggles, the proceedings are (thankfully) taken seriously by the filmmakers & cast. Costing $600,000, they did the best they could within their limitations, but it’s a little too one-dimensional and grim. There are several noteworthy females, but not enough is done with them. With more funds and a rewrite to flesh-out the potential, this would’ve been more memorable. Still, it’s worth checking out if what I said trips your trigger. Considering what's been going on in places like Haiti recently, it's not something out of the realm of plausibility. The movie runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, and was shot at Calico Ghost Town north of Yermo, California, a two-hour drive northeast of Los Angeles in the desert high country. GRADE: C+/B-