By: Joe McCabe
Photos by: Sophia Quach
Fox Atomic, the folks behind The Hills Have Eyes 2 (the sequel to last year?s successful remake) invited members of the press to an unusual Saturday morning breakfast at last week?s New York Comic Con. Omelets and waffles were prepared for us, but before Jen (my FEARnet comrade-in-arms) and I could take more than a bite, Craven and his entourage?his son, and co-screenwriter on Hills 2, Jonathan and the film?s stars Daniella Alonso and Jessica Stroup?arrived. We were told we?d view some exclusive scenes from the film. Then the room was darkened and footage rolled. It showed a young woman, naked and covered in blood, giving birth to a repulsive baby mutant. Immediately after so doing, she?s beaten senseless by another mutant.

The lights came on. I glanced at Jen and we exchanged looks of open-jawed amazement. Then I looked down at my eggs, and realized I wasn?t very hungry. Across the room, several other journos were getting out of their seats and heading towards Craven. I looked back at my partner. ?Oh well,? I said, faking disappointment, ?gotta go to work.? Before she could respond, I dashed out of my seat, leaving Jen to decide how much she really enjoyed waffles?

Wes Craven is a walking contradiction. When I spoke with him I was amazed by how unassuming, how much of a gentleman he was. He?s created some of the most vividly disturbing images in film?from the horrific mutant attack in the original Hills Have Eyes to the unforgettable opening minutes of Scream. But, in the flesh, Craven?s a charming, soft-spoken fellow. An occasional twinkle in his eyes is the only indicator that he?s capable of making outrageous movies like Hills 2.

Craven told us his latest work was originally intended as a more direct sequel than the one it grew into. ?It came out of an idea we had that maybe one of the remaining family members was so traumatized that she joined the National Guard, and thought it would just be a local thing she did on weekends. Then as soon as she gets out of basic training she?s meeting with Doug and her brother, and they say, ?Well you?ve gotten a lot stronger.? And she says, ?Yeah, I feel great.? Then she gets a call from the company commander to show up at oh-seven-hundred tomorrow morning. She goes, and the assignment is to go back to where she was traumatized, with a bunch of guys, because they?ve found more hill people. So it was kind of that idea. Obviously that?s not what the story is now, but the idea of somebody who is kind of na?ve in the military, part of the military, that wasn?t expecting to be thrown into a full bloody battle, being thrown into such a thing was obviously germane and relevant. We didn?t back away from that, but we never had characters talking about it in a way like ?Why?d the government send us here?? or anything like that. They?re just delivering a piece of equipment to some scientists. They?re on their way between one training ground and a rifle range and they have to drop this box off in this area that?s a secret area, and they?re just supposed to get in and out in thirty minutes. So it?s more like, you go in expecting one thing and you find something completely different that you have to deal with. It doesn?t seem human, and then you start realizing, ?Wait, it is human. It?s as smart as a human, because they are human, and, God, what do we do? Because they act like animals.??

Craven was quick to point out the social implications of the film?s scenario. ?In that sense,? he added, ?I think that?s not unlike what American kids are facing every day now. And I think, in that way, it?s good to have more films that are relevant. It?s certainly stuff that I?m thinking about. It?s a little bit of a risk, because it?s not a family, and in the Hills tradition it?s a family in trouble. But, in a sense, a squad is kind of a family.?

Since he?s put so much fear in the hearts of others, I asked Craven what scares him. His response might have indicated additional motivation for making a film about a doomed military mission: ?I would say the present administration. I mean to me that?s the scariest thing, particular deconstructing the constitution, abolishing habeas corpus?to me it?s very, very scary. That?s as much as I?ll say about that. I?m not here to make any kind of political statement.?

But Craven was there to explain the statements made by Hills 2. ?This just seemed like a fun idea and relevant. We didn?t sit down and say ?What?s in the news?? or anything. But it seems to me none of us can get away from this. Not right now. It?s so much in the American consciousness. You just can?t get away from it, and it seems so frustrating and so painful that why shouldn?t films be dealing with subjects like this??

I mentioned that horror films tackle such subjects without fear. ?Yeah,? he said, ?I think they do. On a very primal level and a very subconscious level, they?re always about what?s most deeply disturbing in the culture, in the moment, in the current decade, or whatever it is. I mean, Frankenstein was just all about fear of emerging science, you know, and fooling around with the human body. Even moving into space, suddenly everybody was worried about aliens. There are things in the culture, at its nightmare level, subconscious level, it?s really struggling with. So that?s why I think these films are important.?

Besides Hills, Craven?s been working on remakes of his other films. ?We?re actually talking about doing Last House on the Left as our next film. With Sean Cunningham and everybody, we ironed out all the legalities of it, because the film had sort of been passed through many studios and entities, and I think we?ve got it all cleared out now. Essentially Sean and I [own it], as we found out. It?s funny?I?ve lived long enough for all these things to revert to us. The original [owners] said, ?Yeah, thirty years from now they?ll be dead.? But no, we?re not!?

Surprisingly, one of Craven?s least popular films is also in the remake pipeline?Shocker.

?There?s talk about it,? he said, ?and I think there?s a vague offer, and it could conceivably be through a Rogue Pictures deal?with Universal. Shocker was a Universal picture.?

That same deal may utilize Craven?s next entirely original script.

?I?m starting to write this thing for Rogue Pictures? [Hills 2] was very, very difficult, given the location and the timing and everything else. I kind of jumped in with both feet on this. But I?m getting back to writing?a script that we had been referring to as Bug, which was my original idea for the title, but it turned out Billy Friedkin got to it first. Now it?s called ?You know, that thing.??

Craven wouldn?t describe what that ?thing? might be, but he promised ?scary fun.?

Given his track record, I?m inclined to believe him. Even if he does owe me an omelet.