Movie

The Hills Have Eyes

Name: The Hills Have Eyes
Released: 1977

1977

4Score

Absolute Cinema

Story over sermons. Cinema first.

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Is The Hills Have Eyes Woke? Quick Answer

The Hills Have Eyes scores 4/100 on the IsItWoke scale and is rated Absolute Cinema.

That is the story-first end of the scale for this film.

The dialogue is minimal and primarily serves to build tension and horror rather than deliver ideological messaging. Characters are developed through their survival struggles and reactions to danger, not as tokens or symbols.

See the full breakdown below.

Woke profile

How the score is shaped

Eight stored dimensions, each scored from 0 to 20.

Message

Characters

Story

Legacy

Politics

Lead

Tradition

Norms

Column height is the stored score out of 20

Message-first dialogue
1/20
Tokenistic characters
1/20
Ideology over story
1/20
Legacy rewriting
0/20
Modern politics injection
0/20
Protected protagonist pattern
2/20
Anti-traditional framing
0/20
Cultural normalization framing
0/20

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Why it received this score

Based on: Published title analysisConfidence: MediumLast updated: 2026-10-12

Key reasons

The dialogue is minimal and primarily serves to build tension and horror rather than deliver ideological messaging.
Characters are developed through their survival struggles and reactions to danger, not as tokens or symbols.
The story prioritizes suspense and terror over any social or political commentary.

View full breakdown

The film remains faithful to its original horror premise without altering legacy elements for ideological reasons.
The protagonist faces real threats and consequences, maintaining narrative credibility and tension.

Score signals

Signal	What was measured	Strength	Impact
Message-first dialogue	How much the dialogue, monologues, or character interactions feel driven by overt messaging, moral lecturing, ideological framing, or making a point instead of serving the story naturally.	1/20	+1
Tokenistic characters	How much characters feel inserted or shaped primarily for symbolic representation, political signaling, or demographic checkbox value rather than narrative depth, organic fit, or strong characterization.	1/20	+1
Ideology over story	How much the overall storytelling prioritizes ideological framing, message delivery, social commentary, or activism-coded narrative choices over pacing, conflict, immersion, and entertainment.	1/20	+1
Protected protagonist pattern	How much the protagonist fits the protected-protagonist pattern (agenda-driven character construction) rather than competence fantasy. Score HIGH only when: competence appears unearned or unexplained; protagonist rarely faces consequences; antagonists exist mainly to demonstrate protagonist superiority; narrative treats protagonist as symbolically superior; plot shields protagonist from vulnerability. Score LOW when: competence is grounded in training, profession, or past experience; protagonist suffers damage or setbacks; real physical danger and survival tension exist (normal action storytelling). Do not penalize competence fantasy.	2/20	+1

AI cultural analysis

A short read on tone, themes, and messaging — not a plot synopsis.

AI read

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) is a straightforward horror film focused on survival and terror in a hostile environment. Its dialogue is sparse and functional, serving to heighten suspense rather than push any ideological agenda.

Characters are portrayed as ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, with no indication of tokenistic or symbolic writing. The narrative is driven by the escalating danger from the cannibalistic antagonists, keeping the story firmly rooted in horror conventions without distraction from social commentary or modern political themes.