🎬 The Hills Run Red (2009) – Review 🩸

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

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📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview:

In a world where horror movies are everywhere, there’s one film so disturbing it vanished without a trace: The Hills Run Red. Obsessed with finding it, a group of film students ventures deep into the woods to uncover what happened. But as they dig into the myth of the missing film and its sadistic masked killer “Babyface,” they realize the movie never stopped shooting.

What starts as a cinephile treasure hunt quickly becomes a brutal slasher descent into madness, legacy, and exploitation.


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🎭 Character Rundown:

Tyler (Tad Hilgenbrink) – Horror nerd turned doomed documentarian. Think if Randy from Scream thought he was directing Hostel.

Serena (Janet Montgomery) – The daughter of the lost film’s director. Unhinged? Yes. Drug addict? Also yes. But she’s also the key to the film’s mystery.

Lalo (Alex Wyndham) – Tyler’s best friend and designated cannon fodder.

Alexa (Sophie Monk) – The pretty blonde girlfriend with zero personality who exists for one purpose. You’ll see.

Wilson Wyler Concannon (William Sadler) – The missing director of The Hills Run Red, and this guy puts “demented” in auteur.

Babyface – The masked slasher with a stitched-on porcelain baby doll face. Don’t laugh. He’s a tank. And he means business.

“Why I’ll Take Babyface Over Ghostface Any Day”

Make no mistake — The Hills Run Red isn’t some polished A-list masterpiece. It’s B-horror at best. But honestly? That’s part of the charm. It leans into its grime and grit, and in doing so, delivers something way more atmospheric than Scream ever dared to be.

While Scream is busy being clever, winking at the audience with its endless meta-commentary, The Hills Run Red commits to the horror. It wants to scare you, not just entertain you with how self-aware it is. And that’s where it won me over.

Let’s talk killers: Babyface is unsettling in a way Ghostface never was. That porcelain doll mask? It’s childlike and horrifying at the same time — like if trauma wore a Halloween costume. He doesn’t just chase; he lurks. And when he speaks, it’s unnervingly calm, like when he tells a victim: “You can continue to scream, if it makes you feel better.” That line sent more chills down my spine than any Ghostface quip ever did.

Where Ghostface became a revolving door of sarcastic teenagers in robes, Babyface feels like a haunting relic from a forgotten film — mysterious, brutal, and rooted in something darker. He’s not trying to be iconic. He just is.




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⏱ Pacing / Episode Flow:

This film moves. No wasted time. We get from obsession to trauma to body count in record pace. Once the group reaches the woods and the lore of the “lost” film begins to unravel, it’s nonstop carnage, twists, and eerie atmosphere. Tight runtime and tight tension.


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✅ Pros:

Babyface is one of the most underrated slasher villains of the 2000s. His doll-face mask is terrifying in concept and execution. He’s got Michael Myers brutality with a sadistic twist. AND the backstory to match.

A clever meta-horror setup: a movie about a lost horror movie that turns out to be real? Yes please.

Gruesome kills. Practical effects. Gore galore. Horror fans eat good here.

That underground snuff film lab? Unsettling and brilliant.

William Sadler absolutely devours the role of the deranged director. Oscar-worthy in another universe where the Oscars valued depravity.



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❌ Cons:

Some characters exist only to die, which is fine for a slasher, but don’t expect depth.

It gets really mean-spirited in parts. If you’re not into torturey bleakness, this won’t be your comfort horror.

You might guess some of the twists early depending on how much horror you’ve consumed.

The ending, while intense, can feel a little rushed and nihilistic.



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🧠 Final Thoughts:

The Hills Run Red is a love letter to the genre that doubles as a vicious slap in the face. It’s brutal, self-aware, and absolutely drenched in blood and betrayal. Babyface deserves a seat at the slasher icon table right next to Jason, Michael, and Leatherface. And for the real ones? You already know this film never got the respect it deserved.


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⭐ Rating: 9/10

Creepy. Gruesome. Meta in all the right ways. Long live Babyface.


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🚨 Spoiler Warning! 🧵

🧟 Spoilers:

Serena’s dad, Wilson Concannon, didn’t just disappear. He kept filming The Hills Run Red—using real people. Yep. All that blood? Wasn’t fake. Yeah that concept to me works so well for a slasher film, using a real slasher killing real people then filming it then calling it a movie, and calling urself a director.

Turns out Serena was involved the whole time, playing the crew like a fiddle to bring more “actors” into her dad’s twisted production.

Babyface, the masked slasher, isn’t just a boogeyman—he’s Serena’s half-brother, raised in complete isolation and molded to be a real-life horror villain.

That mask? Stitched to his face as a child. Try sleeping tonight knowing that.

Lalo dies. Alexa dies. Everyone dies. But it’s all on camera. The line between movie and murder vanishes fast.

The final moments? Tyler ends up becoming part of the film… maybe the next director. After all, someone’s gotta keep the reel rolling, right?