The Carter family consists of Bob and Ethel, their adult children Brenda and Bobby, and their baby daughter Katie. They are traveling from Ohio to California in a recreational vehicle (RV) for a vacation. While driving through the New Mexico desert, they lose their way and their tires get punctured by hidden spikes on the road.
Bob and his son Bobby go to look for help while the rest of the family stays behind with the RV. Bob and Bobby stumble upon a nuclear test site and a nearby deserted mining town with mutated corpses and evidence of radioactivity. They also encounter a group of deformed, cannibalistic, and savage mutants who have been living in the area for generations, having been exposed to radiation from the atomic tests.
The mutants attack and kill Bob and Bobby, and then set their eyes on the rest of Carter family. Ethel is raped and burned alive, Brenda and her boyfriend Doug are captured and tortured, and Doug is ultimately killed. The mutants also kill the family dog and take baby Katie.
Lynne, the remaining Carter daughter, and her husband, Doug's friend, Doug Jr., return to the site of the RV to find the rest of the family. They find the carnage and are soon attacked by the mutants. Lynne and Doug Jr. manage to fight off and kill some of the mutants, but are ultimately chased down by the leader of the mutants, a large and deformed man named Jupiter.
In the climactic showdown, Lynne and Doug Jr. fight for their lives as Jupiter and his remaining followers try to kill them. Lynne manages to kill Jupiter with a flare gun and save her sister Brenda, who had been taken captive. The survivors then leave the area and are rescued by a passing truck driver.
The Hills Have Eyes is a gruesome and unsettling horror film that explores the themes of survival, human depravity, and the consequences of atomic testing. The film was remade in 2006, with Alexandre Aja as the director, and received generally positive reviews.