It's Spooky Season once again, my favorite time of the year! To kick it off, let's do a deep trivia dive into the classic 1977 movie "The Hills Have Eyes." It's one of Wes Craven's career high points, that's for sure. Brutal and uncompromising, and it still holds up today. Alas, it did lead to one of Craven's worst outings, with "The Hills Have Eyes Part 2" but we won't talk about that. Anyway, the usual format, with questions followed by the answers, many SPOILERS ahead, etc.
Questions:
1) What is the name of the old man's gas station/store?
2) According to the sign, how many miles away is the next source of gas?
3) According to the old man, why were authorities investigating the area lately?
4) What is the name of the town where the old man buys his supplies?
5) To what city is the Carter family heading?
6) The Carter family is in this remote area because of a gift. What was it?
7) Which family member gave the gift for Question #6?
8) Bobby is wearing a t-shirt with a university's name on it. Name this school.
9) What number anniversary are Big Bob and Ethel about to celebrate?
10) How much does the old man charge the Carters for the gas they buy?
11) According to the old man, how long ago did the mine stop producing ore?
12) Big Bob just retired from his job as a police detective. From what city?
13) What turnoff from the main road does the Carter family take after the gas station?
14) In Big Bob's (sometimes racist) diatribe, who does he say shot at him on two occasions?
15) What is the name of Big Bob's doctor?
16) What kind of bird does Bobby see, and identify to Brenda?
17) According to Ethel, via Marlon Perkins, how many feet long can rattlesnakes get, and in how many minutes can their venom kill you?
18) Someone in the Carter clan is seen killing an animal. What kind?
19) Where is Doug heading to on foot, and about how far away is it supposed to be?
20) According to Big Bob, about how far away is the old man's gas station from where the Carter vehicle breaks down?
21) What beverage does Lynne express a craving for, along with a shower?
22) The family discusses how their dog Beast killed a poodle previously. Where?
23) While calling for help on the CB radio, Ethel uses the wrong code word. What is it?
24) What call sign code identity does Lynne use on the radio?
25) Where do Lynne and Doug live?
26) According to the old man, when did he and his wife settle in the area?
27) What was the name of the old man's wife?
28) According to the old man, how heavy was his son (Jupiter) at birth?
29) In what month and year did Jupiter burn down the original family home?
30) How did Jupiter acquire a woman to breed with?
31) According to Doug, how far away was the military tower, dump, and the end of the road?
32) The feral family's Mama is seen drinking an alcoholic beverage. Name it.
33) A message on the blackboard by the door of the trailer says to call someone. Who?
34) What member of the feral clan syphons the gas from the station wagon, using his mouth and a hose?
35) What brand of digital clock is seen in the trailer?
36) What two brands of soft drink are seen in the trailer refrigerator?
37) What three identifiable things does Mars eat in the trailer?
38) What member of the feral clan fatally shoots Lynne, and then who fatally shoots Ethel?
39) Who stabs Mars in the thigh?
40) Who kills Big Bob?
41) Who kills Mercury?
42) What is the name of Doug and Lynne's baby?
43) True or False? The feral clan is seen engaging in cannibalism.
44) While calling for help later, Bobby uses a different CB radio call sign. Name it.
45) What does Pluto say he is on the CB to fool Bobby into revealing important information about the Carter's situation?
46) Jupiter accrues four types of injuries from Bobby and Brenda. Describe them.
47) Mars accrues several kinds of injuries as well. Describe them.
48) What is the eventual fate of the feral clan's Mama? (Conjectural)
49) Who killed Beauty (the Carter's female dog)?
50) What is Doug's (and presumably Lynne's) last name? (It's never spoken aloud, but it's in the credits.)
51) Why didn't the feral family kill the old man (their grandfather) much earlier than they did? (Conjectural)
52) Where is the movie set?
53) Was the feral clan inbred? (Conjectural)
Answers:
1) Fred's Oasis.
2) 200 miles. When we see the maps, though, this is clearly an exaggeration.
3) Because the feral family recently raided an Air Force PX.
4) Corn Creek.
5) Los Angeles, California.
6) Big Bob and Ethel were given the deed to an old silver mine.
7) Their Aunt Mildred.
8) Ohio State University.
9) Their 25th, or silver anniversary.
10) $6.80
11) 40 years.
12) Cleveland, Ohio.
13) Strike Creek Road.
14) His fellow police officers. (Hopefully by mistake, but who knows?)
15) Dr. Springer.
16) A turkey buzzard, "the janitor of the desert." (Online sources say it's really some kind of hawk.)
17) 20 feet long, and 8 minutes, or possibly, 8 feet long and 20 minutes. In reality, 8 feet long is about the upper range for a large rattlesnake, but their bite doesn't usually kill this quickly. It depends on the amount of venom injected, where on the body it bites you, etc., but most victims have enough time to get medical treatment, and survive.
18) Lynne kills a tarantula she finds crawling around in the trailer.
19) A military installation, approximately 6-7 miles away.
20) 15 miles.
21) A gin and tonic.
22) Miami.
23) Instead of saying, "mayday," she says, "maypole."
24) Mobile Unit 2345 CB. Which is actually not their personal call sign, but the type of radio they're using. (See Question and Answer to Question 44.)
25) New York City.
26) 1929.
27) Martha.
28) 20 pounds, and reportedly, he was as hairy as a monkey.
29) August of 1939.
30) According to the old man, "He stole a whore that nobody would miss."
31) About 5 miles.
32) J & B Scotch Whisky, the brand so popular in movies.
33) Johnson, when they get to Los Angeles.
34) Pluto.
35) An Avatar.
36) Coca-Cola, and A&W Rootbeer.
37) A handful of raw meat (hamburger?), some milk, and the blood from the neck of the Carter's pet bird. Also a bite of something greenish--maybe lettuce? (I couldn't tell for sure.)
38) Mars shoots both of them.
39) A dying Lynne, using Pluto's makeshift blade.
40) It appears to be Jupiter alone. Possibly aided by Mercury, but everyone else is accounted for.
41) Beast the dog pushes him off a rock overlooking a steep drop.
42) Katherine, or Katy for short.
43) True, we see them dining on Big Bob's remains.
44) Breaker 1 Niner for KUY 9532.
45) He pretends to be a member of Air Force Rescue.
46) He's dragged on the ground through brush from the cable trap, he's part of, or at least near, the trailer explosion and suffers some burns, is hit by Brenda's hatchet blows, and finally Bobby shoots Jupiter twice, finishing him off.
47) As mentioned before, Lynne stabs him in the right thigh, Doug shoves him down, and hits him with several rocks, including in the head,. Then Ruby induces a rattlesnake to bite Mars on the back of his neck or upper back, and finally Doug finishes him with several stabs to the chest.
48) It's unknown. She's not at any of the attacks, so is presumably alive at the end of the movie back at the feral clan's home. She's not seen in the 1984 sequel. Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury definitely die in this movie, and Pluto was killed or at least mortally wounded (he's somehow resurrected for the sequel). Ruby is getting friendly with the Carters at the end of this movie, and in the sequel is living in civilization, with Bobby.
49) According to him, while he's fighting Beast, it was Pluto.
50) Wood.
51) I think they had a very uneasy alliance. Grandpa Fred would trade things they needed for things they'd stolen or trapped elsewhere, since Fred periodically traveled to town for supplies. In return, the family let him live, and he didn't turn them into the authorities for their (presumably) other thefts and murders. It's only when he appears to be leaving for good that they kill Grandpa Fred.
52) It's actually conclusively shown, as the Carters are looking at the map right before the crash. It's in Nevada, in southern Nye county (which is huge). The map shows that they're within or just west of the real Nellis Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range, and possibly the adjoining Nevada Test Site (nuclear testing area). They're either east or southeast of the real town of Scotty's Junction, and northeast of the real town of Beatty. Very close to the border with California, and Death Valley National Park.
53) Oddly, there's no evidence of this. Mercury, Pluto, Mars, and Ruby all appear to be in their 20's or 30's, so it appears they're all the descendants of Jupiter and Mama. (Or some or all were kidnapped from outsiders as babies or children.) There aren't any kids young enough to be the product of Mama and Mars, Pluto, or Mercury, nor any of the male members and Ruby. So, unless these children died or ran away, the feral clan doesn't appear to be carrying on incest. Some rare civilized behavior! Although, it looks like there's some issues with Jupiter and/or Mama's genetic line, given Jupiter's physical oddities, Pluto's deformities, and Mercury's apparent mental deficiency. And I guess it's possible that they are committing incest, but there are fertility issues or something. But I'm rambling, there's no evidence for it, which is the important thing.
I'll end with a quote from Jupiter as he's taunting the corpse of Big Bob. I find it ghoulishly poetic:
"I'll eat the heart of your stinking memory!"
