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Movies Like The Hills Have Eyes: 8 Desert Survival-Horror Films

August 11, 2026 • Lawrence Jacomelli

August 11, 2026 3 min read

If you loved The Hills Have Eyes, the films that hit the same nerve share one idea: travelers stranded somewhere remote, hunted by something that knows the terrain far better than they do. Here are eight desert-and-backcountry survival-horror films in that vein — including one recent grounded indie, Blood Star (2024), for the desert-predator strand.

Wrong Turn (2003)

The most direct spiritual sibling — a group stranded in remote country and picked off by locals who hunt the land as home turf. It trades the desert for Appalachian woods but keeps Hills‘ core engine of outsiders versus an environment that belongs to the predators.

Wolf Creek (2005)

Backpackers stranded in the Australian outback meet a smiling local who turns the landscape into a trap. It shares Hills‘ sun-scorched isolation and its slow shift from travelogue to nightmare, with one of the genre’s great predatory antagonists.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

The film that built the template Hills runs on — road-trippers who wander into the wrong rural stretch and are hunted by a family that lives outside the law. Still the rawest, hottest, most relentless version of the idea.

Wake in Fright (1971)

Less a slasher than a slow-motion breakdown, but essential here: a man stranded in a remote outback town where the heat, the locals and the isolation grind him down. If Hills‘ sense of a place turning hostile is what got you, this is the art-house cousin.

Eden Lake (2008)

A couple’s countryside getaway becomes a hunt when they cross a gang of local teens. It swaps mutants for ordinary cruelty, but the survival mechanics and the dread of being outnumbered on someone else’s ground are pure Hills.

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

A Western-horror hybrid — a rescue party pushes into brutal frontier territory and pays for it. It brings Hills‘ remote-terrain menace to a period setting, with the same patient build to unbearable tension.

Them (Ils) (2006)

A lean French home-invasion-in-the-woods thriller — a couple isolated in a rural house, hunted through the dark. It’s stripped down where Hills is operatic, but the primal “nowhere to run, they know this place” fear is identical.

Blood Star (2024)

The grounded, real-world entry for fans of the desert-predator strand. Blood Star follows Bobbi Torres, a young woman crossing the New Mexico desert alone, hunted along an empty highway by a predatory small-town sheriff. There are no mutants — just heat, distance, and a man who owns the terrain — which is exactly the Hills Have Eyes fear made plausible. Directed by Lawrence Jacomelli. Where to watch Blood Star →

Where to start

For the closest match to The Hills Have Eyes, start with Wrong Turn or Wolf Creek; for the art-house version of the same dread, Wake in Fright; and for the grounded desert-predator strand, Blood Star.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of movie is The Hills Have Eyes?

The Hills Have Eyes is a desert survival-horror film in which a family stranded in a remote stretch of the American Southwest is hunted by a group living out in the hills.

What should I watch if I liked The Hills Have Eyes?

The closest matches are Wrong Turn (2003), Wolf Creek (2005) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974); for a grounded, real-world desert-predator thriller, try Blood Star (2024).

Are there realistic (non-supernatural) movies like The Hills Have Eyes?

Yes — Eden Lake (2008) and Blood Star (2024) both deliver the “hunted in a remote place” fear with entirely human, plausible predators.