David Stieve, the co-writer of the meta horror-comedy Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, and Eli Craig, director of the cult horror-comedy Tucker & Dale vs Evil, are teaming for the brilliantly-named The Hills Have Eyes For You. Described as a horror rom-com and “a fresh and fun love story set against the backdrop of an elevated horror-comedy,” the film is headed to Netflix.

Deadline has the scoop on The Hills Have Eyes For You, a new horror rom-com from writer David Stieve and director Eli Craig. I wish I could give you plot details, but sadly, there are none at the moment. “This is a unique underdog love story with genre-bending scares and a lot of laughs,” Craig said. “I think I’ll be in my element for this one.”

Dan Farah, who is producing the film, added that The Hills Have Eyes For You is a “fresh and fun love story set against the backdrop of an elevated horror-comedy.” While I tend to cringe at people using the term “elevated horror,” I’ll allow it for now. The title is obviously a send-up of the classic Wes Craven horror film The Hills Have Eyes, and having this project in the hands of Stieve and Craig is reassuring.

Horror-comedy is a very hard sub-genre to crack. For every great horror-comedy – American Werewolf in London, Shaun of the Dead – there are probably two dozen failed attempts. The problem is that both horror and comedy are very subjective genres – what’s funny or scary to one person won’t be funny or scary to another. As a result, filmmakers try to compensate by making everything extra loud. The least-successful horror-comedies are loaded with characters shouting out dialogue that’s meant to elicit laughs but just falls flat on its face.

But both Behind the Mask and Tucker and Dale manage to succeed where others fail. They’re both incredibly clever movies with jokes and humor that actually works. They also have a firm grasp on the horror genre as a whole, and understand how to manipulate tropes to their advantage. With all that in mind, I have high hopes for The Hills Have Eyes For You (although I’ll feel even better about the project once an actual synopsis is released).

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