The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) — Film Review
And here we are, four films later, and this story finally shits the bed. The Hills Have Eyes 2, released a mere year after the first remake, tells an entirely different story than any others. This movie features a cast of National Guard trainees who stumble upon the hills en route to deliver supplies to some scientists. They soon discover the scientists are all dead and that something or someone haunts the hills. This sequel is horrible and not in an excellent way. The graphic scenes are too explicit and out of place to be anything but annoying. The characters and story could be more varied; I found my mind wandering after only 15 minutes of the film. And that incredible feeling of helplessness from the other three films? Totally absent. In this movie, we’re dealing with a group of trained fighters with guns and athleticism. While some of their resources disappear initially, it doesn’t save that feeling.
This movie is disgusting, but not in the way gory horror should be. It is too graphic and horrific to be scary; opening the film with a traumatizing birthing scene sets it on a dark path. In this movie, the cannibals aren’t just inbred and deformed. They seem a little more science fiction — one cannibal with a crazy long tongue comes to mind. I felt bored and traumatized, which isn’t a good combination.
I don’t have much to say about this ill-fated sequel. Other than the ghost of a great premise, this film doesn’t have anything going for it, and I wish the franchise ended on a better note.
If you liked The Hills Have Eyes 2, you might also like The Hills Have Eyes, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, or The Hills Have Eyes (2006).
