Well there is some good news and bad news about The Hills Have Eyes Part 2, the good news is that it’s better than the original Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1985), and we don’t have a dog flash back scene. The bad news is that it was a bad movie.
The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 is about a group of reject national guard troops who are sent to a top secret area where government scientists are other shoulders are setting up sensors within the old bunkers to try to capture any movement of anyone who might be living in the old bunker and mining systems. The reason for this is because the survivors of the first one, ( It’s mentioned in the film.) have told the government about what happened to them, and it might explain what happened to a lot of missing people. So basically the government is looking for the mutants. So anyway this group of national guards is sent to deliver supplies to the base camp. When they get there their is no one around. So they decide to search the mountain and mine shafts for the missing crew. Well we soon (and obviously) find out that their are mutants living in the mountain and they killed the army unit, and now the national Guard unit must fight to stay alive.
Here’s the deal folks, this film has nothing good to offer the horror genre. It’s a generic film that comes off more like a trade show; one soldier dies and then a mutant dies and so on. It’s your basic horror film, it’s nothing that we all haven’t seen before. The plot is simple, the characters are one dimensional and the story is predictable.
The script to this film seemed like is was written for a group of teenagers to watch. The dialogue is full of immature innuendos and bad analogies. Some can argue that the national guard troops are a depiction of our youth today; hot headed and horney. The characters in this film are very one dimensional and you never really know who the actually lead in this film if the script even had a lead. I mean all the actors had equal screen time, and as for the mutants; well they were not as entertaining as the mutants were in the first film.
The overall acting in this film was not that great. I mean some of the actors were decent in certain scenes while in most scenes they didn’t convince me that they were in dire distress and in a life or death situation. There were some scenes where I also felt that the choreography was a bit weak. Some of the fight scenes were a bit over the top and there were certain elements during these scene where some of the solders were getting tossed around like rag dolls, and then they would just get up and keep on fighting like getting tossed against a rock wall like it was nothing. There were also scenes in which I felt that for national guardsmen and women, there were a lot of poor decisions made. Decisions that you would expect a high school dropout to make, but not people who are training to defend the country.
Probably the only good thing that this film had to offer was the special effects, and make-up effects. The mutants looked pretty cool, even though they were not that interesting. They looked pretty cool. I was very impressed with the makeup job done with the Chameleon mutant. There is one scene where he blends in with the side of the mountain and rolls over to grab one of the women characters, that works very well. I also thought that the make-up effects for the other mutants were very good. The over all effects were great in this film, just like they were in the first one. But we all know that effects can’t always make the movie. In the case of this film, they are the only good thing.
Overall, I was very disappointed with this film. And in all honestly I got nothing from it, not even one scare. So all in all I don’t think any hardcore horror fan is going to like this film. It’s a film that was solely written for the youth of today to get a scare out of and that’s it. The DVD includes Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Gag Reel, Mutant Attacks, Birth of a Graphic Novel, Exploring the Hills: The Making of The Hills Have Eyes 2, and “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School with Wes Craven”.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
