The Hills Have Eyes II (2007)

Directed by: Martin Weisz | 89 minutes | horror | Actors: Daniella Alonso, Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup, Jacob Vargas, Lee Thompson Young, Ben Crowley, Eric Edelstein, Flex Alexander, Reshad Strik, Michael Bailey Smith, David Reynolds, Derek Mears, Tyrell Kemlo, Gáspár Szabó, Jeff Kober, Jay Acovone, Archie Kao, Philip Pavel, Ashley O’Connor, Jason Oettle

Barely a year after the unexpectedly strong remake of ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, successor ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2′ appears in cinemas. Usually such a quick sequel does not bode well. Unfortunately, that is also the case this time. The sequel is inferior to the original in every way. While the 2006 remake was still a hard-hitting, humorless slaughter film that dripped with violence, the quickly put together sequel has become a crazy horror comedy. So a world of difference.

In ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’, the story picks up where the previous film left off. In the desolate wasteland of New Mexico, a rescue mission is launched to search for the Carter family, meanwhile virtually depleted by murderous mutants. When suddenly nothing more is heard from the rescuers, a few American soldiers in training decide to search for the missing persons. Bad idea, because the hills have eyes… and machetes.

Although the film starts off incredibly rude with a rather graphically portrayed birth, the tone of ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’ is quite light-hearted. The soldiers who play the lead role seem to have walked straight from the set of a ‘Police Academy’ movie. You have a nice fat man with a gooey tongue, a tough macho, a conscientious objector and two beautiful soldiers who have to beat the men off. So known costs. The bickering within the group also makes you laugh because of the bland comments, the flat jokes and the overblown toilet humor. Especially the first hour there is enough to laugh about idiotic situations and stupid actions of the men and women.

The mutant hill dwellers have also gone under the knife and now look like the slightly prettier brothers of the deformed Toxic Avenger from the pulp movies of the same name. Also the massacres and the monsters are so grotesque that you can’t help but smile. At these moments, ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’ is reminiscent of the stream of brainless horror films as they were made in the 1980s. The coarse-grained image and the handmade special effects are also reminiscent of the genre’s heyday.

Towards the end of the film, the mood suddenly changes. In a wrong way. Especially a realistic rape scene comes across as quite cruel and even cardboard characters can’t change that. The light-hearted atmosphere also changes rather abruptly into a melancholy atmosphere. As if you suddenly have to care about those empty characters. If you don’t care so much about character development or hard work, then ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’ is a relaxing violent film. However, don’t expect a surprise hit like the first part.