The Hills Have Eyes II (2007)

Director: Martin Weisz

Starring: Michael McMillan, Jessica Stroup

Run Time: 90 mins

Certificate: 18

 

Plot Outline: A squad of National Guard are sent into the New Mexico desert on a supply mission to a team that is installing a new system into an abandoned facility. When they get there, they find no sign of the team until a distress call is received from the hills. Making their way up the hills, the soldiers are attacked by a group of mutants and equipment is damaged and stolen. With no way of getting back down the hill, the remaining soldiers must find their way through an old mine to get back to base.

The Review: The 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes certainly surprised me as being a brutal, gory and relentless ride which, in many ways, bettered the original. And just like the revamped Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake in 2003 saw a sequel, that too has spawned a sequel for whatever cash-related reason. Out went Alexandre Aja, the man responsible for the disturbing and savage nature of the original. And out with him went that brutal and unforgiving edge - you got the sense that anything went in his film, no matter how sick or depraved it was going to be. In it's place comes a totally out-of-place comic tone, more mutants you can shake a stick at, more characters to get killed and more gore. Say goodbye to everything that made the remake such a great ride.

The problems are evident from the start and that lies with the characters. For starters I don't want to see a bunch of soldiers being chewed up, decapitated and hacked to pieces because surely they should be trained enough to deal with this sort of thing better than anyone (I know you don't get mutant-fighting training anywhere but at least they practice combat regularly as opposed to say, me who has never done anything like that). I like seeing ordinary people put into extraordinary situations and seeing how they cope with it. So by throwing the best prepared humans into that situation and watch them suffer doesn't really hit the same nerve. Secondly, if you're going to give me soldiers, then at least make an effort to humanise them and characterise them a little. Names are for tombstones in films like this and it's funny how you won't remember 90% of the names by the middle of the film, let alone the end. Instead just sit back and call them their token names: hotshot, black guy, coward, hot chick, etc. It borders spoof at times with the silliness of the characters. Do you remember a little film called Aliens back in the 80s? That involved a bunch of bad ass soldiers taking on those acid-spitting aliens. But James Cameron never once let the characters descend into caricatures. He humanised them, gave each one personality traits and made the audience care about them. Here they're just going through the motions of the generic "macho bullshit" that soldiers are portrayed as having in the movies. They also do some of the most ludicrous things I've seen in a horror film and as such, plot developments can be seen way ahead of time. Thinking of climbing down a mountain using a rope? Good idea but stand around dithering for ages and you're going to be in for it! I can't really comment on the actors involved because some of them may suck, some of them may have talent - it's just impossible to see throw the awful script. And when you consider who wrote this - WES CRAVEN no less, it's a complete travesty.