Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup, Jacob Vargas, Flex Alexander
Director: Martin Weisz
It seems to be normal now doing remakes of old horror movies, but when they become successful, a sequel quickly appears. That is exactly where we find ourselves with THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2. This sequel was written by Wes Craven and his son Jonathan. The quality is such you almost believe that they deliberately dared each other to write the next most obvious, pathetic scene.
A family strayed into a military zone known as Section 16 and half of them were slaughtered by desert mutants. The military then proceeded with a search and destroy mission, which was soon followed by the installation of surveillance devices. Unfortunately, the scientists were not given the chance to fully install the equipment and one by one they are all murdered.
A National Guard training unit are sent out to deliver supplies to the scientists but all they find is an empty camp. One by one, they too are picked off by the desert mutants. This bunch of recruits are so wet behind the ears, they are more of a danger to themselves than to the mutants. When one of the female recruits is taken underground by one of the mutants, the rest of the unit follow. With the mutants’ intention to use the women for breeding purposes, will any of them survive?
Whether it was the Craven’s intention to make this sequel similar to ALIENS or DOG SOLDIERS is anybody’s guess. The characters are obvious and dull to such an extent that you don’t care whether they live or die. In fact the same can be said for the desert mutants as well. When the recruits head into the caves to save one of their own, the movie switches from ALIENS / DOG SOLDIERS to the British horror movie THE DESCENT. Throughout, the recruits do so many stupid things you start playing a guessing game as to who will be picked off next. Since this is only a movie, don’t take it too seriously but can I at least have my 90 minutes back.
