The Good

An interesting film that expands the idea of lunatics in the Hills.

The Bad

Okay... is this movie really serious?

The Hills Have Eyes 2 seems to be a modern day parable about the United States' current conflict in Iraq. A group of National Guard soldiers on a training mission go to an area of the New Mexico Desert known as Sector 16. When they find that there is no one at their designated location, the group thinks that something is amiss. After getting a signal from up in the hills, the unit goes to see what the problem is. It is here that they are ambushed by a group of cannibals who know this vast terrain much better than them. In the end, most of the platoon is killed as they battle these superhuman beasts.

I don't know if you can really call The Hills Have Eyes 2 a good movie. I didn't see the first remake but I did see the original Hills Have Eyes. That movie is easy to judge because it was the original one. It wasn't based on something else and believe it or not it wasn't over the top. It was done almost like a documentary and because of that it worked. The Hills Have Eyes 2 isn't a bad film, I just found its villains to be extremely over the top. So much so that it made it very difficult to be able to get into the film. There just reaches a point with deformed cannibals that they go from being scary to laughable.

Features

Deleted Scenes and Gag Reel

They have put 4 scenes in the Deleted Scenes section. In addition to this, they really haven't cleaned these up and they've let the timecode play over them. If you can get passed that (which is pretty easy), these scenes don't open up the film any more but they are fun to watch. My biggest bone of contention is that I think these scenes colors are pretty poorly done (they are deleted so I can't complain too loud). Lastly, the Gag Reel merely shows the cast messing around which should come as no surprise since this is a horror movie.

Exploring the Hills: The Making of The Hills Have Eyes 2

Alternate Ending

I have a feeling that people viewing this segment might be somewhat let down. I feel this way because it is simply too short. A title card comes up on the screen and explains that Sector 16 doesn't exist, and then when our main characters go outside they have a surprise waiting for them. Ultimately, I don't think that this is that much different than the ending that they went with but you are more than welcome to decide for yourself.

Birth of A Graphic Novel

Mutant Attacks

Focusing on the mutant of this film it is made clear to us that these mutants are supposed to be the next generation version. We hear from the people playing the mutants as they break down their characters, and what their roles are within the mutant group (I am being 100% serious). After this they discuss the mythology of the characters and I had to laugh, because it just seems like these films and their bad guys have gotten so far away from the original creatures in the film from the 1970s.

Life After Film School With Wes Craven

From the Fox Movie Channel, this piece has Wes Craven sitting down and educating a group of film students about the movie business. He discusses how this remake came about, writing the script with his son in a hotel room, linking the story with what is happening in Iraq, how they picked the director, and why it is sadly easier to shoot a movie like this in Malaise than it is in the United States. This, more-so than any of the other featurettes, is the one worth watching.

Video

2.35:1 Aspect Ratio - Again, Fox has sent us a burned copy of this movie but it looked pretty nice on DVD. My only problem with this film is when director Martin Weisz tried to take us too much into the movie. Those close up, music video-like shots of somebody having their eye pulled out really aren't necessary. They look like effects shots and as a result remind us (well me, anyway) that we are watching a movie. I can't say how the final product of this DVD will look, but something tells me that things are going to not be much different.

Audio

English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround). Subtitled in English and Spanish. The audio on this movie was decent. It was used to help create a lot of red herring, horror movie moments. By this I mean, we would draw close on a character, they would turn around and noise would then emanate but nothing would be there. Thankfully, they didn't employ this too much throughout the film.

Package

Fox sent this release to us in a white envelope without the proper packaging. Sadly, I really can't say anything about it.

Final Word

I honestly wonder what Wes Craven thinks of these movies? I know that he wrote the screenplay with his son, but I truly think that he's merely cashing in here. That is fine, I don't have a problem with that because everybody needs to make a living and Craven is the "Master of Horror." I just have a hard time, knowing that he really wishes he could get away from being the "horror guy," seeing him on this release talking about this film like he really cares. Also, I wish that this film was better. I wish that it offered more. In all the screenwriting magazines I have read they always talk about ideas. The studios want original ideas. Go over the script a million times wannabe screenwriters are told. This movie completely seems like somebody said, "Get Wes Craven's name on a script, put it into production and even if we lose money theatrically we'll make it up on DVD."

Overall, The Hills Have Eyes 2 isn't a bad movie, rather it just isn't anything that special. Considering how special Wes Craven is... that just makes this whole exercise seem even sadder.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 was released March 22, 2007.