Home > Movies > Movie Review > The Hills Have Eyes 2

The Hills Have Eyes 2

What's a president got to do to get some support for his war on mutants?

By Kirk Miller, Metromix

March 23, 2007

Critic's Rating:

• Email
• Print View
• Share
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Google
  • Reddit
  • Mixx
  • Mister Wong
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • Yahoo
• Add To Favorites
• Add to playlist

"The Hills Have Eyes 2" may have been conceived with low expectations—it's a sequel to a minor hit movie that itself was a remake of a cult flick—but unlike most brain-dead horror flicks, there's a political pulse beating behind the rudimentary shocks.

In the latest installment of a horror franchise launched by Wes Craven in 1977, an unprepared National Guard unit is assigned to deliver equipment to a research facility located in a top-secret desert location. Unfortunately, said location is literally in the center of an old atomic bomb testing ground, where, wouldn't you know it, a few unlucky souls were trapped long ago. Sixty years later, the mutated descendants of these blast survivors live in an old mine shaft, awaiting human victims.

The idea of a poorly trained, but overly confident U.S. military unit striding into an unknown desert location, only to be attacked by an enemy they do not understand (but indirectly helped create), is ripe for political commentary. And give credit to Craven, the film's co-screenwriter (with his son Jonathan), for acknowledging both the current war and its deadly toll. When the oddly named grunt Napoleon (Michael McMillian) voices his anti-war sentiment and non-belief in his country, his sergeant fires back with this: "All presidents since Truman have lied—that's their job."

Early on, even when it's clear who's going to bite it in the end (note: if you see any soldier say they're "striking out on their own," add them to your dead pool), the scares are real. Survivors from the research facility start showing up in gruesome condition, able to parlay only ominous warnings ("They're here!") to the guard unit before perishing. Then, at appropriate intervals, the soldiers start dying, or, in the case of the Noxzema-friendly female cadets, getting kidnapped to be used as breeders. The one-by-one disappearances are a leftover formula from the days of "Alien," but it works.

Unfortunately, as in the first film, the cannibal mutants here are little more than "Toxic Avenger" knockoffs, with dripping skin, comical hunchbacks and oversized tongues that provide more laughs than menace. And thanks to their one-note personalities (hot-headed Hispanic! New mother! Arrogant sergeant!), the National Guard crew elicits little sympathy as their numbers dwindle.

Even though the "gotcha!" scare moments are effective, the gore and brutality are overbearing. A seemingly feminist ideal permeates the film (except for war objector Napoleon, the men and creatures here are either arrogant, serial rapists or incredibly stupid), but that just works as an excuse for extended torture sequences involving male genitalia.

Craven and director Martin Weisz do their best to play with the genre's limits and inject a bit of current events, but the cartoonish nature of both the creatures and the soldiers is far too distracting to scare audiences into thinking.

You will be prompted to register or log in when posting.

Comment

Please note that by clicking on "Post Comment" you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Service. Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed by the moderator.