This is a good example of what horror fans have to put up with. Horror fans all know about the good horror films that get everything firing on all cylinders, from acting, to story, to the all important scares. Horror fans all know about the bad horror films - the ones that are so inept that they wouldn't scare a child and are plagued by a bad story and even worse acting.
Then there are films such as The Hills Have Eyes II, which, for my money, does a lot of things right, but is tempered by the presence of some awful dialogue and acting. It has a story that we have seen before, but builds enough tension and delivers enough gore to keep us - or me at least - interested until the inevitable conclusion.
Way back in 1977, Wes Craven delivered a film that would become a cult classic. It was followed by a vastly inferior sequel in 1985. So it was inevitable that in this horror remake happy climate being cultivated in Hollywood that someone's dollar sign-filled eyes would turn towards these films. The result was the 2006 film The Hills Have Eyes, helmed by Alexandre Aja, who had proven himself with Haute Tension. The movie actually worked, bringing unease to the big screen. Then came this sequel, which takes the formula used to great effect in James Cameron's Aliens and sucks out everything that made it good, leaving behind just enough to keep the superficiality afloat. Oh yes, it is also not a remake of the original sequel, rather a sequel to the remake, and even then it is by title only. This could have been given a different title and no one would have known the difference.
In a nutshell, you have scientists working on a top secret project, attacked by mutants living in the caves. Rookie National Guardsmen are sent to investigate, they are attacked, and as their numbers dwindle, they must find a way to survive. Sound familiar? It could be used to describe any number of films. If you are going to watch this, you are not going to do it for the originality. Despite all of that, it has some nice cinematography, and a number of good gore effects. I was also happy with the genuine tension that it built up. Despite the awful acting and the predictability of the plot, I still found the survival horror base to be quite effective.
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Article comments
1 - tony
Reading your review I personally liked this movie much more than the last one. Was it cheesey yes but a great saturday night fun movie.Has for the ending we had 2 totally different Impressions
has there was 3 survivors.I really didn't see any indictions that they all died.I guess you can make the same assumption of the first remake has well.
2 - Chris Beaumont
I think they try to trick you into thinking the three survived. But, if you read the caption that came up, and my apologies to those who have yet to see it, it states that no one knows what happened to the trainees and they were considered AWOL. If they did indeed survive, there would be three people telling what happened and trying to get people to go back and take them out. Additionally, you have one of the mutants who saw them emerge on the computer's heat scanner, or whatever it was. I am pretty sure they are all dead.
3 - Marcus
It didn't say no one new what happened to them but hinted that the military was covering the whole thing up by saying that officailly they were missing in action.