The Hills Have Eyes 2 is a 2007 American horror film, and the sequel to the 2006 film, which itself was a remake of the 1977 horror film. The film follows several U.S. Army National Guardsmen as they fight for survival against the mutant people living in a military base in the New Mexico desert.
Plot[]
A captive woman, forced to breed mutant children, gives birth to a stillborn. She is then killed by mutant leader Papa Hades for being unable to provide healthy offspring. Later, scientists working in an area in the New Mexico desert, designated Sector 16, are attacked by the mutant Letch.
A group of National Guardsmen in training are sent into the desert to resupply the scientists, who were working for the United States Department of Defense on installing a surveillance system (implied to be a result of the events in the first film). The soldiers arrive to find the camp apparently abandoned, and outside radio contact impossible due to the topography. When the radio operator, Spitter, picks up a faint distress call, Sergeant Jeffrey “Sarge” Millstone organizes a search and rescue mission, leaving behind Napoleon and Amber.
The search party discovers the mutilated body of a scientist in the hills, while Amber and Napoleon pull another dying scientist out of the portable toilet. On her way to join the group, Amber is attacked by the mutant Stabber, but a returning Mickey wards him off. Just as Napoleon catches up, Mickey is pulled into a bolt-hole and killed. At the same time, the remaining troops are attacked by Letch, and Sarge is accidentally killed by Spitter's friendly fire. Napoleon and Amber reunite with the group, and Spitter is killed by an unseen mutant sabotaging his rappelling gear as the others try to lower him down the hill. With their remaining gear stolen, they are forced to try to find another way down.
The remaining troops soon locate their commanding officer, who has clearly become unhinged from recent events. He warns them of the mutants' plans to capture women for breeding and kill everyone else. He then commits suicide after telling them the only way down the hill is through the mining caves. After the group kills Stabber, Missy is captured and taken into the mining caves by Chameleon. Chameleon attempts to rape her, but Missy fights him off, only to be captured by Hades, who scares Chameleon away and savagely rapes Missy himself. The remaining troops attempt to rescue Missy, with the exception of Stump, who is killed by Letch while attempting to climb down the hill without ropes. After being separated from Crank and Delmar, Napoleon and Amber cross paths with Chameleon, who they manage to kill. They later locate a non-violent mutant named Hansel, while escaping Grabber. Grabber is killed by Crank after shooting Delmar. After reuniting with Napoleon and Amber, Delmar dies from his wounds, and Hansel leads Napoleon, Amber, and Crank to the exit. Along the way Crank is killed by a trapped crate of dynamite that he attempts to take with him, incidentally triggering an explosion.After killing Letch, Napoleon and Amber find the captive Missy, and all three fight Hades, whom they manage to kill as well. The three leave the mines, but a text blended into the screen states that the National Guard trainees remain missing and Sector 16 is still not acknowledged to exist. As the survivors prepare to depart, they are watched by an unknown mutant using their surveillance equipment.
Cast[]
- Michael McMillian as Pfc. David "Napoleon" Napoli
- Jessica Stroup as Pfc. Amber Johnson
- Jason Oettle as Letch
- Michael Bailey Smith as Papa Hades
- Jacob Vargas as Pfc. "Crank" Medina
- Lee Thompson Young as Pfc. Delmar Reed
- Daniella Alonso as Pfc. "Missy" Martinez
- Flex Alexander as Sgt. Jeffrey "Sarge" Millstone
- Derek Mears as Chameleon
- Ben Crowley as Pfc. "Stump" Locke
- Gáspár Szabó as Grabber
- Eric Edelstein as Cpl. "Spitter" Cole
- Reshad Strik as Pfc. Mickey Elrod
- Tyrell Kemlo as Stabber
- David Reynolds as Hansel
- Jeff Kober as Colonel Lincoln Redding
- Philip Pavel as Dr. Foster
- Jay Acovone as Dr. Wilson
- Archie Kao as Dr. Han
Reception[]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 12% based on reviews from 67 critics, and a rating average of 3.2 out of 10. TV Guide gives the film one out of five stars. Film critic Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote in his review which was printed in the Taipei Times: "The sequel of the remake of Wes Craven's The Hills have Eye's has mutated into a boring mess of a movie." Review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 32% based on 10 reviews.
