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"The Hills Must
Have Eyes for Jessica Stroup..." |
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Directed by Martin Weisz
- Written by Wes Craven,
Jonathan Craven
Starring Jessica Stroup,
Reshad Strik, Michael
McMillian, Daniella
Alonso
Lee Thompson Young, Ben
Crowley, Eric Edelstein,
Michael Bailey Smith
David Reynolds, Derek
Mears, Tyrell Kemlo,
Javier Nieto, Gáspár
Szabó
Jeff Kober, Jay Acovone,
Archie Kao, Philip Pavel
Distributed by Fox
Atomic -
2007 - 89m - Rated R |
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Jacob Hall's
Review
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D+ |
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Don't waste your time or money... |
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"The Hills Have Eyes"
series is somewhat special to me as a critic. My review of the first
film (itself a remake of the '70s original) is still the review for
which I received the most e-mails. Some agreed with me. Some said I
was a dumb-ass. The point is, I like getting e-mails and it was with
this mindset that I sat down to view "The Hills Have Eyes 2" or
'More Ugly Mutants Murder and Rape Another Group of Innocent
People.'
Although I gave the first one a less than flattering grade, I at
least admired many of its intentions. It was well directed, well
written and the characters were surprisingly original and likable,
particularly for a horror film. There were some interesting gore
effects and my movie-going bloodlust was definitely quenched. So,
despite my dislike of key aspects of the original, I was oddly
looking forward to the follow-up where a group of soldiers face the
same fate as the family from the first film.
The sequel, however, is messy and dull, lacking the ferocity that
the original at least had the guts to attempt. Wes Craven, director
of the very original film, producer on the remake and one of horror
cinema's greatest falling icons is one of the screenwriters here and
further proves why no one likes his efforts anymore: Craven has not
advanced with the years. He's stuck in back in the '70s, where the
horror clichés he helped create were still fresh. The script for
"The Hills Have Eyes 2" is filled with stock characters, false
scares and a genuine lack of terror, wit or humor, the three aspects
that tend to hide beneath the surface of all great horror films.
It is at this point where I would mention the actors and their
perspective characters, but even a trip to IMDb proved useless when
it came to remembering who was who and who played who and who died
first and who got killed in which way. Although the acting is
genuinely mediocre all around (nothing sinfully bad), it's average
enough that no characters stand out. Instead, I remember them as the
cocky Mexican guy, the single mother, the tough blonde chick, the
black squad leader, the incompetent fat guy, the hippy and so forth.
Speaking of the cast, there are nine principal characters and what
seems to be about five or six others who pop up here and there. In a
90 minute movie, if none of these characters are well developed, at
least they die real nice, right?
Wrong. The make-up effects here range from decent to dreadful and
while there is a lot of blood, none of the violence is shocking or
scary or original or remotely chilling whatsoever. I can only
imagine the youngest or dumbest of horror aficionados being pleased
with what transpires here - fans of the sick and gruesome first
movie will be mucho displeased.
So, that's about it. This is yet another sequel to a hit movie that
was rushed out when the first one proved successful. Don't waste
your time. Don't waste your money. I'll end this review by saying
that yes, this movie has yet another rape scene. Yes, it's
disgusting and exploitative and it bothered me, but it's tame
compared to the first one and it feels like the creative team
decided that since the first one had one, they had to have one as
well. That's why it's not the main point of my review. Strangely, I
almost wish it was, so I could write about something interesting,
something that fires me up and angers me. Instead, I'm writing about
a lousy horror movie. |
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© Written by Jacob Hall -
Email
Me! |
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How We Rated This Film
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TC Candler -
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| Richard Propes
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Jacob Hall
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D+ |
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TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Richard Propes' Comment
n/a
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