Category: Horror

So, anyone remember the hype they had being a kid getting into a R rated movie without your parents? This was my first time, after the awesome The The Hills Have Eyes(06)  and boy was I excited. Poor stupid younger me.

For the sequel, we delve into the the hills themselves where a clan of mutants lives. There numbers are dwindling as we see in a gruesome opening scene. A team of soldiers are dispatched into the hills after a base goes dark and after finding what’s left of there taken officer, they discover they aren’t alone and the battle of survival begins.

Ok, if it happens to seem like I’m not putting much effort into this review, it’s because not much effort was put into this movie. The plot is bland with no real memorable characters or mutants like the previous movie. The kills are weak but instead of well done gore and natural intensity, it takes the low road and tries to disturb you with some rape scenes and a woman giving birth to a stillborn mutated bay in the opening scene. I like the setting above ground where again you do feel a sense of emptiness but once the movie goes into the mines it becomes dark and drab. I will say though, there a hilarious moment with “Shitman the Barbarian” that still makes me laugh my ass off. In the end, Hills 2 is a blah cash grab sequel you can skip. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The original The Hills Have Eyes fascinated my dad Duke so he was pretty pumped when the remake was announced. I’m happy to say without Batman Begins and the Hills remake, I don’t think I’d still be trying to write my damn book and that’s honestly one of the best things I can possibly say for it.

During the mid 40’s to the early 60’s the US government tested atomic bombs in the remote parts of the desert. They thought the land was barren but it wasn’t. Families bred, mutated and deformed living in the many caves and ruins of test houses of the desert surviving off of blood and flesh. The Carter family drove through the desert, lost on there way to California much like the original but what we would get is a much more atmospheric, emotional, and brutal tale of revenge…

Already from the beginning of the film with a gruesome set of opening kills and opening credits consisting of old test footage, bits of the deformities we’re about to see, and a great 50’s country song to put it in perspective we know it’s going to be a different beast than the first. The narrative feels much more complete for starters; we spend more time with the Carter family so when they start dying and violated, you really do feel for them. The movie has a great sense of isolation but also feels claustrophobic in all the right spots- in the vastness of the desert you never are really alone. The mutants are a huge improvement over the classic cannibals in that by the time you get a feel for there world, I got a extra layer of pathos to them. The effects on them were great and pretty damn realistic. The does damn good at being a bloody, intense horror movie but’s also a dark badass western. The fights during the second half are some of my favorites, harrowing but never feel like they jump the shark. The music is creepy but also epic, a good fit. The last seconds are sequel bait but also work as a good oh shit ending too. In the end, I loved this movie and I definitely recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.