Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup, Flex Alexander,
Daniella Alonso, Jacob Vargas, Michael Bailey Smith
Written by Jonathan Craven, Wes Craven
Produced by Wes Craven
Certification US R | UK 18 | Australia R
Runtime 90 min
Directed by Martin Weisz
Last year’s remake of the Hills Have Eyes was, it has to be said, much better than anticipated. While Wes Craven’s 1977 original will always remain superior — the remake generally eschewed tension for splatter and what you imagine will ALWAYS be scarier than what you see — the remake was okay. They kept Craven’s vision, they maintained the nastiness and disregard for major characters and the nuclear testing element to the desert-dwelling mutant family was very effective. A sequel was thus inevitable — as it was first time around. And this sequel isn’t of the same quality — as was the case the first time around. This sequel is better than the previous sequel, if you follow our drift, but that’s not saying much.
This time around, there’s a big shot of Walter Hill’s soldiers versus hillbillies classic Southern Comfort thrown into the mix. Instead of a family with cute daughters and tasty dogs catching the irradiated mutants’ attention, this time round it’s a group of National Guard trainees — all square-jawed guys and pretty girls — who find themselves in that dodgy bit of desert battling against the uglies. Is it violent? Is London the capital of England? What they saved on recognisable faces they’ve clearly spent on stage blood and intestines. This is quite literally blood and guts on a widescreen scale – plus another graphic rape scene which serves little purpose.
Despite a script by Wes Craven and son Jonathan, the scares are few and far between. This is a film that generally relies on sudden jumps and loud noises — and gallons of viscera — for its jolts, and you long for the occasional moment of creepiness and real tension that both first films contained. If it looks like a cash-in, and feels like a cash-in, it’s probably a cash-in.