The Hills Have Eyes Part II

Seven years after “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977), Wes Craven slaps together a sequel that’s so embarrassing it marks the absolute rock bottom of his up-and-down career. Prompted by a lack of money coupled with a “need to eat”, Craven reluctantly directs a cast he scraped together (to be fair, a couple of the actors are more or less decent) to work on this incomparably idiotic script. Unlike the original film, which was grown-up and intelligent, what we have here is nothing more than a slow, repetitive teen horror flick, a dull slasher movie completely bereft of ideas. For over an hour we’re forced to sit through the braggadocio of a handful of brainless idiots who seem to want nothing more than to get lost in the desert.

On foot in the middle of nowhere, these kids take it all in stride, seemingly not the least bit concerned. One cocky teen actually welcomes the unknown (“I’ll smash anything that comes near ya, like a bug!“), another comes up with incredibly juvenile “plans” (“‘We all hide wait for ’em to hit this then we’ll jump ’em… screamin’ like mad and scare the shit out ’em’ ‘Brilliant!’“), one takes advantage of the opportunity to take a shower in some nice rusty water, while all another can think about is venting his raging hormones. Finally, after an unsurprising massacre, we still have to witness the pathetic exploits of the sole survivor, a blind girl who somehow manages to explore abandoned mines, smash bottles on villains’ heads with considerable precision, and skillfully avoid human bonfires.

We should also point out the substantial number of recycled scenes (flashbacks) from the earlier movie – Roger Corman is an amateur by comparison -, and a soundtrack reminiscent of “Friday the 13th” (1980).

It’s said that Craven quickly disowned this on-screen monstrosity. How can we blame him?