The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1985)

People are voting emotionally.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984)* (out of 4)Ill-advised sequel to Wes Craven's masterpiece has a dirt bike squad going out into the desert and of course they run into the cannibal family (led by Michael Berryman). Along with the group is a survival (Janus Blythe) from the first film and now she is faced with re- living her horrors.THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II was made because Wes Craven needed the money but the project was pretty much put on the shelf only to be dusted off after the success of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Craven agreed to go back and complete the film with what footage he had, which meant using clips from the first picture to expand the running time. He has since disowned the picture as has most of his fans. In all honesty, it's rather shocking to see how poorly made this movie is. It's easy to see why there were some production problems as it really does seem that no one is all that interested in the product. I'm going to lay the majority of the blame on Craven because this is perhaps the worst directed film of his career. There's just no life or energy to be found in the film and many of the scenes just drag on as if it was rehearsal hour at a high school. The lack of any real style for the majority of the picture is just something you wouldn't expect from a Wes Craven movie.The screenplay itself is somewhat of a mess as it has a lot more to do with Friday THE 13TH than the original film. It should also be worth mentioning that Harry Manfredini did the music score for this and it sound exactly like the 1980 film, which is something he did quite often. Not only does this look like that slasher classic but it also sounds like it! That just adds to the overall cheapness as do the death scenes that are mostly forgettable, although I'm sure the lack of money probably played into this.The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this but not even Berryman or Blythe could do much with their roles. THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II also suffers from one of the worst moments in horror film history when a dog has a flashback to the events from the first film!?!?!?!? That alone makes this film deserve its notorious reputation.man who did the score for Friday the 13th also does the score here but he pretty much rips ever cord to the F13 score. The final thirty minutes of this also rips F13 pretty badly but what really kills this is the very poor direction from Craven. Having some of the most annoying characters in any horror film doesn't help matters either.

I can never be sure what movie I am going to see when the names are the same. I tried to watch the original Wicker Man the other day, but whoever wrote the description got it wrong and it was the Nick cage version.I tuned into the followup to The Hills Have Eyes last night and was fooled again. I didn't even know there was a Wes Craven version as I saw the 2006 movie. The description on Showtime was for the 2007 movie, but they showed the Wes Craven version of Hills Have Eyes II. I god cheated as this version was not worth losing 90 minutes of my precious sleep.Maybe it would be scary for some tweens, who would not get to see it for its "R" rating, but it was cheesy horror with only one slightly gory sequence. Disappointing, to say the least.

A motocross team backed by Tommy, who has invented a super fuel that will change the way of racing, must trek across the desert to compete in a competition. However Tommy gets cold feet and Rachel (aka Ruby) decides that she will take the team. While, travelling on the bus they find out that they're going to be late and so they decide (by a vote off) to take a detour and get themselves stranded after damaging the bus on the beaten track. Unknowingly to them someone is watching them and waiting for their chance to pounce.Okay, so after reading and hearing how BAD this flick is. I was reasonably surprised by it. I was expecting an atrocity, but what I got here was nothing more than a rancid slasher vehicle that has more in common with the 80s slasher gruel. That's not to say I didn't find it insipid, but by its reputation I expected far worst, but its just another routine (that I found curiously fascinating) sequel trying to cash on the original with a few amusing sequences. What made the original a successful package, just didn't translate here. It's not as brutal, aggressive and intense, while the adrenaline levels are very meek and it lacks that rough edge. Everything about it is uninspired, but there are a few random moments and ridiculous situations. Like oh it's pointless flashback time! Poor Bobby… poor Ruby and even the superstar of a dog Beast chimes in. Why? Well, to remind just how better the original is compared with this junk. It's simply a retread of the original with the family being replaced by retarded teens and to up the suspense, one of them just happens to be blind.Wes Craven wrote and directed this lumbering mess and you could easily tell the creative juices were at an all time low. The most effective scenes occur when it has the blind girl unknowingly stumbling across her dead friends. Some of the cast decided to hang around for the sequel. The favourite of the cannibal clan, Pluto (who healed up very well) played by Michael Berryman adds a lot the flick. Janus Blythe who was Ruby returns to take on her dwindling family and for a couple minutes at the beginning Robert Houston reprises his role as Bobby. Oh and not forgetting Beast! The rest of the pesky cast were either annoying fools or simply plain meat for the chopping board. On the other hand, Tamara Stafford was acceptable. John Bloom is an eccentric comic brute (no, goose) in the part of Papa Jupiter's older brother, The Reaper. While, Craven's mind numbing material (especially the script) and direction left a lot to be desired. There was effective location photography put to good use by capturing the impressively foreboding backdrop. Everything else is so-so or below par like the music score, uneven pacing, cut-away deaths with big casualty list, goofy stunt work (where the cannibals seem to lay the smack down) and a dead-weight story with full of "come again moments?" and a very merry conclusion.A terribly soulless low-grade sequel by Craven that I found oddly amusing.

"The Hills Have Eyes Part II" is nowhere near as bad as it's reputation seems to suggest.**SPOILERS**Trying to get over his fear of the desert, Bobby, (Robert Houston) agrees to go on a dirt-bike expedition with friends Roy, (Kevin Spirtas) Cass, (Tamara Stafford) Harry, (Peter Frechette) Rachel, (Janus Blythe) Hulk, (John Laughlin) Foster, (Willard E. Pugh) Jane, (Colleen Riley) and Sue, (Penny Johnson) and get lost on a side road. Searching an abandoned house, Pluto, (Michael Berryman) and Reaper, (John Bloom) attacks them and begins systematically killing them one by one. Gathering every ounce of strength they have as a group, they fight back against the murderous pair.The Good News: As one of the most maligned films in the genre, this wasn't expected to be all that good. The fact that its mostly just a carbon copy of the first isn't really that damaging, as it allows for a constant stream of action scenes throughout the film. The dirt-bike and ensuing foot chase through the mountains through various caverns is a wonderful action sequence. The large amount of suspense played out in the cavern sequence in the end was a great highlight, as the novel idea of having the main character in that sequence being blind was able to make some new ideas out of a clichéd experience. It's quite nice to see something that had been taken through all of the possible explorations, but then to add a great new gimmick that actually adds some suspense to the proceedings. It's quite nerve-wracking to see them wander through the situations unaware of what's out there and there's no way for it to change. The fact that it changes styles over the first one and becomes more of a stalk-and-slash film is a nice change of pace and adds a little more to the film. Overall, this wasn't as bas as some say.The Bad News: Even though it wasn't all that bad, there's still a couple things wrong. The plot is a virtual retread of the first one, and the situation to get them involved with the group is a step-by-step repeat of before. It really doesn't try anything new here, and instead goes mainly for new traps and more characters. That doesn't really make it all that different from the first one. The fact that it's so maligned is based mostly around that and it's cheese factor, which doesn't bode too well for most movies. This one tries to rise against it with a couple of great moments, but the fact that it's so cheesy and clichéd is the major source of complaint. I didn't have too many problems with this one.The Final Verdict: Far better than it's reputation will give it, but don't compare it to the original and it might be interesting. Take it on it's own merits, and you might find yourself enjoying it a lot more than you would.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and a very brief, mild sex scene