| The Hills Have Eyes 2 | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Martin Weisz |
| Produced by | Wes Craven Johnathan Debin Peter Locke |
| Written by | Wes Craven Jonathan Craven |
| Starring | Michael McMillian Jacob Vargas Flex Alexander Jessica Stroup |
| Music by | Trevor Morris |
| Cinematography | Sam McCurdy |
| Editing by | Sue Blainey Kirk M. Mom |
| Studio | Dune Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Fox Atomic |
| Release date(s) | March 23, 2007 |
| Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[1] |
| Box office | $67,915,885 |
The Hills Have Eyes 2 is the 2007 American horror film sequel to the 2006 film The Hills Have Eyes which was a remake of the 1977 horror film The Hills Have Eyes. The film follows several heroic, but troubled, U.S. National Guardsmen as they fight for survival against the mutant people living in a military base in New Mexico. The Hills Have Eyes 2 was directed by German film director Martin Weisz and written by father and son team Wes and Jonathan Craven.
A graphic novel titled The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning was published by Fox Atomic Comics to accompany the release of the film; it was released July 3, 2007
Contents |
The movie opens in the New Mexico desert, with the mutants from the first film having captured a woman who is being forced to breed mutant children. As soon as she has given birth, Papa Hades (Michael Bailey Smith) smashes her head in with a rock. Nearby, a group of scientists working in the desert hills are attacked by Letch (Jason Oettle). It is also hinted at the beggining of the film that the surviving members of the Carter family from the first film were not killed by the other mutant clan and managed to escape the hills.
Some time later, a group of National Guard reservists in training are sent into the hills to resupply the scientists, who are working for the Department of Defense on installing a surveillance system (implied to be a result of the events in the first film). The soldiers arrive to find the camp apparently abandoned, with no sign of their commanding officer or any of the civilians, with outside radio contact impossible due to the topography. When the radio operator, Spitter (Eric Edelstein), picks up a faint distress call, the sergeant (Flex Alexander) organizes a training missing, leaving behind Napoleon (Michael McMillian) and Amber (Jessica Stroup).
The search party discovers the mutilated body of a scientist in the hills, while Amber and Napolean pull another mutilated and dying scientists from beneath the portable toilet. On her way to join the group, Amber is attacked by Stabber (Tyrell Kemblo), but a returning (and injured) Mickey (Reshad Strik) drives him off. Just as Napoleon catches up, Mickey is pulled into a bolt-hole and killed. At the same time, the remaining troops are also attacked by Letch, leading to the sergeant being killed by Spitter's friendly fire. Spitter himself is later killed by an unseen mutant sabotaging his rappelling gear.
The troop soon locates their commanding officer, who has clearly become unhinged from recent events. He warns them of the mutants' plans to capture woman for breeding and kill everyone else, then commits suicide. With their remaining gear stolen, the team is forced to try to find another way down the mountain. In the process, Missy (Daniella Alonso) is captured and taken into the tunnels, where she is raped, while the remaining troop chases after her. They manage to kill mutants Chameleon (Derek Mears) and Sniffer (Gaspar Szabo), but Stump (Ben Crowley) and Delmar (Lee Thompson Young) are also killed. Crank (Jacob Vargas) is also killed by a trapped crate of dynamite.
While in the mines, the troop locate a non-violent mutant named Hansel (David Reynolds) who eventually shows them the way out of the mines, but Amber insists on returning to find Missy. They find and free her, then have a final showdown with Papa Hades. The final three National Guard troops -- Amber, Napoleon, and Missy -- make their way out of the mine, seemingly alive and safe. However, the epilogue text in the closing scene indicates that none of the guardsmen were ever found, and at least one mutant is seen alive, and making use of the high-tech surveillance equipment to watch the survivors.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 began filming in the summer of 2006 in Ouarzazate, Morocco, where the previous movie was filmed. The alternate title was The Hills Have Eyes 2: The Hills Still Have Eyes.
Writer Wes Craven's initial inspiration for the film came during a casual conversation with producer Peter Locke. Craven envisioned that the previous film's character, Brenda (Emilie de Ravin), traumatized by her suffering during the events of The Hills Have Eyes, joins the National Guard to overcome her fears. Barely finished with basic training, Brenda receives a call from her sergeant, who explains that they are sending a team back to the New Mexico desert to eradicate the remaining mutants. Her sergeant and the team need her, for she is the only one left alive who knows the mutants' location. Because of de Ravin's involvement in the television show Lost, her schedule was unable to accommodate the filming of the sequel. Wes Craven replaced her character, but retained much of the original concept, including the group of National Guard soldiers in training.[2]
A one-minute teaser trailer was released on December 12, 2006. The teaser featured "Insect Eyes," a song by indie folk recording artist Devendra Banhart. In addition to that, a series of clips with an introduction by Wes Craven and a small gallery can be found on the Fox Atomic website. Also on Fox Atomic is a soundless clip of the mutant Grabber attacking Amber. Later on a full length trailer and two clips were released to Yahoo! Movies.
Craven originally looked at Michael J. Bassett, the director of Deathwatch, to take over the directing role, but ultimately chose Martin Weisz after scheduling conflicts with Bassett.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 received mostly negative reviews, garnering a 11% freshness rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[3] The film grossed $37,405,247 worldwide.[4] The film has grossed over $30 million in DVD sales, making in total $67,915,885.
| The Hills Have Eyes 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film score by Various | ||||
| Released | July 17, 2007 | |||
| Genre | Soundtracks Film scores Hardcore Punk Metalcore Thrash Metal Hard Rock Industrial Rock |
|||
| Length | 48:08 | |||
| Label | Bulletproof Records | |||
| Various chronology | ||||
|
||||
The soundtrack was released on July 17, 2007.
|
|||||||||||