The Hills Have Eyes 2 Information

The Hills Have Eyes 2 is a 2007 American horror film, and the 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.

Plot

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) kills her. Nearby, a group of scientists working in the desert hills are attacked by Letch (Jason Oettle). It is also hinted at the beginning of the film that the surviving members of the Carter family from the first film were not killed by Papa Hades' 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 rescue mission, 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 Napoleon pull another mutilated and dying scientist from beneath the portable toilet. On her way to join the group, Amber is attacked by Stabber (Tyrell Kemlo), 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 accidentally 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 women for breeding and kill everyone else, committing suicide upon being asked how to escape the hills. With their remaining gear stolen, the team are forced to try to find another way down the mountain. In the process, Missy (Daniella Alonso) is captured and taken into the tunnels by Chameleon (Derek Mears) who attempts to rape her but is interrupted by Papa Hades who stops him, but then savagely rapes Missy himself for the purpose of impregnating her despite her pleas for help, while the remaining troops chase after her. They manage to kill mutants Chameleon and Grabber (Gaspar Szabo), but Stump (Ben Crowley) and Delmar (Lee Thompson Young) are also killed while underground. Crank (Jacob Vargas) is also killed via a trapped crate of dynamite that he attempts to take with him, incidentally triggering the explosion.

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 having to fight Papa Hades, whom they manage to kill. The final three National Guard troops"?Amber, Napoleon, and Missy"?make their way out of the mine alive.

Epilogue text appears in the closing scene, revealing the dead troops to have been listed as "absent without leave" (although there is no mention of whether or not Missy became pregnant as the result of Papa's rape). At least one mutant is seen alive, and making use of the high-tech surveillance equipment to watch the survivors as they leave the mine. One mutant shown to be frustrated that the survivors got away.

Cast

The National Guard

• Michael McMillian as Napoleon
• Jessica Stroup as Amber
• Jacob Vargas as Crank
• Flex Alexander as Sarge
• Lee Thompson Young as Delmar
• Daniella Alonso as Missy
• Eric Edelstein as Spitter
• Reshad Strik as Mickey
• Ben Crowley as Stump

The mutants

• Michael Bailey Smith as Papa Hades
• Derek Mears as Chameleon
• David Reynolds as Hansel
• Tyrell Kemlo as Stabber
• Gáspár Szabó as Grabber
• Jason Oettle as Letch
• David "Rodney" Underwood as Wiz

Sector 16 Workers

• Jeff Kober as Redding
• Jay Acovone as Wilson
• Philip Pavel as Foster
• Archie Kao as Han

Others

• Cécile Breccia as Pregnant woman
• Fatiha Quatili as Afghan woman
• Joseph Beddelem as Insurgent
• Jeremy Goei as Cly

Production

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.

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.

Box office and reception

The Hills Have Eyes 2 was generally panned by critics, garnering an 11% freshness rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It grossed $37,405,247 worldwide. The film also grossed over $30 million in domestic DVD sales, for a total of $67,915,885.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on July 17, 2007.

Track listing -US Edition

1. The Hills Have Eyes - Loudlion
2. My Fork In The Road (Your Knife In My Back) - Atreyu
3. Unretrofied - The Dillinger Escape Plan
4. Redemption - Shadows Fall
5. Darkest Nights - As I Lay Dying
6. Hard Rock Hallelujah - Lordi
7. Prayers - In This Moment
8. I Know Hollywood And You Ain't It - Walls Of Jericho
9. Throwing Stones - The End
10. Failure In The Flesh - Through The Eyes Of The Dead
11. Sleeping With The Fishes, See? - The Number 12 Looks Like You
12. Own Little World (Remorse Code Remix) - Celldweller