The Hills Have Eyes II/Old Review

 I just wanted to get the user comments off of IMDb. As I'll mention shortly, I saw this mentioned on In Search of Darkness II, deciding to watch it Saturday afternoon since it was available on Tubi.

April 1, 2007

A group of motorcyclists, including Ruby(Janus Blythe),formerly a cannibal of the hills now reformed since leaving with the two survivors of the first film, get stranded out on the desert hills where two cannibals wreak havoc on them. The group find a compound that seems deserted, but a hidden room inside what appeared to be a refrigerator houses a place that might explain who is out there in the darkness causing so much terror. Blind Cass(Tamara Stafford)and others await the return of her boyfriend Roy(Kevin Spirtas, the hero hunting down Jason Voorhies in Friday THE 13TH THE NEW BLOOD)and Harry(Peter Frechette)who are chasing a cannibal survivor from the first film, Pluto(Michael Berryman)after he steals one of their motorbikes. This leads to both possibly being killed while the others having no idea of their condition. Slowly, each fall prey to a much more menacing cannibal, the dead Jupiter's larger brother, The Reaper(John Bloom)while Pluto tangles with Ruby and that blasted dog that messed him up the previous time, Beast. At night, things get really scary because those who await the return of their two men, believe they are playing a practical joke which is not unlike them(we see both several times pulling stunts on various characters). In the darkness, The Reaper and Pluto have a distinct advantage..how will a blind woman and her friends defend themselves in a place they have no knowledge of?

The film is more of a slasher flick than the great original Craven effort. This one is VERY low budget, but doesn't pack the same punch as the brutal superior original. I felt this sequel resembles the Friday THE 13Th films, not just because of the familiar Harry Manfredini score, but the methods of the killers. Like those victims of Friday THE 13TH, those who are killed normally separate themselves from the group making themselves vulnerable to attack. The film has a dirt-poor grungy quality that hearkens back to the original film, but lacks bite. This one offers some flashbacks from Bobby, the male survivor & Ruby from the previous film..and the notorious one by the dog, Beast. I feel like this was intentional comedy on Craven's part that many just couldn't giggle at. I rather found it amusing. But, why a blind woman isn't killed immediately and instead allowed to last throughout the film(..and how The Reaper couldn't just escape a circle-of-fire at the end by jumping a little)is just too ridiculous to accept.