“The Hills Have Eyes 2” -- Lame sequel lacks credibility

Rushing sequels into production right after the success of the original, rarely speaks well of the final product produced. “The Hills Have Eyes” was a surprisingly terrifying and well-conceived re-make last year, but the sequel - which was made only a year later - has little of the terror and none of the logic of the original. The military squad who is the center of this story, ends up being less competent and convincing than the family who were stranded in the desert in the first film. From dumb mistake after dumb mistake, whatever credibility the series gained last year has all but vanished in this lame sequel.

As if following the horror sequel playbook - as written by James Cameron - a team of National Guard troops is sent into the desert to train and eventually investigate the disappearance of scientists sent to the New Mexico atomic testing site. The military was originally sent in to rescue the family stranded in the original film, according to the story at the very beginning, but the rest of the movie makes no mention of what happened to the surviving family members. Instead, less interesting characters are the focus of movie two, as every soldier is pretty much indistinguishable from the other. The men and women must try and get out of their own way and save themselves, as the denizens of the mines and caves -survivors of the atomic testing in the ’50s - come alive and start picking them off.

I had hope at the beginning of the story when I saw the same theme from film one, of the passive intellectual stepping up and saving the day, but this goes no farther than the first twenty minutes of the sequel. After that, other than an occasional quick scare and an over-the-top gory chop-shop in the caves, nothing particularly frightening happens. The sense of dread and impending doom from the 2006 movie does not occur in the follow up, as if the new director forgot what made the first film any good. Simply making loud noises and having severed limbs and organs hanging about, does not make a good horror movie.

The saddest part of “The Hills Have Eyes 2” is that it indirectly makes the military look bad, as these soldiers find ways to kill themselves off without any help from the monsters. The amount of mistakes made by a supposedly well trained military unit is unfathomable and way beyond human error. If you are surrounded by monsters, don’t go off by yourselves. If someone keeps stealing your stuff, don’t leave your guns and climbing rope lying around unprotected. This film is a poor follow-up to the original and not worthy of your time or attention.

Rated R for prolonged sequences of strong gruesome horror violence and gore, a rape and language.