THE HILLS HAVE EYES II
US, 2007, 89 minutes, Colour.
Michael Mc Millian, Jessica Stroup, Daniella Alonso, Jacob Vargas, Lee Thompson Young, Ben Crowley, Eric Edelstein, Flex Alexander, Reshad Strik, Michael Bailey Smith.
Directed by Martin Weisz.
Warning. If you find the credits difficult to sit through, then it is best to go. A screaming imprisoned woman is in birth pangs, delivers her baby and is killed. There are a number of far more gory deaths to come.
That is the nature of The Hills Have Eyes films which have now become a franchise. Wes Craven wrote and directed the original in the 1970s, a gruesome tale of a cannibalistic family who preyed on people for food. The story was given quite a classy update in the 2006 re-make, more restrained visually but also more evocative with a lot of emphasis given to the social implications of the atomic testing past which created the mutant cannibals.
Craven and his son Jonathan have written this sequel, moving away from the theme of a terrorised family and writing a ‘lost patrol’ story where the members of a small squad are picked off one by one. At this level, the film is routine except for the brutality and nastiness of the deaths and torture. There is also a constant barrage of tiresome crass language. The mutants and their behaviour are particularly repellent. Performances are not altogether persuasive with a gallery of the usual suspects: pacifist hero, strong combat heroine, mother type, responsible leader types, the soldier who wants out and offers to go for help (who has obviously not seen enough movies to realise that he is the next to go in ghastly fashion) and an irritating complainer critic who lives far longer than he needs to!
On the other hand, there is also a political subtext that we are quickly alerted to. The group in the film are rookie National Guards who are seen on a training exercise, which they bungle – the location is called Kandahar. Later there are some references to contemporary Middle East conflicts. This means that the story is one of amateur Americans, not fully trained, having to fight unseen monstrous enemies in desert and mountainous cliff terrains, some courageous, some panicky, some fearful, involved in battles they cannot win. At the end, the producers pay tribute to National Guards and their courage but express a hope that they battles they have to fight will be worthy ones. So, the terror film becomes a mirror symbol and critique of American military policy.
1.The status of the original film? Wes Craven and the 1970s? Pushing the limits of the horror film? Giving it a social context? The impact of the remake? Keeping the spirit of Craven’s film? Making the social points about atomic testing even more strongly? This film in this tradition?
2.The film written by Wes Craven and his son Jonathan? In the spirit of the previous films? For a 21st century audience and sensibility? The plot, the characterisations – and the incessant crass language?
3.The film as a horror film, the mutants, the situation, the sense of menace, the attack by the mutants, the parallel of so many films with a small group and their being picked off one by one? How well did this work?
4.The graphic nature of the gory sequences? The impact of the credits sequence, the sadism of the woman giving birth, the child, her being killed? Setting a tone for the rest of the film? The visualising of the mutants and their behaviour? The various killings – gory and in close-up?
5.The allegorical nature of the film? The parallel with American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq? In the Arizona desert? The parallels mad with the Taliban and El Qaeda? The mountains, the caves, the silence of the attackers, their disappearing? The film making this obvious with the exercise as if the National Guard were in Afghanistan, Kandahar? The references to the war in Iraq and its toll? The statement at the end by the writers and producers about a tribute to the National Guard – that they have good causes to fight for and lose their lives for?
6.The presentation of the young Americans, men and women, training and lack of training, characters, their fears? Their behaviour in crisis situations – generous, self-serving, heroic, cowardly? The parallels with the experiences in the Middle East?
7.The information about Sector 16, the audience knowing what had happened in the previous films? The tests, the mutations? The confrontations with the Carter family? The National Guard going in, the scientists? Wanting to install the equipment to detect the presence of the mutants? The mutants fighting back, killing the scientists, killing the colonel, attacking the guard?
8.The National Guard group, seeing them working together, the exercise paralleling Afghanistan, their mistakes, the sergeant ticking them off? Their going to the desert, the patrol? Their seeing the mirrors flashing in the sun, the decision to search for the missing people? The gradual diminution of the team, the gruesome deaths, the capture of Missy? The decision to help her? The confrontation with the mutants? The kind mutant and his help?
9.How well delineated were the characters: Napoleon, his pacifism, the clashes with Crank, his holding the rifle up, his being disciplined, left behind, the interactions with Amber? Finding the injured man in the toilet, trying to save him? Going to the rescue of the others, Amber depending on him? On the hill, the deaths, in the caves, help from the kindly mutant, the clashes with Crank, rescuing Missy? The finale and their getting out?
10.Amber, the female presence, her strength, her fears? Her coping with the difficulties? Friendship with Missy? Missy as strong, the mobile phone and her son? Her being abducted, the rape, the mutants wanting to have children? Her being rescued, her vengeance and kicking?
11.Crank, unpleasant, antagonistic? His surviving throughout most of the film? His helping his fellow? Delmar saving him after the leap? The explosion and his death?
12.Delmar, a leader, his advice, decisions? The taking over after the sergeant was killed? The sergeant and his strength of character?
13.Stump, his decision to go it alone – and the audience knowing that he would be killed? His arm being cut?
14.The gruesome details, the dragging away of the men, especially Mickey? The death of Sarge? The cutting of the rope …?
15.The presentation of the mutants, Hades and his brutality, the attack on Missy? The Chameleon and his being able to blend in with the rocks? The kindly mutant? Taking the group to safety?
16.The popularity of this kind of film? The explicit goriness? The sensibility of the audience? And the use of this kind of horror film for an allegory of what was happening with American troops and policy in the Middle East?
