THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART 2 (1984)

 

(a.ka. THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II; director/ screenwriter: Wes Craven)

 

Review

Seven years after the events of Wes Craven’s 1977 film, two survivors from the previous movie are co-owners of a motocross team: Ruby, now called Rachel, who betrayed her cannibal family to help the Carters in the first film; and Bobby Carter, Rachel’s boyfriend, who’s seeing a psychiatrist to try and shake off his HILLS-related trauma. A racing event is set to take place in the desert area where Rachel’s tunnel-dwelling family attacked the Carters, and Robert, still traumatized, refuses to go. Rachel goes in his place, riding in a bus with the late-adolescent, horny and feckless motorcyclists.

The bus breaks down, stranding the Rachel and her team near the site of the original massacre. Surviving members of Rachel’s family─some of whom weren’t seen in the 1977 flick─assault and slay many of teenage riders, the remainder of whom (along with Rachel) fight to stay alive.

Released in 1985, HILLS PART 2 is a bad, choppy-edit film, more a desert-set-FRIDAY-THE-13^th knock-off than a follow-up to its potent-themed prequel. This is borne out by this sequel’s heavy, shoehorn-recycling of original-film footage and its FRIDAY-esque stalk-and-kill scenes as well as composer Harry Manfredini’s recycling of his iconic FRIDAY (1980) soundtrack here. What makes HILLS PART 2 worse is that none of the young characters, aside from Rachel, are worth rooting for. They’re obnoxious, begging to be taken out.

There are also inconsistencies with the second film.

One of them is the presence of the unscarred Pluto (Michael Berryman, reprising his iconic role)─in HILLS, Pluto appeared to be killed; even if he survived, he would’ve been horribly scarred. A further franchise contradiction is the presence of The Reaper (John Bloom, not Joe Bob Briggs), Jupiter’s brother and current head of Ruby’s inbred kin. In HILLS, it was stated by a reliable source that Jupiter (James Whitworth) only had a sister, who was killed in a house fire started by Jupiter. (It’s also worth noting that The Reaper’s voice was dubbed by Nicholas Worth.)

Shot before Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984), Craven, who later disavowed HILLS PART 2, said he was two-thirds through making HILLS PART 2 when the studio halted its production because of its cost. Craven went on to make NIGHTMARE, and when it was a huge hit, the studio (Hills Two Corporation VTC) wanted Craven to finish HILLS PART 2 (which Craven already wasn’t a fan of), crafting it with only its existing footage─the legendary filmmaker was forced to use many of the scenes from HILLS to make it long enough to qualify as a feature-length work.

Michael Berryman was not the only returning HILLS actor. Janus Blythe came back to play Ruby (now Rachel). Robert Houston, seen briefly at the film’s start, reprised his role of Bobby Carter. Also, the canine character Beast (one of the two German Shepherds seen in HILLS) appears in the second film.

Kevin Spirtas (billed as Kevin Blair, FRIDAY THE 13^th PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD, 1988) played Roy. Williard E. Pugh (ROBOCOP 2, 1990) played Foster. Peter Frechette (GREASE 2, 1982) played Harry. Penny Johnson Jerald (billed as Penny Johnson, FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES, TV series, 1990 episode) played Sue.

HILLS PART 2 is far from the worst film I’ve seen. Its behind-the-scenes crew did a good job with its technical aspects, a few of the scenes jump scare-worthy. Otherwise, it feels like a bland, disembodied-from-its-source-film-FRIDAY-THE-13^th-structured work, one you can skip without missing much. Recommended for HILLS completists or super die-hard fans of any of its players.