The Hills Have Eyes 2

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Martin Weisz directs. Sam McCurdy behind the camera. Trevor Morris scores. Kirk M. Morri cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 2Released 19 years ago.
• 3Part of the "The Hills Have Eyes (Reboot) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 4Directed by Martin Weisz, shot by Sam McCurdy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Trevor Morris. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Kirk M. Morri shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Michael McMillian and Jessica Stroup and Jacob Vargas carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "There are fates worse than death.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0800069 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Released under 17 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Sam McCurdy

Original score

Trevor Morris

Editing

Kirk M. Morri

Production design

Keith Wilson

Costume design

Janie Bryant

Runtime

89 min · 1h 29m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$15,000,000

Box office

$37,697,773

Return

251% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

13% 🥫 Rotten

Metacritic

32/100

IMDB rating

5.1/10 · 69,781 votes

MPAA

R

Part of

The Hills Have Eyes (Reboot) Collection

Two films based on Wes Craven's classic 1977 horror film, which revolves around a family of cannibalistic mutants in the New Mexico desert.

• 
  The Hills Have Eyes

  2006
• 
  The Hills Have Eyes 2

  2007 · this one

Also by

Martin Weisz

• 
  Squatters

  2014 · ★ 6.0
• 
  Grimm Love

  2006 · ★ 4.9

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Hills Have Eyes 2 Trailer 2007 HD.mp4

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Gimly2020-08-12
  ★ 6/10

  Better than the other Hills Have Eyes 2 but not as good as the second Hills Have Eyes... Man, movie title marketing is confusing... My roommate loves this one a lot because she has a hard on for military horror, and while I don't love it, I'm still happy to give it a regular re-watch. Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2022-04-23
  ★ 4/10

  Sadly, this is just a really poor rip-off of the first film, and a sloppy exploitation of it's 2006 remake. This time our nocturnal nuclear survivors manage to - quite successfully - prey on a platoon of trainee National Guard. It would appear that their finely hones military skills are no match of the their hungry opponents as they are gradually whittled down - even their own guns are turned against them as someone manages to somehow crawl out of a portable toilet! The dialogue is banal and the director Martin Weisz has managed to assemble quite possibly the least capable cast of acting talent I have seen since "Mesa of Lost Women" (1953). The photography is good; we do get up close and personal with the frequently quite brutal action, but it appears that another side effect of surviving a mushroom cloud is a seeming invincibility when shot in the head at 5 paces - which after a while becomes really quite dull to watch. Wes Craven still had a hand in this, but I'm sure even he would look at it now and wonder what was he thinking!

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Fox Atomic

  US

• CR

  Craven-Maddalena Films

  US

• DU

  Dune Entertainment

  US

Key crew

• ProducerWes Craven
• ProducerMarianne Maddalena
• ProducerSamy Layani
• ProducerPeter Locke
• EditorKirk M. Morri
• Production DesignKeith Wilson
• StuntsMihaela Elena Oros
• CastingMark Bennett
• CharactersWes Craven
• Costume DesignJanie Bryant
• Production Sound MixerDavid Lee
• Co-ProducerJonathan Craven

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new mexico
• mutant
• assault
• sequel
• remake
• survival
• reboot

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2007-03-22R

Also known as

International titles

• The Hills Have Eyes IIUS
• The Hills Have Eyes 2 - Die Glücklichen sterben zuerstDE
• The Hills Have Eyes II - Die Glücklichen sterben zuerstDE
• Despertar del Diablo 2SV
• Las colinas tienen ojos 2ES
• Terror nas Montanhas 2PT
• Viagem Maldita 2BR
• Las colinas tienen ojos 2 (El retorno de los malditos)ES
• Пагорби мають очі 2UA
• Las colinas tienen ojos 2MX
• O Retorno dos Malditos 2BR
• ヒルズ・ハブ・アイズ 2JP
• The Hills Have Eyes 2 - Die Glücklichen sterben schnellDE
• La colline a des yeux 2FR
• Le visage de la peur 2CA