The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984) - Craven's embarrassing train wreck sequel

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A multi-colored, über-cool poster for Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes Part II

 

A kind of motorcycle gang of young, braindead lunatics end up in the middle of the desert, in which two equally motorcycle-enthusiastic killer mutants are awaiting...

 

The Hills Have Eyes Part II is written and directed by great Ohioan filmmaker Wes Craven (The Last House on the Left (1972)) as a sequel to his The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

Does the plot above sound silly to you? Then you are correct. It is in a way impressive, how Craven here, - directly prior to his big breakthrough A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), - has collected such a comparatively untalented lot around him for this his second desert horror. (Though the film was apparently also marred by lack of funds.)

In The Hills Have Eyes Part II the young die, but their deaths are sometimes out there. Even so the film remains somewhat entertaining in a train wreck sort-of-way.

 

Related posts:

Wes Craven: 2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Scream 4 (2011) - Craven & Williams serve an irresistible slasher treat 

My Soul to Take (2010) - Craven returns with a subpar teen slasher

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) or, Your Kids and the Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs! (co-writer)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or, Don't Fall Asleep!  

Watch the first 3 minutes of the film from a VHS recording here

 

Cost: Estimated 700k $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Hills Have Eyes Part II premiered at Mystfest in June (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from March - May 1983 in California, including in Los Angeles. The studio halted production due to budgetary fear. But once A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) was released to huge success, the studio convinced Craven to scrap together The Hills Have Eyes Part II from the footage shot. In order to boost the running time, sequences from The Hills Have Eyes were used. Details about the film's gross are regrettably not readily available online. Craven since disowned the film. The The Hills Have Eyes films were remade with the same title in 2006 and 2007. Craven returned with Chiller (1985, TV movie), The Magical World of Disney (1986, TV-series) and theatrically with Deadly Friend (1986). 10k+ Rotten Tomatoes users have given The Hills Have Eyes Part II a 2.2/5 average rating.]

What do you think of The Hills Have Eyes Part II?

The Devil's Rejects (2005) - Zombie's crazy serial killer Americana

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+ Craziest Movie of the Year

One of the more (appropriately) ludicrous posters for Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects

QUICK REVIEW:

The sheriff of a small Texas town raids the corpse-littered home of an infamous family, but the three main suspects flee, and a bloody chase commences.

The Devil's Rejects is the follow-up to writer-director Rob Zombie's (The Lords of Salem (2012)) horror hit House of 1000 Corpses (2003). It is a brutal cocktail with a plot that lies in the slipstream of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Helter Skelter (1976, TV movie). The Devil's Rejects seems to be genuinely thrilled with these types of ultra-psychopaths, which is obviously too upsetting for a lot of people to enjoy.
At the same time the film's style pays homage to 1970s exploitation cinema with slow-mo sequences and other gimmicks, SPOILER and the shoot-em-up ending (to Lynyrd Skynard's Freebird), which is outlaw romance in the vein of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Audiences who are unaware of these cultural origins may just think Rejects a gruesome picture, (which it also is.)
Horror fans will also delight in its featuring legendary horror stars like Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead (1978)) and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes (1977)). Of the actors' performances overall, Kate Norby (The Mentalist (2011), TV-series) as victim Wendy and William Forsythe (Southern Gothic (2007)) as the sheriff should be singled out.
Like other Zombie films, Rejects features excessive swearing. All in all it is an okay and pretty crazy movie.

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's a tutorial to create Rob Zombie's makeup, which he wears when he is touring with his heavy metal band White Zombie

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 19.3 mil. $
= Box office success
[The Devil's Rejects was released July 22 and runs 109 minutes. The film was submitted 8 times for rating to the MPAA, who, according to Zombie, had a problem with the film's overall tone, before an R-rating was secured, after two minutes were cut from the film, (which are reinserted in the DVD version.) Rejects ended up more successful than 1000 Corpses, SPOILER but to distributor Lionsgate's detriment, Zombie killed off the main characters in the film's end, and made a point of rejecting any talk of another sequel. Rejects opened #8 to a 7 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 17 mil. $ (88.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for it were the UK with 1.5 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Italy with 1.1 mil. $ (5.7 %). The Devil's Rejects is rotten at 53 % with a 5.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Devil's Rejects?