WES CRAVEN TRIBUTE: THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2

Michael Berryman and Kevin Spirtas in Wes Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II Year: 1985

Unlike the freak-filled original, THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II has only four eyes that mater: the first pair belonging to Pluto, famously played by the iconic bald-headed mutant-playing Michael Berryman, whose mere appearance is of horror/exploitation legend. And he's joined by new cannibalistic psychopath — a gigantic killer fitfully named Reaper...

Basic plot has a group of teenage dirt bike riders including a token black funny guy, a couple white square-jaws and an eclectic mix of assorted chicks, head off on a bus to that craggy canyon where the unlucky family had such trouble before...

Kevin Spirtas and Tamara Stafford in THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II

That causes one of the original characters to suffer flashbacks of the original film, and the audience suffers too since, at one point, even the German Shepard, Beast, who had supposedly killed Pluto, flashes back. But let’s leave the past behind because this maligned follow-up is actually not so awful...

The location, an abandoned mine shaft, serves as a more contained  platform for the group of teens, obnoxiously deserving to buy the farm including muscular John Laughlin and 1950's wannabe Kevin Spiritas. Meanwhile, sequences where the kids ride dirt bikes fall prey to various traps, including falling rocks and swinging spikes, makes for creatively formidable challenges... A kind of HOME ALONE only outdoors and in reverse... or something...

Tamara Stafford in Wes Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II

And last but certainly not least is a blind heroine, Cass, played by the incredibly gorgeous Tamara Stafford, someone to truly root for: especially during the final battle with the formidable hulking villain...

So Wes Craven, a year before his game-changing NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET tanked in the theaters before igniting on video and changing his career forever, keeps the pace and body count flowing from beginning to end. It's just too bad for those intrusive, distracting flashbacks keeping an otherwise semi-decent slasher flick just so... semi-decent.

 Tamara Stafford, Kevin Spiritas, Willard E. Pugh and John Laughlin in THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II