Metascore
32 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 18
  2. Negative: 9 out of 18
  1. 63
    The director, Martin Weisz , doesn't lean on a lot of noise and editing tricks. He can relax, since all the scares are built into the Cravens' script, which invokes both "Goonies" and last year's instant-classic, chicks-versus-cave-dwelling-vampires flick "The Descent."
  2. Reviewed by: Kim Newman
    60
    Pretty solid gory horror.
  3. Reviewed by: Gregory Kirschling
    58
    A retro horror-comedy featuring quick deaths and cheapo-looking gore, with a few dorky laughs and gross-outs but not so many scares.
  4. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    50
    Though written by Wes Craven and his son, Jonathan Craven, this is pretty standard stuff: A lot of creeping through dark tunnels with just enough characterization to help you keep track of who's still alive, but not enough gore to really satisfy fans of Aja's bloodbath.
  5. Reviewed by: Jim Ridley
    50
    For anyone other than hardcore gore-hounds, this flipbook of deliberately invoked global-unrest horrors, from friendly-fire killings to rape as a breeding weapon, is effectively mean and unrelenting--and pretty far from fun.
  6. Reviewed by: John Anderson
    50
    The politics of "Hills 2" won't enlist any new converts to the horror ranks, but existing fans will be drawn to the combination of visceral tension, violent payoff and the patented Craven gift for innovative gore.
  7. The Hills Have Eyes 2 proves that even grisly, gory violence can be awfully boring.
  8. Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    40
    The film is brazenly indebted to old cowboys-and-Indians movies and to James Cameron's "Aliens." Gleefully sensationalistic and paced like an adults-only shoot-'em-up video game, it's ultimately less interested in subversion and subtext than in making viewers squirm, shriek and throw up into their popcorn bags.
  9. 38
    The mutants are brain-damaged; the filmmakers don't have that excuse to justify this movie, which is the kind of thing the sergeant would call "a stunning display of individual and group stupidity."
  10. Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    38
    As a fan of the genre, and someone who genuinely loves such recent horror efforts as "The Descent" and "The Host," I respectfully suggest that the atmosphere for horror movies might be better if moviemakers stopped making ones like this.
  11. Reviewed by: Jason Anderson
    38
    A perfunctory gore fest and quite possibly the year's worst date movie.
  12. You'd like to think such bankruptcy of imagination means we've seen the last of these subterranean creeps. But you know they'll be back soon to collect their royalties from the gore hounds who apparently don't care how dull or warmed over the accompanying package.
  13. On the whole, this is an awfully long slog through very arid terrain, in which generic soldiers track, fight and try to escape from generic villains (you'd be surprised at how uninteresting mutant flesh-eaters can be). I can't speak for the hills, but I spent most of the movie just trying to keep my eyes open.
  14. 25
    After this disgrace, it's time to shut the hills' eyes for good.
  15. 25
    Assembles the most motley group of incompetents this side of a "Police Academy" movie, yet somehow misses the laughs. But humorlessness is probably the least of the film's problems, lagging behind amateur-night performances from the no-name cast, a homogenous visual palette (and from a music-video director, no less!), and lots of pointless sadism.
  16. As witless and simpleminded as the irradiated humanoids that serve as the franchise's bad guys.
  17. Reviewed by: Felix Vasquez, Jr.
    10
    This horror fanatic doesn't have room for Craven in his genre anymore. Collect your cash and call it a day already, Wes.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 74 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 22
  2. Negative: 13 out of 22
  1. Terrible acting, Terrible script that does nothing but give you a reason why they are there just so the villians can get them. The entire film was stupid and nothing compared to the previous one. Full Review »
  2. Sequel to the half-decent remake of The Hills Have Eyes. The best way to describe this film is if you imagine the cast of Hollyoaks joining the Military then acting like the Chuckle Brothers. Put simply, it's bloody awful. Full Review »
  3. JasenW
    4
    This movie definitely didn't live up to my expectations. The story line had potential, but they blew it. Including women in the National Guard combat unit made the movie more of a comedy than a horror movie. The rape scene was a good touch and there was some good gore. Full Review »