The Hills Have Eyes 2 Blu-ray Review

Fox's Blu-ray release of "The Hills Have Eyes 2" impresses with a 2.35:1 MPEG-4 transfer that masterfully captures the harsh and unforgiving desert landscape, reminiscing the visual style of iconic war films like "Black Hawk Down". The contrast is dialed up to emphasize the scorching heat, with backgrounds intentionally brightened, leading to a slightly diluted sunny glare. Yet, this never compromises the clarity of the foreground, where characters, weapons, and the grotesque remnants of mutation are rendered with striking sharpness and detail. The 1080p resolution ensures that every blood-spurt, dismemberment, and unsettling detail leaps from the screen with vividness, backed by a color palette that, despite primarily showcasing yellows and ochres, maintains a vibrancy and consistency in saturation. Blood tones are gruesomely authentic, and even the sparse desert greenery pops with life against the arid backdrop.

As the narrative shifts from the sunbathed exteriors to the claustrophobic darkness of underground lairs, the Blu-ray demonstrates its prowess in handling such extreme transitions. Black levels remain deep and true, devoid of any grey seepage or detail loss, which is particularly commendable given the film’s latter portion predominantly unfolds in poorly lit caves. The absence of image filtering preserves the film grain, ensuring a naturalistic texture that enhances the visually gruesome experience without detracting from it. Detail is meticulously maintained across both brightly illuminated scenes and those shrouded in shadow, providing a consistent clarity that upholds even during moments of intense action or horror.

However, some minor drawbacks such as slight haloing around certain edges and variable sharpness in mid-to-background elements suggest a blend of intentional stylistic choices and technical limitations. Despite these inconsistencies, they rarely detract from the overall viewing experience. The AVC MPEG-4 encode handles color reproduction and shadow detailing with expertise, ensuring that flesh tones remain natural across various lighting conditions. Fox’s dedication to Blu-ray quality shines through with this release, presenting "The Hills Have Eyes 2" in a manner that far exceeds the expectations set by its cinematic value, delivering a technically impressive showcase of visual storytelling contrasted between extreme lighting conditions.

The audio presentation of "The Hills Have Eyes 2" on Blu-ray with its DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack is a standout, delivering an aggressive and immersive experience that enhances the horror atmosphere, despite the film's shortcomings in generating genuine tension. From the onset, the audio mix impresses with its clarity and bombast, starting with the unsettling score and disturbing soundscapes, such as the birthing scene's screams and intense action sequences filled with gunfire, body impacts, and mutant roars. The sound design meticulously captures the essence of the film's environment, with well-directed dialogue and crisply rendered effects like skittering rock falls and echoing gunfire, seamlessly enveloping the listener in its terror-inducing world.

Notably, the audio track excels in creating a spooky atmosphere through its effective use of the surround channels, delivering believable ambient sounds that transition from the barren wasteland of the military encampment to the eerie underground sequences. This seamless ambiance is punctuated by sudden jolts of shock sound effects that, despite criticisms around their volume being used as a scare tactic, are executed with precision, giving the sound system a thorough workout. The high-quality recording ensures a clear distinction between the deep bass roars and higher-range screams without sacrificing the dialogue's intelligibility or the score's presence in the mix.

At its core, the Blu-ray’s DTS-MA 5.1 track showcases a robust and detailed audio experience that goes beyond standard expectations for a horror film. While maintaining a professional and technical prowess, it not only brings the viewer into a convincingly horrific atmosphere but also demonstrates careful attention to detail in sound localization and environmental depth. This audio track stands as a significant achievement, providing a compelling reason to experience the film, irrespective of its narrative challenges.

The extra features of "The Hills Have Eyes 2" Blu-ray, while lacking in a director’s commentary, offer a mixed bag that ranges from intriguing to disappointing. Notably, the absence of Wes Craven’s commentary comes as a surprise, especially given the added value such insights brought to previous entries in the series. The assortment includes some standard yet mildly entertaining offerings like deleted scenes and an alternate ending, neither of which contribute significantly to the narrative or depth of the film. However, not all is lost; the "Birth of a Graphic Novel" featurette stands out as a genuinely compelling deep dive into the creative process behind the graphic novel prequel, offering fans a rich backstory to the franchise's lore. Other highlights include "Mutant Attacks," providing a peek at the makeup and design of the film’s antagonists, and "Exploring The Hills: The Making Of Hills Have Eyes 2," which despite its surface-level insights, reveals the challenging conditions of the Moroccan shoot. Yet, the overall selection suffers from an EPK-like superficiality, with much of the content feeling more promotional than insightful. The gag reel and Fox Movie Channel’s interview segment with Wes Craven round out the offering, delivering little beyond light entertainment and cursory insights into the movie's production.

Extras included in this disc:

• Four Deleted Scenes: Additional scenes not included in the final cut.
• Alternate Ending: A slightly different conclusion to the movie.
• Gag Reel: Light-hearted outtakes from the film.
• Mutant Attacks: A feature on the film's antagonists and their visual design.
• Birth Of A Graphic Novel: A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the graphic novel.
• Exploring The Hills: The Making Of Hills Have Eyes 2: Insights into the filming process.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School With Wes Craven: An interview with Wes Craven.
• Trailers: Promotional trailers for "The Hills Have Eyes" and other Fox Blu-ray discs.

"The Hills Have Eyes 2," a sequel to the 2006 remake and an installment far removed from Wes Craven's original shocker, unfortunately falls significantly short of its predecessors in both substance and scare factor. Critics and audiences alike have highlighted the film's descent into the unfortunately all-too-familiar territory of clichéd horror tropes, underdeveloped characters, and an overreliance on gore without the necessary tension or care for the storyline. With a backdrop that pivots around a military unit's ill-fated encounter with the series' notorious mutants, the film attempts to marry the concept of soldiers versus monsters—a formula that has seen success in films like "Dog Soldiers" and "Aliens"—yet fails to deliver a coherent or compelling narrative, bogged down by poor dialogue, implausible scenarios, and a glaring lack of originality.

Despite hopes for a revival of Craven's subversive take on violence and humanity, "The Hills Have Eyes 2" deviates into an uninspired exploitation of violence, seemingly for its own sake. The involvement of Craven and his son in the screenplay does little to salvage this sequel from its descent into mediocrity, with critics pointing out the unnecessary nature of its existence as it adds little to the horror genre or the franchise itself. Not only does the film suffer from a plot filled with holes and an apparent disregard for logical military conduct or effective communication technology, it also misses a crucial element of horror storytelling: making the audience care about its characters. The lack of connection to the cast results in a dispassionate observation of their demise, undermining any potential for suspense or horror.

Technical aspects of the Blu-Ray presentation, such as image and sound quality, are noted to be excellent, showcasing clear visuals and an immersive audio experience. However, these technical merits do little to compensate for the film's fundamental flaws. The supplementary materials provided are similarly critiqued as lackluster, with the only notable inclusion being a feature on the graphic novel that fails to significantly enhance the viewing experience. In summary, "The Hills Have Eyes 2" serves as a glaring example of a sequel that strays too far from what made its forebears memorable, trading genuine terror and a critique on violence for tired cliches and indiscriminate brutality.

"‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’ on Blu-ray disappoints profoundly on the cinematic front, haunted by shallow character development and dialogue bordering on the atrocious. Coupled with villains lacking depth and motive, the narrative stumbles significantly, failing to leverage its horror premise effectively. Viewers searching for a sequel that enriches its predecessor’s lore will find little to appreciate in the film's storytelling or character arcs. However, this release is not without its technical merits. The Blu-ray shines with an impressive display of video and audio quality that stands tall amidst the ruins of its narrative shortcomings. The inclusion of a decent array of supplements may offer some solace to collectors or those few ardent fans of the franchise.

On a more positive note, for enthusiasts of the genre or the series, the Blu-ray edition of ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’ does manage to deliver on the technical aspects expected from a home media release. The sharpness of the video and strength of the audio presentations are highlights, ensuring that even as the film falters, the experience of watching it is visually and sonically rewarding. This could serve as a small consolation for fans or collectors who prize high-quality physical media presentations, regardless of the film's storytelling flaws.

In conclusion, while ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’ Blu-ray offers a high-quality audiovisual experience and a satisfactory selection of special features, these aspects cannot distract from the film’s core issues. Lackluster plot, forgettable characters, and ineffective horror elements make it a challenging recommendation for casual viewers. Hardcore fans of gore may find some merit in its technical presentation, but as a sequel, it serves more as a lesson in missed opportunities than a worthwhile expansion of its universe. For those invested in the franchise or in need of completing their collection, proceed with caution."