Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup,
Flex Alexander, Daniella Alonso, Jacob Vargas,
Michael Bailey Smith
UK Certification 18
UK recommended retail £19.99
Runtime 90 min
Directed by Martin Weisz
As the sequel and remake cycle continues ad nauseum, here we have a sequel to a remake that is in itself also a remake. This time, though, it's a remake that's superior to the original. The 1985 sequel to Wes Craven's 1977 schlock horror was, to be blunt, complete and utter crap. Here, with the tale of a bunch of young US National Guard trainees, we have a slightly better-than-average gorefest that the fans will lap up but others will probably give a wide birth.
The young "soldiers" are sent to the military testing ground, Sector 16, on an equipment delivery mission that turns into a search and rescue mission. Scientists running some tests there have gone missing. Of course, those nasty old mutants have already taken care of the scientists and now set about knocking off the pretty young things who, to be frank, are pretty damned clueless. If these are the military types the US is shipping off to places like Iraq and Afghanistan, it's no wonder that they're going home in body bags. And speaking of Iraq, you won't be surprised that the hard-arsed, foulmouthed sergeant in charge of these thick-but-pretty young troops is the first to get knocked off — by "friendly fire", of course. Leaving the scared kiddies all alone and way out of their depth once the mutants start dragging them down into the mines that they inhabit. Cue lots and lots of blood, gore, severed limbs and a rather nasty rape scene (the mutants need some women-folk for breeding, you see).
The film was written by Wes Craven and his son Jonathan, but it's certainly not Craven's best work by a long shot. It's not all that scary or creepy, and oft times is just laugh-out-loud funny (if you have a sense of humour that is as sick as mine is). It seems to be trying to be in the same league as Aliens and Starship Troopers, but without any of the smarts. As I said earlier, this is definitely one that's just for the fans.
EXTRAS*** The usual suspects of deleted scenes, a gag reel and a making of featurette. Plus you get another three featurettes: Mutant Attacks (a behind-the-scenes look at mutant makeup and stunts), Life After Film School with Wes Craven, and Birth of a Graphic Novel, a look at The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning. Missing is a director's commentary track.