Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Personalized picks at your fingertips

Get the mobile app on iOS and Android

Get the app
Parents' Guide to

The Hills Have Eyes 2

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Gory sequel pits mutants against the military.

Movie R 2007 89 minutes
The Hills Have Eyes 2 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all
age 16+

Based on 6 parent reviews

Rice V.
Rice V. Parent of 16-year-old
February 4, 2023
age 12+

It's just a movie.

It's just a movie, a pretty dumb one at that. The best thing to do is actually watch a good horror movie with your teen kid, and talk about it, but if you completely take away your kids free will as they are growing up, they will only resent you and hide things behind your back. You can't shelter your fugly kid forever. A child, especially a teenager, appreciates honesty, transparency, and trust. Remember, it's just a stupid movie. My daughter loves these kinds of movies and she does well in school, and she is pretty strong minded, even rivaling some of her male counterparts in her high school. That said, I would rather allow her to watch horror movies over mind control garbage movies that are shoved in our faces such as "woke" man-hating, political propaganda movies that are "socially acceptable." We are here for entertainment, not political debates, or be lectured to on how evil men are. Nuff said.
j.cudz.fjs
j.cudz.fjs Adult
October 5, 2020
age 18+

exellente Movie

not for kids
See all 6 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Those yucky desert mutants have resurfaced, this time in search of females for breeding. Their all-male tribalism is underlined in the first scene of THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2, in which a not-so-grotesque-looking woman gives painful birth to a baby and is promptly whacked in the head and killed by a hulking male mutant. The mutants' apparent misogyny is then juxtaposed with the coed U.S. National Guard, whose trainees are working together in a harrowing mock battle set in a desert that passes for Kandahar, Afghanistan. When they're hoodwinked by a woman wailing about her dead babies, it's clear that gender integration has been achieved in contemporary warfare. Still, the young trainees aren't ready for what they discover in New Mexico. They've heard the rumors, of course, that Section 16 was used by the military to test nuclear weapons during the 1950s. But they can't anticipate that, 50 years later, descendents of everyone who was neglected by the government and deformed by radiation would still be looking for vengeance against the able-bodied and, especially, the pretty.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (6 ):
Kids say (8 ):

This shocking movie features a disturbingly profuse amount of blood and gore. Battle with the mutants results in all manner of bodily abuse, and the mutants themselves arrive looking mightily pre-abused, their heads and limbs misshapen. After much shooting, hacking, and screaming, the National Guard unit is reduced to its survivor core, at which point they're so angry and anguished that their violent payback takes on particularly sexualized characteristics -- it's all about penetrating bodies and kicking crotches.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the movie's over-the-top violence. Do these gruesome, bloody scenes serve specific functions?

  • Discuss how the film treats women.

  • The mutants want to breed with them, and the men want to protect them -- what do the women themselves want?

Movie Details

  • In theaters: March 23, 2007
  • On DVD or streaming: July 17, 2007
  • Cast: Jacob Vargas , Jessica Stroup , Michael McMillian
  • Director: Martin Weisz
  • Inclusion Information: Latino actors, Female actors
  • Studio: Fox Atomic
  • Genre: Horror
  • Run time: 89 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: prolonged sequences of strong gruesome horror violence and gore, a rape and language.
  • Last updated: June 20, 2023

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended movie lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate