Wes Craven changed horror forever in 1977. He took a desert, a broken-down car, and a family of cannibals and turned them into a nightmare that still lingers. Then came the remakes in the 2000s, which were surprisingly good—even brutal. But if you’re looking for The Hills Have Eyes 3, things get weird. You might think you've seen it on a shelf or a streaming service, but honestly, the history of this "third" movie is a mess of rebranding and canceled dreams.
Horror fans have been waiting for a true trilogy-capper for nearly two decades. We got the 2006 remake. We got the 2007 sequel. Then? Silence. Or, more accurately, a lot of confusing low-budget movies trying to trick you into thinking they are part of the family tree.
The Mind Ripper and the Ghost of The Hills Have Eyes 3
Here is the thing most people get wrong. There technically is a movie that was supposed to be the third installment, but it doesn't have the title you'd expect. In the mid-90s, Wes Craven was looking to expand the universe. He produced a film originally titled The Hills Have Eyes III, which eventually became The Mind Ripper (1995).
It was a total pivot. Instead of inbred desert dwellers, we got a sci-fi horror flick about a reanimated corpse in a government outpost. It didn't work. Fans hated the idea of losing the desert setting. Because it moved so far away from the "Pluto and Papa Jupiter" vibes of the original, the producers stripped the franchise name off it before release. If you find an old DVD or a bootleg copy in Europe, you might see it labeled as the third film. Don't be fooled. It’s a creature feature, not a cannibal feast.
Joe Gayton wrote the script, and while it has its cult defenders, it’s basically the "Black Sheep" of the family. It’s the reason the franchise went dormant until Alexandre Aja blew the doors off the property in 2006.
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The 2007 Sequel and the Dead End
When Fox Atomic released The Hills Have Eyes 2 in 2007, the goal was clearly a long-running series. Wes Craven and his son, Jonathan Craven, wrote the script. They shifted the focus from a traveling family to a group of National Guard trainees. It was gore-heavy. It was mean. It also didn't make nearly as much money as the first remake.
The 2006 remake pulled in about $70 million worldwide on a modest budget. The 2007 sequel? It barely cracked $37 million. In Hollywood, that's a death sentence. When the box office halved, the plans for an immediate The Hills Have Eyes 3 were tossed into a drawer.
The industry shifted right around that time. The "torture porn" era led by Saw and Hostel was starting to cool off, and the supernatural era of Paranormal Activity was heating up. Cannibals in the desert felt old-fashioned. Studio executives didn't see the value in a third theatrical run, and the direct-to-video market was becoming a graveyard for horror IPs.
Why a Third Movie Is So Hard to Make Now
You’ve got a couple of big hurdles here. First, the rights are a tangle. Disney now owns Searchlight Pictures (formerly Fox Searchlight), which holds the keys to the remake franchise. Disney isn't exactly known for greenlighting gritty, depraved cannibal movies where people get roasted over campfires. It doesn't fit the brand.
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Then there's the creative problem. How many times can you go back to the New Mexico desert?
- The original used the desert as a vacuum.
- The first remake turned it into a nuclear testing ground.
- The second remake made it a military tactical failure.
To make a real The Hills Have Eyes 3 work today, you’d have to leave the hills. But if you leave the hills, is it even the same movie? Fans are fickle. If you change the setting, they complain it’s not the same. If you stay in the desert, they complain it’s repetitive. It’s a trap.
What a Potential Third Film Could Actually Look Like
If someone like Fede Álvarez or Ti West took a crack at it, they’d likely ignore the 2007 sequel entirely. Modern horror loves a "Legacy Sequel." You see it with Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The smartest move for a new film would be a direct sequel to the 1977 original or a fresh reboot that ignores everything but the core concept.
There have been rumors for years about a "metropolitan" version where the cannibals come to the city. Honestly? That sounds terrible. The isolation is the point. The horror comes from being miles away from help, surrounded by people who know the terrain better than you do.
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The most realistic path for The Hills Have Eyes 3 isn't a movie at all. We are seeing a massive trend of horror franchises moving to streaming series. A limited series on Hulu or Disney+ (under the Star banner) could actually dive into the lore of the mutant families. You could spend time on their history, the government cover-ups, and the generational trauma of being left behind in a radioactive wasteland.
Navigating the Fake Trailers and Misinformation
If you search for a trailer for the third movie on YouTube, you will find dozens of them. They look real. They have millions of views.
They are all fake.
Fan-made concept trailers use footage from Wrong Turn, The Descent, and Bone Tomahawk to trick people into clicking. As of 2026, there is no official production, no leaked script, and no casting news for a third film. The franchise is currently "in development hell," which is a fancy way of saying nobody is working on it, but nobody has officially canceled the idea either.
Actionable Steps for Horror Completionists
Since the third movie doesn't exist in a traditional sense, here is how you can actually scratch that itch if you're a die-hard fan of the series:
- Watch "The Mind Ripper" (1995): Just do it for the history. Watch it knowing it was supposed to be the third film and see if you can spot the leftover DNA from Wes Craven’s original ideas. It’s a fascinating look at what happens when a studio loses faith in a premise.
- Read the Graphic Novel: The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning was released around the time of the second remake. It’s a prequel that explains the origin of the mutants and the nuclear testing. It’s arguably better than the 2007 movie and provides the "lore" that a third film likely would have explored.
- Check Out "Wrong Turn" (2021): If you want the vibe of a modern cannibal reboot that actually tries something different, the recent Wrong Turn reimagining is the closest thing we’ve had to a spiritual successor. It deals with isolated communities and brutal survival in a way that feels very "Hills."
- Monitor Searchlight Pictures: Keep an eye on trade publications like Deadline or The Hollywood Reporter for "Searchlight" news. If the franchise ever returns, it will come through them. Avoid the "Horror Fan Page" rumors on Facebook; they usually just cycle old hoaxes.
The reality is that The Hills Have Eyes 3 remains a ghost. It's a victim of shifting studio priorities and a box office slump from twenty years ago. Until a director with a massive amount of "clout" decides they want to get dirty in the desert again, the mutants are staying hidden.