better than the original

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2006)

here's the odd remake that far surpasses the original. while craven's 1977 flick does sustain a raw & gritty queasiness (a result of a good, archetypal horror premise mixed with a willingness to take things too far mixed with no budget), the execution is lacking, the premise is under-explored, and the campier and cruder aspects eventually overwhelm the whole affair. the re-make, though, attains an even higher level of tension and horror. a sense of hopelessness pervades the entire nightmare, the gore is more gruesome and believable, and the terror is more unrelenting. and like 'godzilla' or 'night of the living dead', the socio-political underpinnings keep the movie from becoming just another run-of-the-mill genre pic.
(on the opposite end of the spectrum from the omen remake. that was bad. just bad.)