Gory Shocker

Rating: 6/10 (6 February 2010)

The last decade really has been something of a nadir where American film making is concerned . Remakes and sequels dominate the multiplexes and things show signs of getting worse . Earlier tonight I saw trailers for THE WOLFMAN and THE CRAZIES which sums up the lack of imagination from Hollywood . Hollywood was once a dream factory except the dreams in real life quickly fade while Hollywood dreams remain for eternity - at least in theory . I'll say one good thing about Hollywood studios and that is they've never had the insane temerity to remake the likes of ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES and CASABLANCA . Please for the love of humanity don't remake these masterpieces . But I have nightmares that it's only a matter of time
This film is a remake of Wes Craven's 1977 film and my expectations were not high . I'd seen the remake of THE OMEN a few days previously and did have the consolation that Craven's film isn't a firm favourite so French director Alexandre Aja should feel free to totally ruin his remake and there was no way he could emulate the nakedly lazy shot by shot recreation of THE OMEN directed by John Moore
Perhaps " pleasantly surprised " is the wrong phrase because there's very little here that can be called pleasant . It's a horror film and a rather stomach churning one at that . Despite an original opening scene the screenplay follows the same basic plot as the original as a family camping in the remote New Mexico desert find themselves under mortal peril . Aja has kept the most memorable scene from the original where a mutant does an Ozzy Osbourne on a budgie
After this the remake starts going its own way and develops the back story of who the villains are , something that from memory the original didn't . The mutants are descended from miners who refused to leave their town during the atomic tests of the 1950s . They are literally monsters in a remote wilderness and the make up effects are very good , especially one wretched creature who due to the size of his head is unable to leave his chair
As the narrative continues director Aja ratchets up the gore level and brutality to the maximum , some of which is rather stomach churning . It's not a film for the faint of heart but doesn't pretend to be and fans of the " backwoods brutality " sub-genre of horror will certainly like it