Not as Scary as the Original but Still Fun to Watch

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2006)

This movie starts off great. The opening title sequence is beautifully done -- everything, that is, except the title credits themselves. On a big screen they may have been readable, but reduced to a TV screen they are a messy glob of orange. Dark orange which is absorbed by the density of the images behind them. Maybe it's time for movie companies and post houses to start considering that film titles and TV titles are two different things, and separate sets could be made. At least until five foot TV screens are the norm. That is, when everyone has them. Not just the people designing the credits.
The casting of the family is superb. What a blessing to see a horror film with a mostly unknown cast. No supermodel ingénues like Jessica Biel or Sara Michelle Gellar to detract from the illusion of reality. Considering the quasi-verite feel of the original, which was a huge part of its power, this was an especially wise choice. The costumes and make-up are magnificently mundane, contributing to the build-up of tension. These are characters any average human can relate to, and the hints that they are stepping into something horrific effectively prime us for an explosion of horror.
Unfortunately that promise is broken the moment we meet our first bad guy. While the casting of the family is sublime, the actors chosen for the mutant freaks is soft and unconvincing. The lamely designed make-up never disguises the fact that these are normal, even attractive actors. One can only assume that the director, who handled so many aspects of this production perfectly, took a miscalculated gamble that the make-up itself would render the characters frightening. Either that, or someone decided that they wanted this to be a soft horror film. Something to appeal to the undemanding, middle-of-the-road audience, rather than the hardcore horror fans.
One of the creepiest things about Wes Craven's original version was the believability of the hill people. Michael Berryman's freakish features combined with his subtly bizarre costume were more unsettling than any of the characters in this remake. Even in their special efx make-up, the new freaks are about as scary as something you'd expect to find in a circus sideshow.
One real treat in this film is the cinematography. This is perhaps the most exciting piece of cinematography in the horror genre since Adam Greenberg worked with Kathryn Bigelow on "Near Dark." Hopefully the young Belgian cinematographer will continue to grace movies worthy of his very distinctive style, and not wind up shooting bloated Hollywood turkeys... or worse, directing humongous turkeys like Jan de Bont.
Older horror fans who caught the original version in a theatre will no doubt view this differently than younger viewers who have no pre-conceived expectations. Those who do note the difference have to call into question Wes Craven's influence in making this one a bit glossier and less frightening. Every year sees more Wes Craven productions, with a wide range of success. The sheer volume and disparity suggests he's more of a rubber stamp than an actual hands on producer -- but the lack of true scariness in this movie may also be the mark of his older, softer sensibilities imposed upon the director.
While not as scary as the original, this is an enjoyable film. It's the kind of "horror movie" that a true horror fan can sit through in the company of friends who are fans of the kind of horror which isn't really very scary but can scare the pants off them.