it could have been worse... but not much!

Rating: 2/10 (2 April 2007)

...so i'm simply rating it 2.
the storyline is quite old and beaten up, yet one has to remember this is a remake.
the mutant characters have enhanced human capacities: - they can steal a red coat from the van and yet, by foot, cover the distance from the gas pump to the accident site (much faster than it took Big Bob to get there!); - they can foresee that there are new victims though the gas man could not warn them (either that or they spend the whole day looking at the road, since there was no phone to communicate); - they are bullet proof and explosion proof (though Lynn has quite a display of vulnerability there, taking a close range shot in the head and still managing to raise her torso to add to scare (?) the viewer); - and all that while they were clever enough to never have been seen by anyone, in spite of the decent collection of cars (no one is ever bright enough in these films to cover a large area of ground using small planes or helicopters in order to find missing persons who we know to be many, given the amount of news clipped on the wall in the gas station).
the non mutant characters run only no half their "brains": - a retired policeman who nearly empties his gun at the darkness (clever, clever!); - a boy who shoots over his shoulder as he runs away from a mutant (though we are lead to believe he had used a gun before); - the "hero" who manages to run away when he clearly has the advantage to take down one of the mutants and locks himself in a division in a strange house inhabited by several other mutants(i'm certain we'd all do the same, it would increase largely our chances of escaping, of course!).
so we are presented with mutants whose seemingly only downside is the way they look, and "normal" people who we are invited to feel little sympathy for (other than the dogs and the baby, who are we left to like in the film?), does this make a sound plot for anyone?
there are quite a few other non sense aspects, along with the cannibal touch that doesn't fit quite well here, as we see fresh bodies stockpiled and being dragged, indicating they feast on human flesh and blood but not on their own (are we truly expected to believe hundreds of people drive through that road, providing nourishment for more than 6 mutants?).
the rape scene suggests they did that sort of thing all the time as well (wouldn't it have been more fun if they had kidnapped Brenda, like they did to the bodies?), and it was quite a plan they had there to fool their victims by incinerating Big Bob, who also contributes to the rape by giving us a display of superhuman powers as he manages to remain conscious throughout most of the burning (along with the ropes!).
as the film slowly marches to an end, the viewer is prepared to accept all (nothing new, anyway!) - Doug's display of Superman, Ruby's kind gesture of humanity and, of course, the final scene that gives room for a sequel!
the rape+burn+gun-point-at-baby scene is clearly overvalued, the intention is clearly to shock the viewer and make people curious to see the film (after so much brutality on TV and similar films, can we really feel disgusted at watching that scene?) and, from what i've read in some of the reviews here, it clearly succeeds, but all the rest fails - there is no horror, no thrill, no suspense, no logic thread... very little to make this film live up to the rating it presently holds (6.5).
it's a good thing there are plenty of people who get thrilled and shocked at these sort of films, it makes me feel a whole lot better to know i disliked it!