I generally avoid remakes whenever possible (the poster I just saw for the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 starring John Travolta and Denzel Washington still has me feeling ill).  But since Heather had never seen the Wes Craven version, and considering how low-budget it was, I agreed to give this new version a try.  All things considered, it was a decent suspense film, a level above most of the thriller crap they dish out these days.

The story itself is rather simple, a mix of unfortunate coincidences.  Vacationing at their remote lake house, a couple (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter) and their daughter (Sara Paxton) anticipate a quiet time by themselves.  The daughter takes their vehicle to go visit a friend in town, and this is when things begin to unwind.  The two decide to accept the offer of a young man they don’t know (Spencer Treat Clark) to return to his motel room for some marijuana.  They enjoy themselves, for a while…until the young man’s father, uncle, and uncle’s girlfriend return unexpectedly.  As it happens his father (Garret Dillahunt) is an escaped convict, and the trio just murdered two officers in order to arrange his getaway.  The girls know too much, or have seen too much, and they cannot be released.  You can guess at the direction of the plot from there, except the twist is the gang takes refuge from a storm in a nearby house…the house occupied by the vacationing couple.

The violence in the film is quite graphic, but in some ways made more terrifying not because of the blood splattering on the screen (as in other horror films) but because of the brutality, rawness, and complete lack of remorse from all involved (save the harassed son of the gang leader).  There are some quite gratuitous shots early on of Paxton undressing and dressing again that seem completely unnecessary.  However, the scenes of violence, rape, and murder carry a less opportunistic feel.  They are shocking because the acts themselves are shocking, not because of an over-the-top approach.  Director Dennis Iliadis combines shorts cuts with viewpoints of various characters to keep a very human reality to the subject matter.  Suspension of disbelief isn’t quite so difficult as in other films of the genre.  With that in mind, and because of the somewhat intelligent and understandable actions of the family members (again, compared to the “fall down cowering until you are hacked to pieces” or “leave the gun next to the supposedly dead villain” clichés) you can actually find yourself rooting for the good guys, and against the bad.  The monster is no mindless, faceless Jason or dream-based Freddy…the evil and selfish disdain for the lives of others comes from very human characters…the kind who do exist, and who we should be afraid of. 

Don’t expect anything momentous, but if you want to enjoy some suspense, with some abundant gore and violence, you can give this film a try.  But if blood, knives, rape, and cruelty of man against man are too much for you, don’t bother.  You’ll just walk out feeling ill.