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4 comments
2 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 5/24/2013
(I actually got this match-up at random - what are the odds!) While I found that both of these films make for a pretty unpleasant and exasperating viewing experience, I can say without hesitation that if forced to choose I'd rather suffer through the 2011 version again. At least it made Amy seem like a real person, instead of a vaguely offensive and utterly nonsensical caricature.
on 7/21/2013
I had not yet seen the original when I saw this a few months ago, but based on its reputation, and expectations of extreme gore and sexual violence, what actually ensued was subdued compared to many other films I've seen, and I may be the few who, along with Roger Ebert, and Keelee above, prefer the remake to the original. Dustin Hoffman in the original is an obnoxious prick, not the timid nebbish I expected, and what he does at the end is not at all surprising, and I can see what Peckinpah meant when he said Hoffman was the villain of the film. In the remake, the Bosworth character is the obnoxious one, borderline stupid. Why does she want to move back to this small (minded) and unkind town of psychopathic hypocrites? Do people get drunk enough to mount an assault on a house like that? Why set it in a "Southern" town?. I don't think there was a political agenda here, but I can't dismiss the possibility of a "blue state" prejudice either. Why not make the screenwriter husband a writer of horror and/or action films? How will he react when he has to act on the violence he so often writes about? But director Rod Lurie layers the tensions very well, the remake would have been classic if the climax had delivered more on the gore factor.
I'll also go the remake....but neither were memorable...
on 7/22/2013
The remake is hardly divergent from its source. It is, unfortunately, a little less murky and ballsy (the "obnoxious prick" is better for the examination), and the rape scene seems a bit tranquilised, but it's the same stuff. I still prefer the remake though. It's quicker and glossier and I find stereotyped, inbred red-staters more believably cuntish and vile than the generally lobotomised, boring Cornish. Some tropes just stand the test of time, and I can't think of many that are more durable than neolithic "Southerners" that stick their dicks in their 12-gauges by day and molest and murder by night. More's the laughs.
on 9/26/2013
Can't believe this is 4-0 in favour of the *remake*- the original builds up this atmosphere of menace and tension and the remake has none of it. Did I catch you off guard?
on 5/17/2021
Both films have their own strengths but this morality tale is worth your time. Slight edge to the original but the remake is worthy and powerful cinema.
