Straw Dogs

It’s a daunting task to remake Straw Dogs — not just because it featured the formidable combination of director Sam Peckinpah and star Dustin Hoffman, but because it would be difficult to update the period specifics for a contemporary thriller.

Director Rod Lurie (The Contender) tackles such a challenge with mixed results in his twisted southern Gothic tale of backwoods justice that stylishly conveys a sense of dread but doesn’t make any noteworthy improvements upon the 1971 original.

Some of the details of character and setting are reworked as Harvard-educated Hollywood screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) works on his latest script as he moves into the rural Mississippi house where his wife, Amy (Kate Bosworth), was raised. He goes out of his way to fit in with the eccentric townsfolk despite obvious differences.

He even hires Amy’s ex-boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard), to fix a roof for him. But it isn’t long before Amy finds herself dealing with old problems and David becomes caught in the middle. Charlie’s presence soon puts not only a strain on their marriage, but it becomes a source of life-threatening danger for the couple when things turn violent.

Lurie’s film establishes plenty of provocative culture-clash tension in its first hour, only to settle for a contrived climax that yields a more conventional fright-film payoff, complete with shockingly graphic killings and half-hearted sociopolitical outrage.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Straw Dogs, however, is the naivete and lack of common sense that riddles David’s passive commitment to remain in the town and foolishly try to befriend the citizens despite numerous warning signs that, well, they collectively don’t like him.

The film exaggerates the usual intolerant redneck stereotypes with regard to football, religion, hunting, alcoholism and misogyny, implying that maybe not a lot has changed since Deliverance. The result might make the locals more evil as a group, but it also allows for an emotional disconnect with the audience.

The film’s best asset is its atmosphere, with Lurie using a washed-out color palette to ratchet up the ominous tension in the sweltering small town.

There are moments of taut fish-out-of-water suspense in this remake, but it lacks the sadistic edge and gritty audacity of Peckinpah’s original. It seems to exist mostly as a slick way to financially capitalize on a recycled idea for modern horror fans.

Rated R, 109 minutes.