Watch the Appropriately Brutal Trailer for Rod Lurie's Straw Dogs Remake

strawdogstrailer250.jpgTake a deep breath, folks, and prepare for the nearly three minutes of tense exchanges and brutal violence (five words: boiling oil in the face) that comprise the first trailer for Rod Lurie's Straw Dogs remake. The setting has been moved to the Deep South, but the character relationships and abject horrors look to be faithfully evocative of Sam Peckinpah's original film, which taught audiences why you should never push a mild-mannered husband to the brink of desperation.

In Lurie's update, screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) and his wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) relocate to her small hometown, where local hicks including Amy's ex (Alexander Skarsgård) bristle against the outsider and cracks in the Sumner marriage widen. As far as trailers and first looks go, this one's a doozy. Intense doesn't begin to describe it, especially if you know what happens and how things go down in the original. And yet, the trailer is relatively spoiler-free, though it does reveal a few of the painful exchanges between victim and home invader that you have to look forward to. (Mantraps! That's gonna hurt.)

What's so promising about this trailer is that it has such a forcefulness to it; you immediately get a feel for what you're in for come September 16, when Straw Dogs blows into theaters. And yet, its unsettling sense lingers so heavily after just a few minutes of footage. Who else needs some puppies and unicorns to smooth out the Friday?

Verdict: A must watch come September.

[Coming Soon]



Comments

  • casting couch says:

    Interesting remake. I didn't know this even existed.

  • Stephanie says:

    aw, look at Marsden and his unexpectedly strong resemblence to Dustin Hoffman in the original. i didn't know this was happening either, but now that i do, i'm definitely seeing it.