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Studio:20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Director:Alexandre Aja

Cast: Emilie De Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw

Running Time:104 minutes

Product Description

Michael Bailey Smith, Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin, Aaron StanfordDirector: Alexandre Aja

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Reviews

- Shockingly brutal well realised remake

Having seen both the original, and this remake which was also aided by original director Wes Craven, I'm going to court controversy by stating that this is the better film. Not because it hasn't had chance to get dated (the original is still a terrifying experience that is undimmed by its age or budget) but because it's better directed. While I'm a huge fan of Craven, Aja can simply handle the shocks and horror in a less self-conscious way. The original was trying to make a social commentary point at the same time as being horrific. While this also manages, it's more concerned with simply being a nerve-shredding, relentless horror, and I felt it achieved that better. The plot is almost identical to the original - a family take a short cut through the desert, not realising that a mutated cannibal family lurk in the hills, and when they crash they become the hunted.
It's survival horror at it's most back to basics, and it benefits hugely from the feeling that the family are totally unprepared for surviving in the desert - let alone for the horrors that lurk in the hills, watching them and waiting to strike. The cast are uniformly excellent. Ted Levine is great as the modern family patriarch, excellently assisted by a very sympathetic and likeable cast. A special mention must be made of Kathleen Quinlan, Aaron Stanford and Dan Byrd, all of whom shine in their roles. By making the family so normal, and yet still likeable, Aja ramps up the horror factor, making us wish that nothing bad would happen to them in masterful fashion. The tension is built wonderfully, following the original's template of bizarre discoveries and peculiar events, and building until a sudden horrifying flurry of violence. When it happens, the violence is so sadistic, so lengthy and so horrifying, that it's truly effective. The initial attack is a perfect exercise in sustained tension, horror and shock, and Aja keeps us up on our toes so exhaustingly well that when it finally stops, you can feel the adrenaline surge leave your body. The rest of the movie is just as well handled, with some great design decisions. The mutants are realised in a great fashion. Unable to call on the original's now ageing Michael Berryman who helped give the original such a distinctive look, the designers of this higher budget remake use makeup and effects to give us a cast of appallingly mutated freaks who look almost as distinctive, their personalities nicely drawn out of their casual and sadistically enjoyed cruelty.
The locations and photography are great, the violence and fights are perfect, and the horror is genuinely horrific. A remake that slightly improves on a legendary original.

- good, great film

this blu ray is good it looks really good in some areas but in the darker scenes it looks like they forgot to upscale it or something or maybe that's my TV contrast?! who knows anywhere really good film and if u have seen it before definitely worth getting it on blu ray and the price is a bargain!

- NOT WORTH UPGRADING FROM DVD TO BLU RAY!!

This for me was a pretty good remake of the original classic it's a full on gore film that will keep most horror fans happy. A very simple story where a family break down and they start to get picked off from the freaks in the hills. There are some very bloody and tense scenes that makes this a very watchable horror film. It won't be as good as the original what remakes are but it's still worth a watch or purchase if you see it cheap. On the blu ray side of things the daylight scenes are very good with sharp colours however the darker scenes to me have some picture noise and at times was hard to watch? I have the standard DVD format as well as the blu ray version and to be brutally honest theres not much difference between the blu ray and upscale version. So if you have got the standard DVD format stick with that but if you haven't go for this but don't waste money up grading you won't see the benefit.

- meh

daylight scenes look amazing but ALL the night scenes suffers from some of the worst picture noise i have seen since i watched E.T on a bootleg video when I was 13 !
it really is that bad.