American family (led by gun-totin’, macho Republican ex-cop Ted Levine) on a road trip across the New Mexico desert in their Winnebago, end up terrorised by mutants in the hills. Kathleen Quinlan is the ex-hippie mother, and Dan Byrd is the kid with two positively wonderful dogs named Beauty and Beast. Billy Drago and Robert Joy play two of the mutants.
Somewhat faithful to the memorable (if nothing else) Wes Craven original, this remake by the talented Alexandre Aja (the bloody, top-notch giallo-esque “Haute Tension”) falters whenever the mutants turn up. Aja gives us a bunch of too-made up looking mutants that simply aren’t scary (they’re a little too creature features or “Toxic Avenger” for me), even though they have an interesting nuclear-testing backstory. The only exception is the always fascinatingly idiosyncratic Drago, and unfortunately he doesn’t show up until the end. Sadly, the (more) human characters aren’t much better, with the exception of Levine (who hasn’t much screen time) and the kid. Having said that, I don’t remember liking the family in the original much either.
Still, it’s a shame, because the rest of the film (thematically and cinematically) works relatively well (the world the film is set in, is conceived interestingly and the basic story still has power), if not as intense as the original (including the trailer attack scene, the dopey mutants and annoying shaky-cam MTV-style filmmaking which nearly ruin the effectiveness here). Opening titles featuring nuclear testing victims are morally repugnant at a moment’s thought, but certainly attention grabbing. I still think Aja is a considerable talent (MTV-trappings aside, he and co-writer Gregory Levasseur set things up interestingly, and thankfully Aja doesn’t skimp on the gore. Great shotgun to the head in particular), and the film is beautifully shot by Maxime Alexandre.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Better than most horror remakes, but you’re still better off sticking with the often intense original. And no cameo for the still-active Michael Berryman? What’s up with that?
