Sam Peckinpah’s original Straw Dogs was one of a slew of controversy-baiting films from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Along with A Clockwork Orange, The Hills Have Eyes, Last House On The Left and I Spit On Your Grave, it attracted masses of attention, not all of it positive. Although it is a little simplistic and unfair to distill the film down to one scene, that scene’s portrayal of a woman seeming to grow to enjoy being raped is troubling and disturbing in no uncertain terms.

Given that the current approach to most of the afore-mentioned films seems to be “lots of people were disgusted by it, let’s make it again”, it was wearyingly inevitable that Straw Dogs would find its way back to us and so it has. Rod Lurie, director of decidedly non-controversial fare such as The Contender and The Last Castle, seems an unexpected choice for handling the remake, but perhaps the move is intended to bestow a bit of prestige on what might otherwise be dismissed as another hack-helmed cash-in.

The original played very well to star Dustin Hoffman’s seeming mild-mannered nature, as he is pushed over the edge by the rape of his wife and finds hitherto untapped reservoirs of violence and strength to fend off the attackers during a prolonged assault on their home. This time, James Marsden and Kate Bosworth play husband and wife, with Alexander Skarsgård leading the attackers. Lurie assures that it will not be a “soft movie”, but how he’ll handle the tone of the rape scene (assuming it will remain in the remake) cannot really be anticipated at this stage.

Straw Dogs is due for release on 16th September 2011 in the US and 28th October in the UK. Until we get more news, check out the on set shots below, which come from EW, via The Playlist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dave has been writing for HeyUGuys since mid-2010 and has found them to be the most intelligent, friendly, erudite and insightful bunch of film fans you could hope to work with. He's gone from ham-fisted attempts at writing the news to interviewing Lawrence Bender, Renny Harlin and Julian Glover, to writing articles about things he loves that people have actually read. He has fairly broad tastes as far as films are concerned, though given the choice he's likely to go for Con Air over Battleship Potemkin most days. He's pretty sure that 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most overrated mess in cinematic history.