This is a remake, I repeat, this is a remake, however, I feel like it's a good one. It updates but doesn't dilute what the original movie set out to do. There are some problems with this update though. Mainly, the plot and the characters. I'm not saying the whole movie is bad, but there are things that happen in this movie that would not happen in real life and that doesn't make sense, but I'm going to get to that later.
I want to start off with what was good with this movie; Actress Sarah Butler was amazing in this movie, every scene she seems natural even when horrible things are done to her. The rape scene alone is excruciating to watch because of her performance but even before that when the men are just torturing her psychologically she makes it real. Actor Chad Lindberg is another star in this movie as mentally handicapped Matthew who was unwilling to begin but turns into a willing participant, only to be the only who regrets his actions afterwards. From beginning to start Lindberg delivers more than enough and in the end, is the only one of the tormentors you want Jennifer to go easy on.
Now back to what was not so great about the movie; the unbelievable plot points. In the original, there was no sheriff involved and the fact that he is in this one makes it more unrealistic than the movie it's based on. In the remake there is no lead up for the sheriff to be an accomplice to the atrocities that happen to Jennifer. In the original the group have been conspiring from the start, but in the remake we so no communication between the group, that starts the torture, and the sheriff. He just out hunting when Jennifer runs in to him and then he just goes along with the torture and rape, for no apparent reason. I'm guessing the writer wanted to go for a shock factor, basically a "you can't trust anyone, not even the sheriff, when you're in the outback" plot point. In this movie it doesn't work though, especially since it seems to be the first time the group has ever done anything like this before. The writer wants us to take a leap of faith that is illogical and inconsistent with the rest of the movie.
Another bad plot point is Jennifer's revenge, basically the second half of the movie, because it doesn't make sense. The writer is telling us Jennifer lived on berries and bugs for a month in an abandoned cabin just biding her time until she can get comeuppance. However, are we suppose to believe that after being badly hurt, traumatized, without clothes and probably chilled from the river, she just decided to go hide in the woods? For a month! And without the group finding her? We know the group grew up in the town, we see them fishing and hunting in the woods and we're suppose to believe that none of them knew about the abandoned cabin close to the one Jennifer rented? Jennifer also seemed pretty healthy, not mentally, but physically after her month stint in the woods, almost stronger than she was before.
But I guess if you're a connoisseur of intricate ways of revenge and gory scenes, this is a movie for you. If you want to see Sarah Butler and Chad Lindberg act their asses of and really shine, this is also a movie for you. It is graphic though and I understand why the director went on to show it unrated.
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