In this English-language remake of a deconstruction in the way violence is portrayed in the media, a family settles into its vacation home, which happens to be the next stop for a pair of young, articulate, white-gloved serial killers on an excursion through the neighborhood.


I wish I would have seen the original movie first. Either way, I loved this movie. It had me cringing. Some scenes were dragged out and THAT made me go crazy!!!! The good thing is that most of the violence is implied and offscreen. This movie was very effective in my eyes.

There are some really great performances.

What do you think?
[Edited 7/13/08 11:35am]
[Edited 7/13/08 11:35am]

Better ask Ivy!

I saw the original, and LOVED it ...not because I enjoy seeing people psychologically terrorized (very little gore is shown)...but because it breaks down the "4th wall" by having one of the characters acknowledge that he knows we're watching, and makes us complicite in everything they do to this family. It's quite an intense way of making a comment about our love of these types of movies to begin with. Also, the juxtaposition of the politeness, calmness and cleanliness of the two psychos (all-white clothing, not a hair out of place, etc.) with their actions is a startling experience.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The theory goes that both of these guys know they're only characters in a movie and not real, so they know that ultimately nothing they do will matter because nothing they do is real. It would explain the breaking down of the 4th wall (letting us know that THEY know they're in a movie), the rewinding of the scene where one of the two guys gets shot (as you'd rewind a movie...how would the character know to do that if he didn't know he himself was in one?). And that rewind scene was a fucking doozy lol...you're FINALLY given some relief from the tenseness and feel some justice, and it's immediately taken away from you! lol ...That's a director who truly wants to fuck with his audience.

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[Edited 7/13/08 11:43am]

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

I enjoyed it. It was more than a little reminiscent of "Last House on the Left," but WOW! The level of intensity is sometimes unbearable. I know it got really mixed reviews; most of my friends couldn't stand it.

YAY! Violence!!! I really really really loved this movie.I liked the original, but I enjoyed the new one more, maybe because that's the one I saw first. It's a great idea, but the "message" can get alittle at times. I just take it as straight up torture porn and that makes me happy. But I'm pretty psychotic so...

I also think that Michael Pitt is a pretty decent actor.Yeah, I know he was on Dawson's Creek,but he didn't do a bad job at all with the role he was handed on the show. I'd like to see more from him. Oh yeah, and he's from Jersey.

Sweeny79 said:

He was really great as the Kurt Cobain character in "Last Days." That movie irritated the shit out of me, but he was great. And of course, his role as Tommy Gnosis in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is one for the ages.

SnakePeel said:

I hated last days but yeah he did it well. He does best when playing creepy. I LOVE Hedwig

Sweeny79 said:

Yeah, Gus Van Sant is so hit-or-miss. He can go from masterpiece ("My Own Private Idaho") to mediocre ("Elephant") to pure, bottom-of-the-barrel shite ("Psycho," "Gerry.")

I'm so happy to hear that people "got it".

Yes Byron, the rewind scene hag me saying "WTF!" And yeah, he caught me off guard when he looked at the camera and spoke. I felt like I was caught watching something bad.

Brilliant.

never seen it but sounds cool as heck to me Im a sucker for movies like this

toots said:

It's funny 'cause I've seen so many slasher/horror movies and one has affected me like this one, in a while.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

cool thanks for the tip

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

What?

Stymie said:

:giggle:If he should watch that or not!