Straw Dogs (2011 film)
Encyclopedia
Straw Dogs is a 2011 American thriller film directed, produced, and written by Rod Lurie
. It is a remake
of Sam Peckinpah
's 1971 film of the same name, itself based on the Gordon Williams
novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm
.
) and his wife, TV actress Amy Sumner (Kate Bosworth
), move to Blackwater, Mississippi, where Amy grew up, to rebuild Amy's recently deceased father's house, and so that David can finish a script. David meets Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie Venner (Alexander Skarsgård
) and his friends Norman (Rhys Coiro
), Chris (Billy Lush
) and Bic (Drew Powell
), whom he hires to fix the house's roof, which was recently badly damaged by a hurricane. David also meets former football coach Tom Heddon (James Woods
), whose 15-year-old daughter Janice (Willa Holland
) is attracted to a local mentally handicapped
man, Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell), who lives with his brother Daniel (Walton Goggins
). Heddon often bullies Jeremy, who may have committed a crime in the past, and believes Jeremy is stalking
his daughter.
Charlie and his friends begin taunting David, who is initially condescending to their customs. The taunting escalates into harassment as they make crude remarks towards Amy and play loud music to annoy David and prevent him from working on his screenplay. They break into the house and strangle the couple's cat while they are at a social gathering. David is hesitant to confront the men about the cat's death without evidence of their involvement, so Amy does it. Shortly thereafter, while David is away hunting with the men, Charlie breaks into the house and rapes Amy. While she is recovering, Norman appears and rapes her as well.
David returns, having been abandoned in the woods by the men, but Amy doesn't tell him about the rape. David fires the men the following day. At Amy's insistence, they go to a local football game, where Amy and Charlie meet. Meanwhile, Janice takes Jeremy to an empty locker area and attempts to give him oral sex. Heddon notices her absence and begins looking for her. Jeremy, scared of Heddon, puts his hand over Janice's mouth to silence her, accidentally smothering her to death. He runs away just as Heddon informs Charlie and his friends of Janice's disappearance and deduces that Jeremy has done something to her.
Amy becomes uncomfortable with Charlie and asks David to take her home. On the way, she tells him she wants to return to Los Angeles, surprising him and causing him to accidentally run over Jeremy. David and Amy take him to their home and call Sheriff John Burke (Laz Alonso
). Heddon finds out and goes to David and Amy's house with Charlie, Norman, Chris and Bic. Heddon confronts David, but David says he will only turn Jeremy over to the state authorities. Frustrated, Heddon kills Burke and then attempts to enter the house. David then takes Amy and Jeremy to the bedroom and prepares to fight off the men.
Chris attempts to break into the house through a window, so David nails his hand to the wall with a nail gun, then tells him he hopes the glass slits his throat. When Heddon tries to follow, David burns his face with boiling vegetable oil. Heddon and Charlie decide to ram one of the house's walls with Charlie's pick-up truck. They succeed, but Charlie is momentarily knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, David overpowers Heddon, causing Heddon to accidentally shoot his own foot. David then takes the opportunity to shoot Heddon in the chest, killing him. He then beats Bic to death with a fireplace poker. Upstairs, Amy and Jeremy are attacked by Norman who has climbed through a window with a ladder. Norman is preparing to rape Amy again when David and Charlie appear. Charlie and Norman turn on David, giving Amy the opportunity to shoot Norman with Charlie's shotgun, killing him.
David and Charlie fight, and Charlie overpowers David. As he prepares to kill him, Amy aims on Charlie with his shotgun. Charlie says that it is out of shells but the distraction gives David the opportunity to kill him by ensnaring his head with a bear trap. Amy is traumatized as she sees Charlie's head. David, covered in blood, looks at her in recognition before he walks away. As sirens approach, David looks at the burning barn, announcing that he "got them all".
The film began shooting on August 16, 2009 in Shreveport and Vivian, Louisiana
.
in a special pre-release screening on September 8.
gives the film a score of 42% based on reviews from 102 critics, with the consensus "This remakes [sic] streamlines the plot but ultimately makes a fatal mistake: It celebrates violence". Metacritic
gives the film a score of 45% based on 29 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars stating that Straw Dogs "almost succeeds as an object lesson in the difference between being a man and being a macho animal. But it fails as a gripping home-invasion thriller". Michael Phillips
of the Chicago Tribune
called the film "a bird-brained remake" that is "miscast, barely functional in terms of technique, stupid and unnecessary" and rated it 1 out of 4 stars.Wesley Morris
of the Boston Globe, wrote that watching Straw Dogs was like "being waterboarded by liberals outside a Democratic National Committee event".
Roger Ebert
of The Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film 3 out of a possible 4 stars, and states "This new version of "Straw Dogs" is a reasonably close adaptation of the 1971 film by Sam Peckinpah. Change the location from England to Mississippi, change a mathematician into a screenwriter, keep the bear trap and the cat found strangled, and it tells the same story. It is every bit as violent. I found it visceral, disturbing and well-made", and said he preferred it to the original.
Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News
was also favorable towards the film, giving it 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that "while Lurie could have gone lighter on the symbolism, he ratchets up the tension with deft intelligence. He's not just making a thriller but a horror film, and we feel his own fear in every scene".
Rod Lurie
Rod Lurie is an Israeli-American director, screenwriter and former film critic.-Early life and career:The son of internationally syndicated cartoonist Ranan Lurie, he was born in Israel but moved to the United States at a young age, growing up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Honolulu,...
. It is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
's 1971 film of the same name, itself based on the Gordon Williams
Gordon Williams
Gordon M. Williams is a Scottish author. Born in Paisley, he moved to London to work as a journalist. He has written for television and is the author of over twenty novels including From Scenes Like These, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, Walk Don't Walk, Big Morning Blues and Growing up...
novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm
The Siege of Trencher's Farm
The Siege of Trencher's Farm is a novel by British author Gordon Williams and first published by Secker & Warburg. The novel was adapted into the film Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah in 1971, and again in 2011, under the same name...
.
Plot
Los Angeles scriptwriter David Sumner (James MarsdenJames Marsden
James Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...
) and his wife, TV actress Amy Sumner (Kate Bosworth
Kate Bosworth
Catherine Ann "Kate" Bosworth is an American actress. Bosworth starred in the television series Young Americans, in which she played Bella Banks. She became known with a leading role in 2002's Blue Crush. The following year, Bosworth played the teenage girlfriend of porn star John Holmes in...
), move to Blackwater, Mississippi, where Amy grew up, to rebuild Amy's recently deceased father's house, and so that David can finish a script. David meets Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie Venner (Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. He is best known for his roles as vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series True Blood, Meekus in Zoolander and Brad Colbert in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.-Early life:...
) and his friends Norman (Rhys Coiro
Rhys Coiro
Rhys Coiro is an American film, television and stage actor. Coiro may be best known for his role on the HBO original series Entourage as Billy Walsh.-Personal life:...
), Chris (Billy Lush
Billy Lush
Billy Lush is an American actor from New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Coral Springs High School in Coral Springs, Florida in 1999. He later attended Florida State University to pursue theatre. He is known for his portrayal of Kevin Donnelly on the NBC drama The Black Donnellys, which was...
) and Bic (Drew Powell
Drew Powell
Drew Powell is an American actor. He he is best known for his role as Hoss Cartwright on the PAX series The Ponderosa, and for his guest roles on Malcolm in the Middle and Leverage.-Life and career:...
), whom he hires to fix the house's roof, which was recently badly damaged by a hurricane. David also meets former football coach Tom Heddon (James Woods
James Woods
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...
), whose 15-year-old daughter Janice (Willa Holland
Willa Holland
Willa Joanna Chance Holland is an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for her role as Kaitlin Cooper, Marissa Cooper's devious younger sister, on the television series The O.C.. She also appeared as Agnes Andrews on The CW series Gossip Girl...
) is attracted to a local mentally handicapped
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
man, Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell), who lives with his brother Daniel (Walton Goggins
Walton Goggins
Walton Sanders Goggins, Jr. is an American actor best known for his roles on the FX Networks series The Shield and Justified, portraying Detective Shane Vendrell and Boyd Crowder, respectively. He is also known for his character roles in the films Miracle at St. Anna and Predators...
). Heddon often bullies Jeremy, who may have committed a crime in the past, and believes Jeremy is stalking
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
his daughter.
Charlie and his friends begin taunting David, who is initially condescending to their customs. The taunting escalates into harassment as they make crude remarks towards Amy and play loud music to annoy David and prevent him from working on his screenplay. They break into the house and strangle the couple's cat while they are at a social gathering. David is hesitant to confront the men about the cat's death without evidence of their involvement, so Amy does it. Shortly thereafter, while David is away hunting with the men, Charlie breaks into the house and rapes Amy. While she is recovering, Norman appears and rapes her as well.
David returns, having been abandoned in the woods by the men, but Amy doesn't tell him about the rape. David fires the men the following day. At Amy's insistence, they go to a local football game, where Amy and Charlie meet. Meanwhile, Janice takes Jeremy to an empty locker area and attempts to give him oral sex. Heddon notices her absence and begins looking for her. Jeremy, scared of Heddon, puts his hand over Janice's mouth to silence her, accidentally smothering her to death. He runs away just as Heddon informs Charlie and his friends of Janice's disappearance and deduces that Jeremy has done something to her.
Amy becomes uncomfortable with Charlie and asks David to take her home. On the way, she tells him she wants to return to Los Angeles, surprising him and causing him to accidentally run over Jeremy. David and Amy take him to their home and call Sheriff John Burke (Laz Alonso
Laz Alonso
Lazaro "Laz" Alonso is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing Tsu'tey in James Cameron's science fiction film Avatar. He is also well known for his role as Fenix "Rise" Calderon in the film Fast & Furious. Alonso has had roles in other films such as Jarhead, This...
). Heddon finds out and goes to David and Amy's house with Charlie, Norman, Chris and Bic. Heddon confronts David, but David says he will only turn Jeremy over to the state authorities. Frustrated, Heddon kills Burke and then attempts to enter the house. David then takes Amy and Jeremy to the bedroom and prepares to fight off the men.
Chris attempts to break into the house through a window, so David nails his hand to the wall with a nail gun, then tells him he hopes the glass slits his throat. When Heddon tries to follow, David burns his face with boiling vegetable oil. Heddon and Charlie decide to ram one of the house's walls with Charlie's pick-up truck. They succeed, but Charlie is momentarily knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, David overpowers Heddon, causing Heddon to accidentally shoot his own foot. David then takes the opportunity to shoot Heddon in the chest, killing him. He then beats Bic to death with a fireplace poker. Upstairs, Amy and Jeremy are attacked by Norman who has climbed through a window with a ladder. Norman is preparing to rape Amy again when David and Charlie appear. Charlie and Norman turn on David, giving Amy the opportunity to shoot Norman with Charlie's shotgun, killing him.
David and Charlie fight, and Charlie overpowers David. As he prepares to kill him, Amy aims on Charlie with his shotgun. Charlie says that it is out of shells but the distraction gives David the opportunity to kill him by ensnaring his head with a bear trap. Amy is traumatized as she sees Charlie's head. David, covered in blood, looks at her in recognition before he walks away. As sirens approach, David looks at the burning barn, announcing that he "got them all".
Cast
- James MarsdenJames MarsdenJames Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...
as David Sumner - Kate BosworthKate BosworthCatherine Ann "Kate" Bosworth is an American actress. Bosworth starred in the television series Young Americans, in which she played Bella Banks. She became known with a leading role in 2002's Blue Crush. The following year, Bosworth played the teenage girlfriend of porn star John Holmes in...
as Amy Sumner - Alexander SkarsgårdAlexander SkarsgårdAlexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. He is best known for his roles as vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series True Blood, Meekus in Zoolander and Brad Colbert in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.-Early life:...
as Charlie Venner - James WoodsJames WoodsJames Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...
as Tom Heddon - Dominic Purcell as Jeremy Niles
- Rhys CoiroRhys CoiroRhys Coiro is an American film, television and stage actor. Coiro may be best known for his role on the HBO original series Entourage as Billy Walsh.-Personal life:...
as Norman - Billy LushBilly LushBilly Lush is an American actor from New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Coral Springs High School in Coral Springs, Florida in 1999. He later attended Florida State University to pursue theatre. He is known for his portrayal of Kevin Donnelly on the NBC drama The Black Donnellys, which was...
as Chris - Laz AlonsoLaz AlonsoLazaro "Laz" Alonso is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing Tsu'tey in James Cameron's science fiction film Avatar. He is also well known for his role as Fenix "Rise" Calderon in the film Fast & Furious. Alonso has had roles in other films such as Jarhead, This...
as John Burke - Willa HollandWilla HollandWilla Joanna Chance Holland is an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for her role as Kaitlin Cooper, Marissa Cooper's devious younger sister, on the television series The O.C.. She also appeared as Agnes Andrews on The CW series Gossip Girl...
as Janice Heddon - Walton GogginsWalton GogginsWalton Sanders Goggins, Jr. is an American actor best known for his roles on the FX Networks series The Shield and Justified, portraying Detective Shane Vendrell and Boyd Crowder, respectively. He is also known for his character roles in the films Miracle at St. Anna and Predators...
as Daniel Niles - Anson MountAnson MountAnson Adams Mount IV is an American actor who has appeared in both movies and television shows. Mount has also played Jim Steele on the short-lived NBC series Conviction and appeared in the independent movie Tully with Julianne Nicholson, as the title character Tully Coates, a playboy whose ways...
as Coach Milkens - Drew PowellDrew PowellDrew Powell is an American actor. He he is best known for his role as Hoss Cartwright on the PAX series The Ponderosa, and for his guest roles on Malcolm in the Middle and Leverage.-Life and career:...
as Bic
Production
The film was originally scheduled for release on February 25, 2011. However the date was pushed to September 16, 2011.The film began shooting on August 16, 2009 in Shreveport and Vivian, Louisiana
Vivian, Louisiana
Vivian, is a town in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States and is home to the Red Bud Festival. The population was 4,031 at the 2000 census...
.
Release
The film was shown at Brandeis UniversityBrandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
in a special pre-release screening on September 8.
Critical reception
Straw Dogs received mostly mixed and negative reviews; Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 42% based on reviews from 102 critics, with the consensus "This remakes [sic] streamlines the plot but ultimately makes a fatal mistake: It celebrates violence". Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gives the film a score of 45% based on 29 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars stating that Straw Dogs "almost succeeds as an object lesson in the difference between being a man and being a macho animal. But it fails as a gripping home-invasion thriller". Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips (critic)
Michael Phillips is a film critic for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. Previously he was the drama critic of the Tribune; the Los Angeles Times; the St. Paul Pioneer Press; the San Diego Union-Tribune; and the Dallas Times Herald....
of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
called the film "a bird-brained remake" that is "miscast, barely functional in terms of technique, stupid and unnecessary" and rated it 1 out of 4 stars.Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris is a film critic at The Boston Globe where he reviews films alongside Ty Burr. Morris and Burr also make regular appearances on NECN to discuss the latest films and do the weekly Take Two film review video series on Boston.com...
of the Boston Globe, wrote that watching Straw Dogs was like "being waterboarded by liberals outside a Democratic National Committee event".
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of The Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave the film 3 out of a possible 4 stars, and states "This new version of "Straw Dogs" is a reasonably close adaptation of the 1971 film by Sam Peckinpah. Change the location from England to Mississippi, change a mathematician into a screenwriter, keep the bear trap and the cat found strangled, and it tells the same story. It is every bit as violent. I found it visceral, disturbing and well-made", and said he preferred it to the original.
Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
was also favorable towards the film, giving it 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that "while Lurie could have gone lighter on the symbolism, he ratchets up the tension with deft intelligence. He's not just making a thriller but a horror film, and we feel his own fear in every scene".