WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
As I mentioned previously in my Austrian Horror article, there would be two remakes produced from it. Here is the first, and in my opinion this is a pretty simple, but rather twisted story. Thankfully I don’t need to go into much detail as I have already filled you in on how the Austrian version plays out but let’s see if the Americans think they can do any better…
Frame by Frame
This is the one thing that can really grate on me about remakes! Even down to the script and the screamo rock music at the beginning of this film, it is exactly the same as its 1997 counterpart. With the remake being made in 2007 I wasn’t expecting the same classical music guessing game as the original but instead maybe pop music from the 70s/80s. Even the camera angles when they are unpacking at the beginning are the same. It’s almost as if they translated the original script and decided that would do. This goes on for the whole film, including the framing of the scene when we see Peter/Tom/Beavis kills Georgie Jnr.
Lack of Violence
Now, I don’t mean this as in nothing violent or disturbing ever happens in either film. What I mean is that very little violence is actually shown on screen. For example, we never see Georgie Jnr get shot in either version, which I was hoping to describe as cinematic bravery by the original for killing off a child so coldly but the fact that the remake copied this so accurately that kind of lost its point. Instead we hear Peter and Paul argue about the fact that he’s been killed while focusing on the TV screen sprayed with blood.
Death of the Dog
This may be an assumption made on my part with the original film but when Georg Snr and Georg Jnr are rigging the boat, you suddenly notice Rolfi stops barking and you don’t see the dog for the rest of the film. Now, maybe it’s the amount of films of this style I’ve seen but that says to me that Peter and Paul have killed him, and then lie when they say it is the dog’s fault he drops the eggs the second time. However, in the remake Lucky is still alive during the egg scene as we hear him and then see him barking at the door. Now, the assumption is easily made with the original film because unlike the remake, we never actually see the dog’s body.
Powerful Scene
So, I’ve referenced the death of Georgie Jnr a couple of times in this article but I wanted to talk about it a little more in depth. As I’ve already mentioned, I love the fact that we don’t see him actually get shot – only the blood on the TV and then his lifeless body on the floor, however this isn’t what makes the scene powerful in my opinion – especially not in the original anyway. What makes it powerful for me is the emotional reaction of his father. We watch as Ana makes her way out of the room hopping on her knees to make sure that Peter and Paul have left, the room is deafly silent. Until a crying outburst from Georg Snr that breaks that silence so loudly that it actually made me jump! In the remake however, Tim Roth portrays George Snr as a blubbering mess which doesn’t feel natural for a man that should be both angry and upset that his son has just been shot.
Breaking of the Fourth Wall
Truthfully, I thought they were going to leave this out of the remake but I guess it would no longer abide by the ‘frame by frame’. Now, the funny thing is I found it creepier in the original film than I did in the remake – I don’t know if this has something to do with the look of the actor that plays Paul in the original or just that the whole atmosphere just feels darker in general.
In Conclusion
I really think the article speaks for itself. The original must have been so good that they had to copy it, scene by scene and word for word. They do say imitation is a form of flattery. I know that is a really short round up but I don’t exactly have too much to say on the subject as outside of language, there’s very little difference between the two.
