Straw Dogs

Straw Dogs
(1971) [Trailer]
Director: Sam Peckinpah (IMDB)

This movie is considered a classic. It's recently been remade even. I've always wanted to check it out, but you know, I never got around to it. I found it on blu-ray for $6 and thought it was worth the risk, so I picked it up. Was my investment worth it? Don't be lazy, read on and find out.

The story centers around Dustin Hoffman and his English wifey who decide to move out to the country in England. He's a math nerd and has apparently been awarded a grant to solve algebra problems or something. So it's his feeling that moving to this quiet little town will help him work. Little does he know the locals are a bunch a fucking creeps. The movie starts off innocent enough, but after he hires the creepy locals to fix his shed (who I might add are the fucking slowest construction workers in the UK), they start to get a little to comfortable up in his digs. Things take a turn for the worst and he ends up fighting for his life, and that of his wife, when the locals decide to lose their shit one night after a jolly ole bender.

Now this movie has been out for a while so I'm going to do some SPOILERS HERE. Read on to the bottom paragraph if you don't want your Straw Dogs experience ruined.

This movie is good, but there's a lot of things that bothered me.

The Bad first.

1. Who the hell needs four guys to fix the roof of a small shed. Two max.
2. Who the hell goes hunting with those 4 guys, who you think just killed your cat and hung it in your closet.
3. Why wouldn't you just give up the creepy lunatic that the four local creeps were trying to get (fucking everyone in this town is a creep).....especially give him up after the sheriff gets blasted.

The Good Second.

1. Now I know I just said why wouldn't you give up the creep.... I'm glad they didn't, cause it made for a good climax to the film. That was just my rational side thinking. The non rational movie loving side is happy they didn't
2. The suspense leading up to, and throughout the final house raid is awesome.
3. Dustin plays a convincing spineless doormat of a man.

I think this film is pretty good, but nothing mind blowing. There's a few things that knocks it down a bit for me, but definitely way more good then bad.