There were enough logic loopholes and story flaws in Pascal Laugiers 2008 movie for a prospective remake to attempt to fix, but this version is more interested in toning down the narrative, making you wonder what attracted the filmmakers to the material in the first place. A merry tale that involves kidnap, torture, Nazis and an outrageous scheme to glimpse the afterlife, Laugiers movie is about as subtle as a kick in the balls, and just when you think hes finished torturing his lead actress, he subjects her to another beating. In short, its not a picture with mass appeal, but guess what? Screenwriter Mark L Smith who also wrote The Revenant thinks a few simple changes will achieve just that. Unfortunately, the changes turn the villains into comic book bad guys with a crackpot scheme, while one female character becomes a shotgun-wielding badass who stages a daring rescue. Its a film that reinserts the hope that Laugier denied his audience and, in the process, sucks all the life out of the movie.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
