IN 1971, legendary director Sam Peckinpah sparked a wide-ranging debate about violence in cinema and the depiction of women with his coruscating thriller Straw Dogs, based on the novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams.

A protracted rape sequence courted controversy because some viewers felt the actions of the victim, played by Susan George, were ambiguous.

Now Rod Lurie writes and directs this remake which transplants the emotional turmoil from Cornwall to Mississippi. The rest of the plot remains largely untouched, including the harrowing assault.

But in this version, the female protagonist seems to be more proactive in helping her husband fend off the men who lay siege to their home.

The film is every bit as brutal as its predecessor but this version lacks the same impact, perhaps because we have been numbed by 40 years of senseless carnage on the big screen.