A young couple moves to a quaint southern town. Soon their perfect getaway turns out to become a living hell when dark secrets and lethal passions spiral out of control.
Acting
Skarsgård's menacing charm masks something truly rotten.
Direction
Lurie relocates Peckinpah's brutal vision to American football country.
Director
Rod Lurie
James Marsden
David Sumner
Kate Bosworth
Amy Sumner
Alexander Skarsgård
Charlie Venner
Dominic Purcell
Jeremy Niles
Laz Alonso
Deputy John Burke
Willa Holland
Janice Heddon
James Woods
Tom Heddon
Walton Goggins
Daniel Niles
Rhys Coiro
Norman
Billy Lush
Chris
Anson Mount
Coach Milkens
Kristen Shaw
Abby
Drew Powell
Bic
Wanetah Walmsley
Kristen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lurie swapped Peckinpah's Cornish farmers for Mississippi football culture, explicitly targeting American class and religious hypocrisy. The 1971 original was banned in the UK for decades.
The title references Lao Tzu: 'Heaven and Earth are not humane. They regard all things as straw dogs'—sacrificial objects destroyed after ritual use. David's文明 (civilization) is the ritual; his violence is the destruction.
US
