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Straw Dogs

Straw Dogs

Drama · Thriller · 2011

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.

Movie details

Straw Dogs

“Everyone has a breaking point.”

2011 Drama · Thriller 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Straw Dogs?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Drama · 2011

After several years of living with a cult, Martha finally escapes and calls her estranged sister, Lucy, for help. Martha finds herself at the quiet Connecticut home Lucy shares with her new husband, Ted, but the memories of what she experienced in the cult make peace hard to find. As flashbacks continue to torment her, Martha fails to shake a terrible sense of dread, especially in regard to the cult's manipulative leader.

Storm Warning

Storm Warning

Drama · 1951

A fashion model witnesses the brutal assassination of an investigative journalist by the Ku Klux Klan while traveling to a small town to visit her sister.

Lizzie

Lizzie

Crime · 2018

Massachusetts, 1892. An unmarried woman of 32 and a social outcast, Lizzie lives a claustrophobic life under her father's cold and domineering control. When Bridget Sullivan, a young maid, comes to work for the family, Lizzie finds a sympathetic, kindred spirit, and a secret intimacy soon blossoms into a wicked plan.

Killer Joe

Killer Joe

Crime · 2012

A cop who moonlights as a hit man agrees to kill the hated mother of a desperate drug dealer in exchange for a tumble with the young man's virginal sister.

Straw Dogs

Straw Dogs

Thriller · 1971

David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate.

Dead Man's Shoes

Dead Man's Shoes

Drama · 2004

A soldier returns to his small town and exacts a deadly revenge on the thugs who tormented his disabled brother while he was away.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Luckiest Girl Alive

Drama · 2022

A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.

Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning

Drama · 1988

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.

Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

Drama · 1998

Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.

Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry

Crime · 1999

A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Rod Lurie

Written by

Rod Lurie

James Marsden

James Marsden

David Sumner

Kate Bosworth

Kate Bosworth

Amy Sumner

Alexander Skarsgård

Alexander Skarsgård

Charlie Venner

Dominic Purcell

Dominic Purcell

Jeremy Niles

Laz Alonso

Laz Alonso

Deputy John Burke

Willa Holland

Willa Holland

Janice Heddon

James Woods

James Woods

Tom Heddon

Court is in session

Put Straw Dogs on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.