Straw Dogs

Straw Dogs is a 2011 American action thriller film directed, produced, and written by Rod Lurie. It is a remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film Straw Dogs, itself based on the Gordon Williams novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm. It stars James Marsden and Kate Bosworth. Plot Scriptwriter David Sumner and his wife Amy, an actress, relocate to rural Mississippi where Amy grew up. They are going to live in the house of Amy's recently deceased father to allow David to finish a script. While in town one afternoon, David meets Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie and his three friends, Norman, Chris, and Bic. David is intimidated by the men, but they have already been hired to fix the roof of the barn on Amy's property. He also meets Tom Heddon, an alcoholic former high school football coach whose 15-year-old cheerleader daughter Janice is in love with a local man with an intellectual disability, Jeremy Niles. Heddon often bullies Jeremy and believes that he is stalking his daughter. Charlie and his friends arrive early the next morning to work on the roof. They taunt David, which later escalates into harassment. They also make crude remarks toward Amy and play loud music to distract David while he writes. They often leave early when they want to go hunting, which concerns David because it is taking them a significant amount of time to finish the roof. Amy begins to resent David for not standing up to the men.