Program Note
A family on the way to California gets into an accident in the middle of the desert. Before the father and the son-in-law go asking for help, the mom suggests that the family should offer a prayer. They hope God will keep them safe, but such a thing does not happen in Craven’s films. The father (a retired police officer), who usually is depicted as the strong pillar of a family in American films, is killed first. The remaining strong men are put in a powerless situation. God cannot help them. Only they can help themselves. It is Craven’s specialty to hide the subject of fear, and it takes about 30 minutes for scary beings to come to the fore in the second movie. In fact, they are people isolated from ordinary society rather than scary beings, and they bring out discomfort. Craven directed the sequel in 1985, and Alexandre Aja released a remake in 2006. (LEE Yong-cheol)