Skarsgard to appear in classic thriller ~ The weekly rewind

One of the leading men of True Blood will grace the silver screen this September in the re-make of a 1970's classic Straw Dogs.

The spooky trailer, which was released by Sony Pictures earlier this month, shows Alexander Skarsgard, who stars as Eric Northman on the HBO series, play very much the same character. He's a foreboding, mysterious and intimidating figure named Charlie who haunts an LA couple, Amy Sumner (Kate Bosworth, of Blue Crush) and her husband David (James Marsden, of 27 Dresses), with bone-chilling glances when they relocate to a Southern town.

It appears Charlie is often challenging David's manhood.

Director Rob Laurie released this synopsis of the film:

"L.A. screenwriter David Sumner relocates with his wife to her hometown in the deep South. There, while tensions build between them, a brewing conflict with locals becomes a threat to them both."

The original Straw Dogs debuted in 1971, and it was directed by Sam Peckinpah.

The official synopsis states:

"Dustin Hoffman plays a regular American mathematician, who gets into some trouble with local bullies. He is made fun of and then his wife is raped. When they attack his home, he fights back. His outbreak of violence is extreme."

Described as both a domestic drama and psychological thriller, the film received heavy criticism for its violence against women. Supposedly (I haven't seen the first film), there's a really terrible rape scene not unlike the one seen in both the 1970's version of Last House on the Left and its 21st century counterpart.

The film was so controversial in fact that when it was released in the UK in 1971 it was rated X. It then gained even more notoriety in 1984 when it was banned by the British Board of Film Classification. The members of the board said that Amy's rape in the film was prohibited by the newly-created Video Recording Act.

Some Skarsgard fans think this version of Straw Dogs won't be very different from the one of years past. With this in mind, they've proclaimed the movie is simply not for them, but wish Skarsgard all the best.

Mel, a co-owner of the fan site True-Blood.net, is one such fan. She used the site's weekly podcast to express her feeling about the upcoming film.

"[This is] probably not a movie that I'm going to see. The subject matter is really dark," she said.

Liz, another co-owner of the site, agreed.

"From what I understand, they didn't change that much from the original. But it's a different age...it might not be that controversial. But for me, yeah, I think I'll take a pass. Sorry."

Others think that the violence make the film art.

"It is a terrific piece of film-making backed up with highly textured acting from the two principals. But there are layers and layers and layers in this film, and that is what makes it art, and a masterpiece," a reviewer dubbed stpetebeach said on the Internet Movie Database web site.

What do you think? Will you see the movie even though there might be a lot of violence?

Do you think this film will help or hurt Skarsgard's career?

Nevertheless, he seems to be well on his way and all over Hollywood lately. He's is featured in this month's issue of GQ, will play a more significant role in the fourth season of True Blood and is schedule to start filming the movie What Maisie Knew, a drama directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, alongside Julianne Moore in August.

Personally, I'm really excited to see Skarsgard in this film. I know he's a seasoned actor, but I've only ever seen him in his True Blood capacity. This will be interesting.