I liked the original better
This is all only a matter of opinion, but personally I like the original better. This remake is okay, but it just doesn't cut it.
-The original was filmed in a real coal mine, I grew up in Sydney Mines, the small town where the original was filmed, and that dreary, industrial atmosphere and small town nostalgia blows the town of "Harmony" (Harmony, seriously?) out of the water. The mine in the remake looked like something out of a video game, it was lacking in the grit and claustrophobia of the original mine.
-The original film had some kissing and a somewhat sexual scene at the beginning, but no graphic nudity to take away from the plot. The remake has a lot of graphic nudity filler, which is not only unnecessary but incredibly cheap. It's like the filmmakers thought it'd be funny or something, but it was just out of place, not to mention perverted. I'm not a prude, but I'm not going to a slasher film to stare at naked people, I'm going because I want to see a good horror story.
-All that HD, 3D, the characters having cellular phones, the perv with the digital camera, it just isn't scary. It wrecks the small mining town atmosphere and ends up looking like an Apple ad rather than a horror film. I know a lot of films look good in HD or through 3D technology, but in this case, it just doesn't fit the story. The grainy film of the original looked way better to me, and film has a sharper image with better colors by far than any digital video I've ever seen, regardless of how many HD settings and filters you apply to those pixels.
-The acting wasn't very good in the remake. Most of my friends made a big deal about Tom Hanniger in the remake, but that's because they have an immature thing for Dean Winchester in the Supernatural series. I thought the actors in the original did a much better job.
-The story of the original had a love triangle, but it also focused on friendship, the mystery of Harry Warden, a dying industry and police procedures. The remake has the leading adult female roles acting like melodramatic teenagers, screaming half the time and acting stupid, and it has all the male characters acting like creeps, jumping at every opportunity to swear or say something about sex. The characters are shallow, unmemorable and annoying. Part of the fun of watching a slasher is the suspense; you care what's going to happen to the characters and you wonder if they'll survive. In the remake, I was just wishing that the characters would drop dead within the first few minutes. The plot of the remake focuses primarily on the love triangle aspect without giving much depth at all to the other elements of the story, even though characters briefly discuss the possible mine closure and Harry Warden.
-The original had much more eerie and better gore effects, but the remake tried too hard and it ended up just looking cheesy and computer-designed.
-The soundtrack is the biggest one for me. I love Paul Zaza's soundtrack for the original, it fits the mood of the story and setting perfectly, and if it was available for sale I'd be the first in line to buy a copy. The Canadian folk songs and end credits song were great as well, I'd love to have the entire soundtrack on vinyl. The remake's soundtrack is unoriginal, easily forgettable, and too modern for the story. It reminded me of the background score to one of those newer Lifetime movies, which isn't a good sign for the soundtrack to a slasher film.
Maybe I'm judging the remake too harshly, after all I have a predisposition to dislike both remakes and modern movies (though I really liked the modern movies Sinister and Let the Right One In). I love slasher films, My Bloody Valentine is my favorite one out there, but it seems that, like the remakes to Black Christmas and Friday the 13th, this remake was unnecessary. But at least it ended up helping to get most of the uncut footage from the original finally released.
"The 21st century is all flash but no substance." ~ Smog City