Like Leatherface's set of knives after a night of bloody evisceration this remake seems pretty pointless.

Tobe Hooper made the most of a tiny budget to evoke an atmosphere of true terror imitated by many including the maker of The Blair Witch Project.

Former German advertising director Nispel's debut feature uses a massive cash advance to conjure up a so-so chiller not a few miles away from a TV advertisement for Audi. With blood.

Five pretty objectionable American teens are cruising down the highway en route for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert (so they deserve all they get) when they are waylaid.

A disturbed hitchiker they've picked up blows her brains out in the back of their camper van so they're forced to take a detour for help.

Just ten minutes in and there's more gore and guts swilling around than Hooper managed in the whole hour plus running time of the original.

Unwittingly, they pitch up at the home of the Hewitts, a throwback family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools than they lack in social skills.

Where the original's gritty, close-up camerwork bled unspeakable menace, this shiny, beautifully-lit remake merely makes for an adequate shocker.

There's plenty of shocks and jolts but none of the creeping power to terrify that the mere suggestion of diabolical deeds been done evoked thirty years ago.

It's also over-designed, which means everything is bigger, sharper, slimier and bloodier..,.but not necessarily scarier.

One welcome addition is a thoroughly evil local sheriff who insists on wrapping the corpse of the suicide in clingfilm and dumping her in his boot.

Elsewhere, Nispel has little to add to the original except a bigger budget. A horror film for those with little imagination.

Tim Evans