A miner named Harry Warden (Richard John Walters) has been resposnible for the slaughterings of numerous people but was put in a coma after a terrible incident at the mine, then he was presumed dead and buried in the woods.
Ten years later one of the witnesses that saw these slaughterings named Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles) returns to his home town but isn't too welcome there as he is a suspect to the murders and tries to prove he did not do any of them.
Suddenly a killer in a mine mask and uniform starts to do away one of the employees in the mine and then starts killing local residents as well as stuffing some of their hearts in candy shaped boxes.
Tom tries to tell people that Harry Warden might not be dead as they go to the woods and the grave was dug up.
Tom also tries to talk to his exgirlfriend named Sarah Palmer (Jaime King) as she is the only one who thinks that he is innocent whom is now married to one of his former co-workers at the mine in which they never saw eye to eye named Axel (Kerr Smith) as he now works as a sheriff for his small town and thinks he may be dangerous around his wife and wants him framed yet, he has had an affair with a woman who was slaughtered shortly after and didn't want Sarah to know this and has been keeping secrets too so could he be killing these locals too?

There's a nice fast action prologue with a great close up camera shot on Harry Warden lying in a coma in a hospital bed.
There's also good shots on Tom Hanniger walking nervously in the mine and then a miner named Jason approaching from a corner and catching him by surprise and acting like a goofball and then a great close up shot with his eye being stabbed out with a pick axe along with Harry behind him in his coal mine suit raising terror in the mine with Tom and Sarah Palmer running away like hell and hiding away from the killer along with a great shot on one of the miners Michael looking around the goldmine for his friends with Tom and Sarah trying to silently tell him to get away.
We spot another great shot on Tom trying to start up his vehicle and a great shot on Harry throwing his pick axe at the vehicles windshield along with a great shot on the sharp end of the pick axe that stabbed the window with Sarah screaming in terror.
Some good shots on Tom looking over a hill from his vehicle at a mill factory.
There's a nice effective mild dispute between Tom and Ben in his office.
A good shot on a french bulldog coming up towards Tom at a motel with a good presence by a motel manager with her short structure talking to him.
We spot a funny scene with Irene in a motel talking to a trucker in a motel room after having sex with her going into a rage after she spots him videotaping her all that time along with a hilarious moment on a fight outside when he is walking to his truck and she is butt naked holding a gun at him.
We spot a great camera shot onthe trucker opening his truck door and Harry suddenly appearing striking him with a pick axe and Irene screaming and running away in a hotel office hiding underneath a bed. There's good camera shots on her hiding along with underneath the bed with Harry's feet looking around.
We spot a great rage at a bar that involved Red acting nasty towards Tom and then a good shot on him swinging his fist towards him and accidentally smashing a mirror along with a crazy bartender acting menacing too blaming him for the deaths.
There's a good discussion between Tom and Sarah encountering each other again after 10 years since the incident walking outside along a bridge.
A nice shot between Tom and Red going down in a trolley to the mine shaft.
A great dark shot on Tom looking around in the mine shaft and then Harry grabbing him and locking him inside a barred type of room.
There's a nice brief brawling scene between Harry and Red in the mine shaft.
A perfect three way moment between Tom, Axel Palmer and Sarah having an arguement and a discussion about Harry Warden especially with Axel behaving arrogant towards Tom.
A nice shot in the forestry with some of the characters that involved Ben, Tom, Axel, Sarah and a deputy discovering a dug up grave and discussing it.
A nice scene with Ben walking outside of his house on the porch and holding a shotgun acting drunk and then later on laughing and joking about Harry Warden and then walking inside his house. Suddenly a great surprise attack by Harry pinning him to the ground with a good camera shot looking up on him with his pick axe and Ben panicking.
A nice scene on Axel almost losing his temper on Sarah in the police station while he asks her where Tom's whereabouts are.
A good distant shot on Harry in a store after the power goes out by standing on the other side with his pick axe and then disappearing while two women look in that direction which almost is s simlar direction to Michael Myers from Halloween.
Also a perfect suspenseful shot on a door being smashed with a pick axe and the two of these women screaming. There's a great suspenseful close up shot on someone being dragged away from a window.
There's some good shots with Burke and a female deputy looking around a house with flashlights along with a terrific shot on this deputy opening a dryer door with a corpse dangling out and her screaming in terror.
A good dark discussion between Tom and Sarah in a vehicle as well as Axel by calling her telling him that he's dangerous and to get away from him.
We have a nice tense moment with Sarah towards Axel in their house screaming at him accusing him of being the killer after discovering the candy boxes thinking that he stuffed hearts in them as well as her falling out of a window with Harry staring out.
There's a great moment in the mine shaft with Sarah pointing a gun at both Axel and Tom acting in an intense rage while the two of them convince they're not the killers.
We have a great brawling scene between Axel and Tom in the mine shaft.
There's a perfect camera shot of an explosion that involved Tom in the mine shaft.
Bottom line is that this is a way a remake should be as it's hard to compare it to the original as most of the scene's are totally different.
We do have similar moments like a progologue of what happened, the hearts stuffed in the candy shaped boxes (Although it's not as common like in the first one), a corpse in a dryer, some mine suits suddenly dropping down with a woman trying to get away and the killer in the mine shaft smashing the lights there so no one can see. Otherwise we have alot of different stuff like people being murdered in their houses or trying to find a corpse that was dug up in the woods as well as having no Valentine party or having stuff like that banned.
Also there's a brand new twist on who the killer really is compared to the original.
It was excellent watching this film in 3D with perfect CGI effects making every scene very exciting to watch.
Although the original wasn't mainstream this one was and showing that the original was a true cult classic like other slasher film such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, Sleepaway Camp and A Nightmare On Elm Street.
It was such a shame that the sequel to the original was scrapped but it was probably a lack of funding for it since Canadian horror films back then barely made it to a part 2 (Of course Black Christmas totally left a door open too for a sequel and a remake was made on that too).
This film came out the same time a remake of Friday the 13th did.

The acting is quite well done as lead actor Jensen Ackles (Tom Hanniger) really shows his stuff as a suspect in the film making his part truly mysterious. He shows great anger and stern actions too. He does well trying to convince somebody about Harry Warden isn't on the loose in a certain scene. He was great reacting to his onscreen girlfriend after he finds out who called her which left a good impression that he could be the killer but at the same time it almost seems too obvious.
Jaime King (Sarah Palmer) can prove to be the next Jamie Lee Curtis of today's scream queen generation since she does well with her calm reactions as well as her frightening reactions and menacing attitude too. Perfect reactionson her while mysteriously looking around at her store after the power goes out as she does well by being spooked. Does well with her screaming reactions to the onscreen killer. A terrific devastating reaction on her when she sees a corpse being dragged away. Does well crying on her cell phone towards her onscreen boyfriend by telling him that Harry Warden is back.
Kerr Smith (Axel Palmer) had a great arrogant and temperatmental attitude as a sheriff in the film who knew how to lose his cool easily and proved his part very worthy too.
Tom Atkins (Burke) still pulls it off playing a tough as nails detective still playing these types of roles today with a good serious attitude too.
It's nice to see Kevin Tighe (Ben Foley) working again as he shows his humor and sarcastic behavior very well in his part and found him very chamring with the character he portrayed. Does well acting flirtatious too.
Even if this supporting actors role was small Jeff Hochendoner (Red) stood out well as a big tough guy that you would not want to encounter if he doesn't like you.

Sexpot Betsy Rue is fornicating in a motel with breats fully exposed and later on her fully body from top to bottom is exposed along with a scene on her outside pointing a gun at a trucker and then trying to escape from the killer fully naked too.
Todd Farmer exposes his butt while putting his pants on in a motel room.

Tons of gore.
Many people are slaughtered and cut in half.
A sharp object cuts a half of a persons face.
Bodies are torn open.
Hearts are stuffed in candy boxes.
Lots of bloodied corpses done in many gruesome ways.
A pick axe is sabbed in many people's heads as well as their eye gouged out, jaws torn off, heads split open etc.
A scarred corpse is discovered in a dryer.
Lots of violent bloodsheds.

Some good piano pounding and hissing effects for certain spots of the film. Also we spot some good southern guitar riffs during a motel sequence which really works for that scene. There's also rusty cold sounds during when something is about to happen. Great trombone playing with the pounding of the drums too. All of this was composed by Michael Wandmache

Michael: Jason, is that you?

Deputy Martin: You're the suspect... not me