Badmovies.org Forum

I've been trawling the archives for a thread like this, but haven't found one, so ...

What's with all the horror-movie remakes lately?  The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and just now I saw a preview for The Hitcher starring Sean Bean!

What else has been remade or is in the process of being remade of late, and where does this trend come from?  What would YOU like to see as a modern remake?

Silly me, not The Exorcist, I meant The Amityville Horror. :teddyr:

Heard something about Near Dark being remade. 

Producers think that if a movie worked once, why not again.  Now it has name recognition.  Even, if it a low budget movie, it is bound to recoup any losses unlike the riskier big budget movies...

It seems that a lot of American remakes followed after trying to milk the entire Asian horror movie genre dry after Grudge, Ring,...

that is exactly the reason cause now the names of those movies are well known so they say " well s**t! we'll get some lame-o hack director shoot a film that absolutley blows and cut all the naughty stuff out slap it with a pg-13 and call it "insert damned title here" cause everyone apparently knows that one! heh they are so dumb we'll rell em in just by the title! money money money!"

All well and good, but when are they finally going to turn the Six Million Dollar Man into a movie. We have the technology, dammit!

We have the technology...but not the imagination.  Which is why everybody's remake-happy.  (I suppose you could make the case that everything's been done in the last forty years, though...)

A better question is what's the deal with all the excruciatingly bad remakes.  Remakes have always been with us, however, it's only in the last few years that we've been witness to the atrocity of the "re-envisioned" remake; meaning movies that seem to have nothing to do with the title.

Viz. Cleopatra.  If it were remade today it would probably be "re-envisioned" and put into a totally different setting.  Why?

There's only one thing to blame for this and that's the Hollywood mentality of turning movies into "properties" that become brand logos.

Nowadays Hollywood buys a half-ass script that's been sitting in someone's smelly sock drawer for the better part of a decade, hires writers to re-write or "punch" it up, slaps a "brand logo" on it, hires a director, who in turn usually edits the re-edit of a re-write of a script that started out as nothing to do with the title turned "logo" and the end result is what any sane person would see coming a mile away; utter crap.

Of course part of the problem is the frustration of the writers and directors themselves because they probably spend years trying to get their script made to no avail, thus sticking it in a sock drawer is probably their only recourse as they sell-out to do whatever job comes along, and so when someone finally does come knocking on thier door years after they are burned out likely just decide to dig that script out of their sock drawer and make a quick buck.

Still it's no excuse.

Naturally I'm against remaking a classic (A or B types), but some ideas could use a reworking to bring out the most. Here are some points that I think about often.

• There are few original ideas being made these days.
• Everything seems to have been done already.
• A remake can be done, but it still must have original dialogue and characters.
• If it has original dialogue and characters then why borrow the old title. Just make your own movie.
• Remakes may work for the newer younger audience who have never seen the original.

Kester Pelagius is correct they just want brand name merchandise to sell with only a small effort. They really need the passion of an Ed Wood or someone who cares about what they are doing to make movies.

Hollywood has no imagination anymore and is clearly run by and catered to corporate suits to whom only a quick buck seems to matter, get that opening big box office weekend and that's all they seem to care about nowadays. Exceptions tend to be those directors who also have some control over the production end of their products (Taratino, etc.). You want imagination, mostly nowadays you need to go look for independent and foreign films. Del Toro's a good name to keep in mind and Japan is producing better Horror films than most nowadays.

They should just remake the movies that had an interesting concept but sucked the first time... Amityville Horror was a good start since I hated the original (although I'm told that the remake wasn't much better)

Are you sure about that?

Because I'm not sure the world is ready for remakes of movies like. . .

Adventure in Dinosaur City (I've only heard of this one)
Alienator
Alien Contamination
Cybernator
Cybertracker*
Eegah!
Gor
Knights*
Nemesis*
Outlaw of Gor
The Pickle
Spaced Out
.
.
.

(*) Let's just stipulate "cyborg movies" in general.



OTOH I wouldn't mind seeing a proper re-make/new version of. . .

Damnation Alley
Embrace of the Vampire**
Earth Girls are Easy**
Warlords**
Wizards of the Demon Sword**

(**) This could have been so much better.

Also, I'd like, before I die, to see a version of Hercules that actually follows the mythological story of Hercules!

Just wait, eventually they'll try to remake Dog Day Afternoon or The Deer Hunter. There truly is no end to how low they'll sink.
And my head hurts trying to imagine a remake of The Magic Christian or The Devils...

     I hope this makes since......I think they make remakes because it's like reading a book, who ever reads the story visualizes it differently in there mind. I think they should always have the writer near by when making a movie so the director can visualize through him. On the other hand our visualization might be better than the writers, oops, remake time. There are so many movies that we watch and think " I would of done that differently", oops, remake time. If it turns out good as a remake everybody is happy, if it doesn't, oh well we blew it. I hope this makes since because I just read it and I think I need a remake.  :question:  :buggedout:

I fail to see how Eegah! could ever have been good, to be honest :) For a film like that, you'd have to change so much that it might as well just be a new film.

Having seen the movie years ago, and read the book more recently, real life and reality TV have rendered The Magic Christian obsolete. Sad really.

Don't give them any ideas on the other films you mentioned. At least Inside Man was a caper film, and was clever enough to have characters mention Dog Day Afternoon. The Deer Hunter updated or redone as a period piece either one is scary.

I do like the idea of remaking interesting ideas that were badly executed the first time, or were made at the wrong time (lack of money, SFX, the right tone, etc.) ever since I saw the forgotten Michael Caine 70s flick Pulp, which I liked but not loved, I thought it would make for a good Charlie Kaufmanesque update. A writer of soft core, violence filled airport novels gets sucked into a tale like something out of one of his own books. The update could play with the whole is he in a book or is his own life and the real world that screwed up?

Remakes can be good or bad. THE FLY (1986) was good. THE BLOB (1988) was good. THE THING (1982) was good. More recent horror remakes, not so much.

My problem is if they want to remake something, then find some old crappy movie and turn it into a good remake. Instead they take classic movies and strip everything out that made them special.

Wow, The Wicker Man (2006) with Nicolas Cage!  I had no idea that this had been remade!

I actually enjoyed The Hills Have Eyes remake. [hides]

The only upcoming remakes that really, really p**s me off are The Thing and Clash of the Titans.  Why, god, why?

Yea, man. i hate all this remake stuff. They sorta kill the purpose of the classics, ya know?