Badmovies.org Forum

As we all know most new remakes SUCK... but...
Which is your favorite remake/reboot and why?

100% my favorite remake/reboot is King Kong (1976)

as I do respect the 1933 version, Imo 76 soundtrack was GOLD. King Kong, Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin and Jessica Lange worked so well together...

(https://janaisa.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/moviecoders_image3.jpg)

the THING (1982) is one of my favorite sci-fi / horror films of all time.
Don't get me wrong- I like the  1951 original, but it can't hold a candle to Rob Bottins mind-blowing f/X!



http://youtu.be/mTH2mP6udqQ (http://youtu.be/mTH2mP6udqQ)

I'd go with John Carpenter's 'The Thing'. It is claustrophobic and tense. The practical effects stand up better than most CGI. It is a film I can watch over and over again.

Damn you RC, you beat me by about a minute.  :twirl:

awesome picks - The Thing (1982)  :thumbup:

I'll also choose the '78 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS over the '56 version.

(https://i.imgur.com/3w5NnMF.gif) (https://lunapic.com)

There aren't too many remakes that improve on the original, and the best are already chosen, so I'll go with INVADERS FROM MARS (1986)

http://youtu.be/MBBdJVr_8kE (http://youtu.be/MBBdJVr_8kE) 

between two worlds, which is a remake of outward bound.

I like THE FLY remake, but I've never actually seen the original so it wouldn't be fair to judge. I'd be amazed if the og was better though.

the remake of MY BLOODY VALENTINE rocks. probably the only example of an 80s slasher remake eclipsing the original, imo

THE FLY remake is an improvement.  Great choice! 

the MALTESE FALCON (1941).
Yes- it was made twice before- in 1931 with Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade (and Dwight Frye as Wilmer!) and in 1936 as SATAN MET A LADY with Bette Davis.
I only seen the '41 version, but I'm assuming those first 2 were not so hot, as they are pretty much forgotten.

Frye as Wilmer in the MALTESE FALCON (1931)

(https://i.imgur.com/tvlk4sa.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

I was just about to say that looks just like Renfield  :thumbup:

I've seen both as TCM shows them but I will say they are not memorable, and I like RICARDO CORTEZ!  
...And I was thinking of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE which was made in Fascist Italy as OSSESSIONE in 1943 (a favorite)...

I liked Rob Zombie's 2008 remake of HALLOWEEN.  The back story it provided for Michael Meyers made him a much more understandable, and even sympathetic, villain.

Little Shop of Horrors

(https://i.imgur.com/Jd2jr7D.jpg)

Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, a great monster design and some very catchy tunes just completley outlcass Roger Corman's drab original movie. 

Definitely THE THING, hands down. Carpenter is a genius, I enjoy every one of his movies, although I still have plenty to watch.

Agree with THE FLY, amazin film. Disgusting but in a good way!

I'll add the remakes of both NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE LIVING DEAD. While not better than the originals, they're great movies and really managed to capture the essence of the source material.

I liked VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (also Carpenter's). Not amazing, but an enjoyable movie nevertheless.

RED DRAGON I guess it can be considered a remake of MANHUNTER. It's also great, I actually enjoyed it more than SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

EVIL SPAWN (1987) is a bloody remake of the WASP WOMAN (1959) with nudity and a much cooler rubber monster! And it's got John Carradine too!

I had this big box vhs awhile back, but I gave it to ex-Bad Movies member Circus.

(https://i.imgur.com/SkVeHZX.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

No mention of THE BLOB (1988)?

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/theblob/ (http://www.badmovies.org/movies/theblob/)

(http://www.badmovies.org/movies/blob/blob4.jpg)

I am not a fan of the original (other than the fantastic theme song!), so the remake is a big improvement to me.

I liked the original, but I'll agree that the remake was tons better. 

Shame we didn't get a cover of the original song with it.   :twirl:

SORCERER (1977) is a very worthy remake of THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953)

Yup, awesome remake - The Blob (1988)  :thumbup:

I like MISSILE TO THE MOON (1958) over CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON (1953) mostly because of the Rock Men!


(https://i.imgur.com/Bi1xsid.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

I quite liked what THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake did. It wasn't amazing, and it had a bit of generic 2000s era horror movie damage, but at least they made an effort to do more than just rehash the original. (the following HILLS HAVE EYES 2 sucked though)

The HBO remake of Attack of the 50ft Woman,  is a better movie then the original.  It does more with the premises.  

 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_rJUah0CGE#)

I think the re-make of The Last of the Mohicans in the '90s was better than earlier versions. ON the flip side of re-making classics, Demi More's re-telling of The Scarlet Letter could be the worst movie I ever saw.

The Alamo from 2004, for its brave accuracy. It also made a dear friend of mine in Austin extremely happy, which was a nice part. I think it's one of the most under-rated movies of the 2000s and deserved more support than it got among the very people who should have backed it. I remember telling some Texas patriot he should see it and he said, "I ain't seeing nothin' Disney puts out about Texas."

So the movie had too steep a hill to climb.

I think the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead is outright better than the original, but that may be because I saw it first.

I take it, then. Your friend has never seen Old Yeller or Savage Sam. Both of which are set in Texas and both by Texan Fred Gipson.

I was unexpectedlly impressed by the Evil Dead remake.
I was expecting it to be kitschy/goofy like the original (though I suppose much of the O.G.'s kitschiness was due to budget restraints, and therefore not intentional) but the new one had a WAY bigger mean streak, it hit the ground running and stayed pretty balls to the wall all the way through.

The 2004 remake of Walking Tall with The Rock and Johnny Knoxville wasn't bad at all.

Night of the Living Dead (1990)
It's the first zombie movie I ever saw, so there's that.  It's also very good.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)
It's not very faithful to the original, but it is a pretty decent horror / action movie on it's own.

The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers were both good from what I can remember, but it's been ages since I saw them.

Most of the other remakes / reboots I've watched have been utter garbage, and I hated myself for wasting time and money on them. :hatred:  I refuse to watch any more unless I hear from multiple sources that they are worthy.

The Crazies (2010) isn't perfect, but it was decent enough that I bought it.  The original wasn't a masterpiece either, but it is from George Romero, so I had to own it too. :smile:

They keep coming to me.

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) is a great moody, atmospheric, and beautifully filmed remake with a haunting soundtrack.  It is probably more enjoyable than the original.

The Fly (1986) was good too.

I dug the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and it's sequel from the mid 2000's

I too love THE THING (1982) and
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)

I'm sure a few of  you know that Hollywood attempted several times to make WIZARD OF OZ.  Including L Frank Balm himself to make his own cinematic adaptation of his own work... they failed miserably.  The oddest attempt was Larry Sieman's version.. which he paied a s**t ton of $$$ for the rights only to have a film that has very little to do with the actual story.

Oh...and I love the Cohen brothers remake of TRUE GRIT.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) or Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

Both movies had been made before 20,000 Leagues as a silent film, Swiss Family in the 40's.

Probably and unpopular opinion to a lot of people.  But I actually liked Peter Jackson's version of King Kong.   You can tell he loved the original and wanted to tell a bigger version.  I've heard the complaints, and while I can admit to many being valid, I think the movie does enough right to counter balance them. 

I really enjoyed the first hour of story that Jackson tacked on to the movie and how they (finally) got to Skull Island. Jackson did a really good job of immersing us in the 1930s city life, and one thing that I thought was an improvement over the original involved this very thing, in that the film starts and ends in the big city, so we get a better sense of Kong being literally ripped out of his world and thrust into ours. Plus, Andy Serkis made us feel more sympathy for the beast than even the 1976 version; my little 5-year-old nephew cried big tears for Kong at the end when he first saw it. Whereas in the original and 1976 versions, I just wanted to see Kong knock the biplanes and helicopters out of the sky at the end. The 3+ hour Ultimate Edition on 4K blu ray is the only way to truly enjoy this one.  :cheers:

I think Trevor mentioned it, but I too enjoyed Walking Tall with The Rock.  I actually saw that first, before seeing the original.

Does Spider-Man: Homecoming with Tom Holland count? I know that studio was attempting a third attempt at a series after the Spider-Man films with Garfield kinda bombed and Marvel cut a deal to bring him in the MCU.  If that counts, that's a remake/reboot I dug.

Spider-Man (2002) was good, & technically, was a reboot. The comic had been made into a movie in 1977: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_(1977_film)

The Cape Fear film from the 1990's, for Robert DeNiro's performance as Max Cady. I like that Gregory Peck has a cameo in that one. It's a film I can watch over and over again, and find something new each time. Juliette Lewis, Nick Nolte and even Ileana Douglas all did a great job too in my opinion.