Some movie remakes are obvious because the use the same or similar titles, characters, etc. Examples are KING KONG, THE BLOB, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, OCEAN'S ELEVEN, THE THING, etc.
Other remakes are not so obvious because they change the titles and may even change the settings, characters, etc. Examples of these "less obvious" remakes are:
* SORCERER, which is a remake of THE WAGES OF FEAR
* ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, which is a remake of RIO BRAVO
* THE MONEY PIT, which is a remake of MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE
* THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, which is a remake of THE SEVEN SAMURAI
* LAST MAN STANDING, which is a remake of YOJIMBO
* THE SURE THING, which is a remake of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
What are some other remakes that are not obvious by their titles or characters?
Can't add much to your list....
Battle Beyond the Stars was also Seven Samurai.
Outland was High Noon.
"Dead Space" was a remake of "Forbidden World."
"Stranger from Venus" and "The Cosmic Man" are both remakes of "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
"Godzilla (1998)" is a remake of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms."
"Unknown Origin" is a remake of "The Thing."
"Greaser's Palace" is like "El Topo," but I wouldn't call it a remake.
"Missile to the Moon" is a remake of "Cat-Women on the Moon."
"Frankenhooker" owes something to "The Brain that Wouldn't Die."
"Terror is a Man" and "Screamers" (1979) are remakes of "The Island of Dr. Moreau."
And Charles Band is the king of making movies with little creatures running around killing people. Puppets, dolls, small demons - you name it.
Running out of steam for now, but those were off the top of my head.
I swear to god - almost 90% or more of movies are remakes. Some are copies of british or other films (for that matter alot of popular tv shows and gameshows are ripoffs of other international programs)
Originality and balls in making a film without studio manipulation is dead - play taps...
"The Omega Man" (with Charlton Heston) was a remake of "Last Man on Earth" (with Vincent Price).
If you haven't seen one or both, you should take a look (although I enjoyed Last Man on Earth more, less action and more horror...it had a lot more impact. I'll never forget the scene of a gaunt Vincent Price crossing off buildings that he's emptied of the undead on a map of the city.)
Barb Wire is a remake of Casablanca!
when do you cross the line from homage to knock-off?
originality is hard to come by, after 100 years or so of making movies, many of the mainstream stories have been made already [i'm thinking of the new peter pan movie coming soonish :P ] what matters is how you interpret them.
but that's what's so great about most b movies: they are, for the most part, so completely ridiculuous and insane that they are fresh and original, or at least provide us with something other than the mundane, easily predictable scriptwriting we get nowadays.
this year is the year of the sequel, and god am i annoyed. i just saw tombraider II and it was so akingly predicatble and goddam badly written that i was really really annoyed. on the other hand i liked bad boys II so not all is lost.
Let's come up with an actually good idea and show those bloody exec's what a real movie is.
Although Burgomaster mentioned Assault On Precient 13, he didn't mention Ghost Of Mars which is a remake of 13 and of Rio Bravo.
Skaboi wrote:
"Although Burgomaster mentioned Assault On Precient 13, he didn't mention Ghost Of Mars which is a remake of 13 and of Rio Bravo."
I haven't seen GHOSTS OF MARS yet. Is it any good?
Ridley Scott's ALIEN is a remake of IT: THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, right down to the airlock-sucking alien death scene.
I'm surprised more people don't point this out. ALIEN is cool & all, but it ain't original. Check out IT if you think I exaggerate.
peter johnson
The most ridiculous -
Dance of the Damned (1988) was remade in 1993 as To Sleep with a Vampire.
Both direct to video and both suck (no pun intended).
Both direct to video and both suck (no pun intended).
Both done by the same producer (Roger Corman IIRC)
Other than that, it's really hard to say most of these are 'remakes' if they change the settings and characters. They may tell the same basic story or have similar plots but...
Fearless Freep wrote:
> Other than that, it's really hard to say most of these are
> 'remakes' if they change the settings and characters. They may
> tell the same basic story or have similar plots but...
The distinction is in whether the intention is to be a retelling of the same story, although perhaps it can only technically be a remake if it has the same title. Perhaps reinterpretation is a better term.
The Magnificent Seven and Battle Beyond the Stars are clearly retellings of Seven Samurai. On the other hand, Alien simply borrows heavily from It! as well as from Planet of Blood and a couple of other movies, hence there is a resemblance. It could arguably be called a ripoff, but not a remake.
I'm sure there are also a few movies that resemble each other for no reason other than coincidence.
Movies that attempt to interpret the same source material should not be called remakes either. Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth are adaptations of the story, I Am Legend. A better example would be when John Carpenter made The Thing, he went back to the original John Campbell story, not to the previous movie, so I wouldn't call that a remake. We don't consider the various incarnations of A Christmas Carol to be remakes of previous movies.
AndyC:
Do you have an example of a movie that is a TRUE remake (i.e., it doesn't borrow ideas from an earlier movie, and is not a reinterpretation of the same source material as an earlier movie?)
Based on your analysis, I can't think of any movies that could be called remakes. This is frightening to me, and I may not be able to sleep tonight.
Based on your analysis, I can't think of any movies that could be called remakes. This is frightening to me, and I may not be able to sleep tonight.
Basically, to me, the only movies that are really 'remakes' are movies with the same setting, characters, and story. "Battle Beyond The Stars" I don't think is a remake of "The Magnificent Seven". Too many differences. One obviously borrows *quite* heavily from the other (including an actor), but the main focus of the story isn't even the same (imagine the Magificent Seven where the central character is the Mexican farmer who went out to find Yul, Steve, and the crew)
I think reinterpretation might be a better term for what this thread is about.
One example of a true remake would be Psycho, a shot-for-shot copy. Although, I think an updating of a story would count too. The new versions of old William Castle flicks come to mind.
To be a remake, a movie would at the very least have to be, as Freep has suggested, the same title and basic story as an earlier movie. But I also think it has to be based on that movie.
If, for example, John Carpenter had made The Thing about a giant killer vegetable that gets electrocuted in the end, I would call that a remake. Instead, he had a shape-shifting monster that replaces the characters. In that case, it is a newer and more faithful adaptation of the original story, not a remake of the earlier movie. Nobody would argue that Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings is a remake of Ralph Bakshi's animated version from the 70s (exceept possibly Bakshi). It's a new adaptation of the literary work.
So, SNOW WHITE AND THE 3 STOOGES is not a remake of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES?
Well almost 50% of b-movies copy or steal. But there are a few that are more than just rip-offs and are almost exact copies. I love these movies because of it.
#1 Carnosaur 2. The ultimate scene by scene remake of Aliens.
#2 Watchers 3 and DNA . Very close to Preditor
#3 The warrior and the sorceress. is a remake of Yojimbo
They are worth watch just to watch the similarities.
There are many others that are not quite as pure
Note: Terminator 2 is almost a scene by scene remake of the original. Just change the vechicles in the chase scene.