Most remakes of good movies...are terrible. The rule of thumb is take a bad thing and make it better instead of a good thing and make it worse. The best example of this is Psycho. The original Psycho is one of the greatest movies of all time. It's a horror classic where you can feel the tension in every single scene. The way Anthony Perkins plays Norman Bates is disturbing. Perkins Bates seems to have serious mental issues that he can't control. The acting is just one of the things that makes the movie great. The 1998 remake staring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn is terrible. There is no tension, the acting fails and the entire movie just seems awkward.
Halloween is the same thing. The original is correctly thought of as the first modern slasher movie. Like most great horror movies, you feel the movie while watching it. When Jamie Lee Curtis is about to get slashed you find yourself yelling at the screen begging her to find a way out. The remakes simply lack the tension and atmosphere that the originals have. Some people complain that they only like movies/music from the era in which they grew up-but that's garbage. Good movies and music are timeless.
The remake of Nightmare on Elm Street is not as good as the first, but it's still very good. It has the same Freudian tendencies of parental issues, dreams and how your subconscious has a greater effect on your actions than you think it does. The remake even adds a special twist about blame and guilt. My biggest complaint with the remake is that it loses the feminist influence that the first had. Heather Langenkamp portrayed a much stronger Nancy than Rooney Mara does.
I'll never understand why people get excited for remakes. The original is always better.
I've never been a big fan of slasher or Nightmare on Elm Street; my favorite horror films are They and Dead Birds, so, more ghost story and supernatural monster(not creature feature) type horror. The Vince Vaughn Psycho was hideous! Not only was it shot by shot a copy of the original(no, seriously, they redid the shots almost exactly) but very stale. Heche was incredibly awkward and Vaughn came off as if he wandered onto the set from some comedy he was supposed to be doing on a neighboring lot, like he got lost and stuck in the film. Awful.
ReplyDeleteRemakes have definitely burned me a lot but there's been enough good ones that I still give them chances. Like, I actually really liked the Jeff Bridges True Grit and I know other people didn't like it but Invasion with Nicole Kidman(remake of Attack of the Body Snatchers) was one I liked. I was excited for Beauty in the Beast until I saw Emma Watson for it and heard Ewan Mcgregor's french accent. Now the more I see advertised for it, the more I cringe. I usually prefer remakes to improve upon the original(if they can) or take the story to a new level.
So true!
DeleteThe biggest issue with remakes is for most part you are remaking something that doesn't need to be remade. The original was good enough. I don't get why people get excited for remakes. I think "If you are a fan of the original, why do you need to see the exact same story again with different actors?" It's the same with awful D-list sequels. At this point who in the world an get excited for Carrie 4?