Why I strongly support horror remakes

[Spacetraveler]

I know many people react negatively when a remake is announced for a classic horror film. I used to feel the same way about news of remakes as most of them are terrible. However, many people overlook one important thing- The potential for SE releases of the original movies to tie in with the remake. Friday the 13th and Stepfather movies have received special edition releases most likely to tie in with the remake. So for those who want SE DVDs for Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, Child's Play sequels, and Fright Night films should welcome the news of remakes for these films since it greatly increases the likelihood of special edition DVD or Blu-Ray release for them. If you hate remakes, just simply don't watch them but enjoy the superior DVDs that usually come with them.

[Dave]

Good point and it certainly is a benefit. I'm definitely mixed but I can certainly enjoy a remake. Dawn remake was great; Night too. Hated Friday and Halloween, however. We'll see on Nightmare...

[rhett]

Good points, and I'd add that remakes also give us another way to reflect on how we feel about the original. Seeing it done again (usually for the worse) allows us to solidify why exactly we like certain films, certain moments, certain storytelling techniques. Conversely, if it's done well, like say Last House on the Left or Night of the Living Dead, then it can help demonstrate why certain aspects from the original didn't work so well. Good or bad, I'd say any film that gets you talking about the original is always a good thing. Even the shittiest remakes, like Zombie's Halloween, don't really do anything to lessen the impact or importance of the original. And if it does, then time heals all wounds. :)

[Shannafey]

Also, they introduce a whole new generation to a film that will hopefully check out the original!

[fceurich39]

yep we probably would of never gotten stepfather/stepfather 2 rerelease as well as prom night II and F13TH SPECIAL EDITIONS if it weren't for remakes
there is some decent remakes too like Dawn,Night,Texas chainsaw,Hills remakes i really enjoyed

[buck135]

I say fuck em. They should at least attempt to try something original as opposed to cashing in on "modernizing" our favorite films.

[2D4EVER]

I see your point of view but I believe the remakes hurt more than they help. By relying on remakes the studios divert much of their time, money, and promotions to them while letting original works languish in development hell. Who knows what great scripts are sitting forgotten on a shelf somewhere because the studio spent half their budget to make Jaws 2010: The Final Revenge (in 3D naturally). It's great to have re releases and special editions of some gems but personally I'd rather have new and original movies. Also I feel a lot of these remakes (and lets face it most are unnecessary at best and utter shit at worst) drag down the whole genre and marginalize it more than Uwe Boll could ever hope to.

[Paff]

Yeah, I agree. It's a pretty lame reason to support remakes in general, let alone "strongly" support them. If anything, it's the small silver lining in the cloud of shit that is this current trend of remakes. By the way, anytime the subject of remakes comes up, a couple of people will invariably invoke the few good ones. The way I see it, it's like going to see a live band. I want to hear original material, with one or two cover songs done in the band's style. But some band playing just covers? bah. That's gonna suck.

And while a handful of good remakes exist (and that was more in the 80s, with the revamps of campy 50s movies into more serious fare. Not the case now, where films that were already good to great get tepidly remade into forgettable trash), it doesn't excuse the massive glut of remakes we see today.

Yes, there's always the option of "not going to see them", an option I take nearly all the time. But it's not so simple. Like 2D says, are these remakes taking the place of legitimate films at the box office?

Oh, and this whole "it makes the current generation want to check out the original versions" bit. No, I doubt it. Horror fans are horror fans, and people like us will check older movies. I highly doubt the teeny-bopper audience that actually like crap like the recent Friday the 13th movie will want to check out the 1980 version, and if they do, they'll just make fun of the clothes styles and call it "lame"

Seriously. End this remake shit now. Stop going to these movies!

[allmessedup]

I don't really have strong feelings either way about them, some I have liked and some I have not liked. I usually like remakes better if I'm not all that crazy about the original film in the first place [like most of the slasher film remakes, other than the Halloween remake which was just a poorly constructed piece of crap]. I tend to really dislike it when they remake foreign films for the US market, but there have been a couple of those I've liked too.

I guess I don't get too upset by it because most horror tends to work within the same themes anyway. Even the better "original" films are usually working with something that has been examined elsewhere. I'm more concerned by lack of originality outside of the horror genre.

[Golem]

Hello, all. 1st post here and gladly echo Spacetraveler's initial comment. Watched the remake of Last House on the Left with a gathering of friends from work and no one had ever seen the original. One seemed most interested in seeing the original and even took to my comment that Last House on the Left was inspired by The Virgin Spring. Let him borrow my copy of Craven's Last House on the Left plus Bergman's The Virgin Spring. He liked them both, 'nuff said. Never would he have watched a Bergman film if not for the remake. The remake made it worthwhile.

[sundownrider]

Also, they introduce a whole new generation to a film that will hopefully check out the original!

OMFG TWILIGHT! yeah uh huh right!

Ironic how the same films Hollywood dismissed as B movie shit are stuck in remake hell. Have so many people on here forgotten that? Have so many of you forgotten how Hollywood drove all the Horror films of the past out of the theaters? Hollywood drove a shit load of motion picture companies right out of business. Now we are supposed to skull fuck & brain wash ourselves into supporting remakes?

NO!

[buck135]

Sundownrider brings up a good point. Paramount is still embarrased by the success of the Friday the 13th franchise, yet they rebooted the franchise instead of trying something (anything) else in order to cash in.

[aoiookami]

I never really understood the hate-on people have for remakes. I've never been strongly for, or against them. If anything I've really enjoyed a couple of them, and am looking forward to some (The Crazies). They don't affect the originals in any way, if anything all they mean is a new special edition release of the the original (oh no!!). As for the 'they should be doing something original' argument, nothing is original anymore. Whoever uses that argument should back it up with their own, original, never-been-done-before story, I doubt they can.

[2D4EVER]

Plenty of original movies are coming out just not from hollywood. Originality isn't dead but just ranks very low on the list of qualifications to get funding in the US. Most important is the name of the director and is it a franchise or remake. And speaking of originality it doesn't have to be some revolutionary new idea that no one has though of till now. It can be as simple as a zombie movie but told in a way that hasn't been done before. The basics can be the same but everything else is up the the imagination such as: Why are they zombies (maybe they are being mind controlled by nanobots that were released by a nefarious company, a disgruntled scientist, or even a terrorist organization), how do they spread, what do they want, is it worldwide or localized, what is the government(s) doing about it, do the zombies have a pov, etc. Maybe one would be much better off being told in a manner similar to Pulp Fiction or Rashomon. Lots of originality can be had from a simple vampire or zombie movie. Also characters seem to take a back burner in the majority of these remakes. Who cares about the main characters? Most of us want them to die because they are so annoying, stupid, or stupid and annoying (sadly also a criticism of horror movies in general). We don't feel that they are genuine and we certainly don't have any investment in their well-being. Who is the new Nancy or Kirsty? Where is the sympathy? Where are the complicated characters that aren't just generic cookie cutter "tough guy", "nerd", and "sex obsessed chick"? Originality is obtainable but the truth is that most studios don't care about it.

[hots4]

i think everybody has forgotten about the most important remake, my bloody valentine, if it was not for the remake then we will NEVER have got to see the wholy grail of uncut footage and finally see the original in all it's uncut glory and for me even if the remake was crap (and the to be fair it was a fun, gory rollercoaster ride of a remake) then i would have been more than happy.

[buck135]

We didn't need a remake to get a special edition of Night of the Creeps, Return of the Living Dead or countless others. The argument isn't that the studios should be more original. The argument is, let's not slap a title that people love on a turd and see if it'll sell. I'm sure some studio is ready to remake Survival of the Dead.

[baggio]

However, many people overlook one important thing- The potential for SE releases of the original movies to tie in with the remake. Friday the 13th and Stepfather movies have received special edition releases most likely to tie in with the remake. So for those who want SE DVDs for Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, Child's Play sequels, and Fright Night films should welcome the news of remakes for these films since it greatly increases the likelihood of special edition DVD or Blu-Ray release for them. If you hate remakes, just simply don't watch them but enjoy the superior DVDs that usually come with them.

I always wondered if those special editions have anything to do with a deal made with people that are remaking the originals. They pitch the idea of a remake, & to make things more attractive (to get the rights to film a remake) they present the money that could be made from a special edition release.

My question is, why not just release the Special Edition and refuse the rights to film a remake?

[old-boo-radley]

I never gave the remake trend too much of a hard time because it's not like only remakes are coming out and it's not like the remakes are shot for shot shit like Psycho. The people these movies are geared towards don't watch old movies anyways on principle. People I went to high school with would watch new horror movies, but would still wander very carefully into older ones I'd recommend even though they'd love them every time. Hell, I guess in a roundabout way if a decent number of people are inspired to check out the original LHOTL because of the new one, what's the harm in that? The horror fad has come and gone, the classic releases seem pretty much dead in the water which means the companies aren't making money which means the fans are no longer there. In 2002, shit was hitting the fan, I can only assume because of people from the 70s and 80s now having enough money to purchase films they wanted to see/couldn't see/wanted to become nostalgic over. It was a fun ride, but niche horror fans are now in the overwhelming minority, in my eyes. Those of us here on HorrorDVDs that have lasted the test of time deserve a medal. And we've been spoiled. Let's be honest - there isn't a soul out there who would have predicted mega 2 disc limited editions of flicks like Driller Killer and Dead & Buried in OAR on home video. It was a great ride while it lasted, but like Garth Algar once said in a crooked grin, "LIVE IN THE NOW!!"

[KR~!]

I do not like remakes because I rather watch something original. A horror film based on a novel or comic is fine by me, but one based on classic horror film is kind of pointless. Sure, some remakes are well done, and heck some are even better than the original, but most of the time they are pretty worthless.

Having the original get a release on Blu-Ray is a great side effect, but that is not a good enough reason to support recycled ideas.

[Paff]

Yeah, why is a remake necessary to get a special edition release? I jacked off right before Criterion announced the special edition of Replusion, but I don't think the two events are really related. At least I hope they're not...

I've mentioned before that I saw the original Friday the 13th at a midnight screening back in 2008. Not tied in with the upcoming remake, just a cool theater doing something cool on Friday June 13. It was a good crowd, though far from a full theater. Far fewer people than when I saw the god-awful remake or reboot or whatever you wanna call it in February of '09. While there was a lot of laughter from first time viewers at that midnight screening, I'd also say there were far more genuine screams of terror than at the '09 crapfest. Point is, the movies would get more respect if they were shown AS IS, and not "updated" for today's short attention spans.

Other point I've made before. Go to the horror section in your local bookstore. I bet within 2 minutes you'll be able to count 40-50 novels that have NOT been made into films yet. Are all those stories good? Probably not. But I bet there's more material for good ORIGINAL horror there than in mining the past for films that WERE DONE FUCKING RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

[Fistfuck]

Oh, and this whole "it makes the current generation want to check out the original versions" bit. No, I doubt it. Horror fans are horror fans, and people like us will check older movies. I highly doubt the teeny-bopper audience that actually like crap like the recent Friday the 13th movie will want to check out the 1980 version, and if they do, they'll just make fun of the clothes styles and call it "lame"


I am in heavy agreement with this. I think this only applies if guys like Grim and Andrew (not to pick on you, but you're like the younger brothers of some of us) were of a young enough age when the remakes started. In other words, guys who had the beginning of an interest in horror.

I tried to explain to a girl a few years younger than me why she should see the original Dawn of the Dead. She messaged me a few weeks later and said she watched part of it and really enjoyed it. I come to find out later that she meant the remake.

You either have an interest in finding older movies (of any genre) or you don't. The volume of interest in the original a remake is going to bring in is inconsequential, and I'm sure a fraction of that can be attributed to mistaking one version for the other.

[Paff]

You either have an interest in finding older movies (of any genre) or you don't. The volume of interest in the original a remake is going to bring in is unconsequential.

Yes. Exactly what I was trying to say.

[Reverenddave]

I don't know why people are acting like they're starved for original horror movies. There were a ton of great original horror films released this year. And there were a lot of bad original horror movies this year too. There were a lot of horror movies, period. And there's no reason why there can't be room for a couple lousy remakes.

[snowbeast323]

I'm personally bored to death with remakes......don't people have any original ideas anymore??

[buck135]

If there were only "a couple of remakes", this thread wouldn't have even existed. It's after "April Fools Day", "The Fog" and countless others. Not to mention (shutter) reboots.

[Reverenddave]

How many remakes come out each year? Maybe a half dozen? Compared to the total number of horror movies put out yearly, it's a small percentage.

[DVD-fanatic-9]

Also, they introduce a whole new generation to a film that will hopefully check out the original!
I haven't seen that work out.

Though, I have encountered tons of people (most of them under 25) say the only reason a movie's remade is because it sucked in the first place. But, not many going to buy the originals because of the remakes. Or if they do see them, seeing the originals as better films.

Which is why I don't support remakes now and say very firmly- all remakes after 1986 suck.

[spawningblue]

I've enjoyed quite a few remakes, some even more then the original so I can't complain too much. Although I would prefer something original, like someone said, the small percentage each year of remakes compared to the original releases is very small. And the Special Edition releases are a great thing. I can almost guarantee that MBV would have never been released uncut if it wasn't for the remake. That release alone was worth all the crappy remakes to me.

[Grim]

I am in heavy agreement with this. I think this only applies if guys like Grim and Andrew (not to pick on you, but you're like the younger brothers of some of us) were of a young enough age when the remakes started. In other words, guys who had the beginning of an interest in horror.

I tried to explain to a girl a few years younger than me why she should see the original Dawn of the Dead. She messaged me a few weeks later and said she watched part of it and really enjoyed it. I come to find out later that she meant the remake.

You either have an interest in finding older movies (of any genre) or you don't. The volume of interest in the original a remake is going to bring in is inconsequential, and I'm sure a fraction of that can be attributed to mistaking one version for the other.

Agreed. Even though people my age and myself aren't really kids anymore (I'll be hitting the big 23 this year. Yikes!), I've found that the majority of my friends really have no interest in an older version of a film they have seen. They say they would like to see it, then I bring it over and they all either lose interest after about 30 minutes or get hammered and tear it apart.

I don't actively support this explosion of remakes and I usually roll my eyes whenever a new one is announced, but that's not to say I don't like to be pleasantly surprised when one is actually good. (In my opinion, at least) Some of the remakes I actually feel have been necessary, regardless of how they eventually turned out. A couple of our favorite franchises had pounded themselves so far into dismal shape (Jason X, H: Ressurrection, Lep in the Hood 1, 2, etc. etc. I think the Nightmare series is the only one that ended on a relative high.) that there really wasn't anywhere else for them to go with these series without it being absolutely horrible. The Friday remake wasn't the best thing in the world, but at least Jason is back at Crystal Lake again and will hopefully stay there for at least a couple more films.

[allmessedup]

I didn't really get the hate for the F13 remake...it was essentially the same as the earlier films, Jason killing people out in the woods. It's not like the original source material was this deep complex work of artistic integrity. Is it that big a deal that he has electricity?

[Body Boy]

I didn't really get the hate for the F13 remake...it was essentially the same as the earlier films, Jason killing people out in the woods. It's not like the original source material was this deep complex work of artistic integrity. Is it that big a deal that he has electricity?

It was the same as in there was a killer terrorizing teens by a lake, with an end chase scene. But the differences appear with the lack of interesting kills, hella annoying cast, boredom, and simple unimagination. The originals have a killer in the woods, but are shot creepily, make you care for most of the victims, and keep your interest. I think the remake was better than the New Line films (well, maybe on par with JGTH) but the fact that Jason Takes Manhattan is more entertaining leaves an uneasy feeling inside. :(

[Paff]

OK, I'll admit it. The argument I make that remakes are taking the place of original horror films doesn't hold a lot of water. Withdrawn. Although it makes about as much sense as believing that we somehow need remakes so that we can get special editions of our old favorites.

There's more wrong with the remakes that can't be solved by just saying "don't like 'em, don't see 'em" (which for the most part I don't, by the way). It's insulting my favorite genre, and worse, it's insulting ME. I have to defend horror as a quality genre, that it's more than just low-budget B-movies, and when this lack of originality is displayed, even in a minority percentage of released films, it doesn't help my argument any.

Worse, when some hack music video director thinks he can make a version of one of my favorite movies that improves on the original, what does that say about his opinion of that original? If anyone, ANYONE thinks they can make a movie called "Black Christmas" that even bares mentioning in the same breath as Bob Clark's classic, it's a damn bold statement And with all these remakes currently out there (the ones I've seen at least), they don't hold a candle to the original. It's insulting, plain and simple. No other word for it. Pardon the fuck out of me if I want directors, producers, and studios to treat my favorite genre and my favorite movies with just a little bit of respect.