January 24, 2010

  • Horror Remakes

    As I am sure everyone is aware of Horror Remakes are the latest trend in Hollywood because they require less work, make more money because of the built in fan base, and require little marketing given their existing brand awareness.  Having watched some though I can see where in some cases the remake is better than the original.  It's all opinion of course and this is just my take on it.

    Some of the remakes I have enjoyed the most are the ones that go deeper into why a psycho is a psycho.  When I watch the Halloween remakes, or Black Christmas I find myself enjoying them more than I ever did with the original.  You see with both of these films we have a psycho who just kills.  We don't know why, we don't understand any of his motives, he just does what he does.  Sure that has it's place but I find it much more terrifying when I see what made this individual into the psycho he would evolve into and in both of the remakes listed above the go into that.  I began to think that the directors of these films probably felt the same way I do which is why they remade their respective films with the backstory added into it.  Each time it made the film more enjoyable to me as well.  It added some depth to the story, made you sympathize with the killer while also wishing someone would take him down.  It's multi layered and more fun to watch.

    However there are also remakes that exist to just add in more gore, violence and mayhem.  In these cases I feel that the remake serve no purpose other than to shock, and further desensitize a violence crazed culture.  A great example of this is the Hills Have Eyes.  This movie is so lacking in humanity that the bit of respect for life it shows is so minuscule it's not enough to overcome everything else going on.  I have thought about writing about the scene that I am so against but I anyone who has seen already knows what I am talking about and if you haven't seen it then you have at least heard about it or have no interest in this film. 

    So that's my opinion on Horror movie remakes.  Is there a type of remake that I am forgetting about?