Monday, November 1, 2010

Rejection of Regurgitation, Part 04

Now then, where were we? Oh, right, right - how the remake craze started felling apart.

Strike one: Studios tend to discount (or outright ignore) the initial impact of the original movie. That may sound strange, considering why they would bother to remake anything, then, if it wasn't that successful in the first place. But this isn't about success - what they're ignoring is initial reactions and why they were what they were. Using the aforementioned Nightmare as an example, the fact is that the first time around, it was original enough that it caught people off-guard. Second time around? People knew what was coming. They wanted to see more than just a re-hashing.

Rob Zombie was able to do that with Halloween. When John Carpenter unleashed the original, the slasher genre was pretty much virgin territory that he exploited. In doing so, he gave us a memorable (pro-?) antagonist in Michael Myers. What he didn't do, however, was tell how any why Myers became what he did. Seeing a need to fill for horror fans and having a means to do so, Zombie explored Myers's beginnings and added to the original story. Some would claim it's unnecessary as it could be questioned whether or not knowing Myers's origins makes him any scarier, sure. However, Zombie not only gave his version of Halloween a viable reason to exist by telling a version of Myers's background, but he also made an anomaly.

Most '80s horror films - such as Nightmare and Friday the 13th (another box-office victim the second time around) made the mark they did because they were ideas that moviegoers had not yet seen at that time. Seeing or hearing anything a second time, no matter how well-loved, loses a little of its luster because it's no longer new. Kinda like sex.

Strike two: You want to "reintroduce a classic to a new generation"? Show 'em the bloody original!

Strike three: Some movies are kitschy cult favorites because of how they look or feel. Another remake rumored to plague the land is The Rocky Horror Picture Show (I wish I were making that up.)

What use a remake will serve that movie I really have no idea. The idea is to update and add a modern sheen to a musical homage to old "B"-horror movies? It's supposed to look campy! A CGI-saturated update with a cast that simply won't get what that movie what it was for an audience that'll have to be educated on 65% of the references will make that remake a success how, exactly?

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