Alternate Takes 10.31.09: Horror Remakes

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 10.31.2009

On the weekend of All Hallows' e'en, Alternate Takes brings you something very frightening - horror remakes that are actually as good as the originals.



Welcome to Week 75 of Alternate Takes. I am your host Shawn S. Lealos and you have now entered my world.

It's Halloween and Alternate Takes is continuing with the theme I started last week in the Horror Sequel edition of the column. This weekend there is really only big opening, Michael Jackson's This is It. Also getting limited releases this week are The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The House of the Devil and Gentlemen Broncos. More interesting to me is the re-release of Rob Zombie's Halloween II to try to milk more money out of the season and the Coen's A Serious Man, which finally opens here in Oklahoma.



This week Alternate Takes will join Halloween II, and look at other movie franchises that have been rebooted. For every House of Wax, House on Haunted Hill and The Fog that do nothing but make the franchise look stupid, there are some that improve upon the originals or add to the aura of what came before. This week in Alternate Takes, we look at horror remakes and understand that the word "remake" is not always a bad thing.

5. Frankenstein (1931) Directed by James Whale Written by John L. Balderston, Francis Edward Fargoh and Garrett Fort based on the novel by Mary Shelley and play by Peggy Webling Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles I am listing Frankenstein to make an example out of the hot topic of remakes. A lot of people hate remakes. If you read my 3R's column, you know I am one of those detractors. However, I do not hate all remakes. In this column, I list some remakes that I absolutely love. But the one comment that I hear that really gets on my nerves are when people say "when did Hollywood run out of ideas?" Take a look at the five remakes on this list. Only one is made this decade. Two are from the eighties, one from the seventies and Frankenstein was remade in 1931. It seems a little ridiculous to think of a movie being remade only two years after the advent of talkies, but it is true. Dracula was not the first attempt to bring Bram Stoker's tale to the big screen as it was beaten by Nosferatu. The Wolf Man came out six years after Werewolf of London, the first actual werewolf movie. Wolf Man was not really a remake, only reusing the same monster. Dracula and Nosferatu were based on the same novel, which tells me if you consider the Coen brother's upcoming True Grit to be a remake, you have to consider Dracula a remake since True Grit is based on a source novel as well. But Frankenstein is a remake of a movie bearing the same name and released 21-years earlier. Frankenstein (1910) was made by Edison Studios and is a close adaptation of the original source novel with Augustus Phillips as the doctor and Charles Ogle as The Monster. It was considered a Lost Film for quite some time but was found and preserved in the seventies. I have seen the movie and it is ... unusual. When James Whale was brought in to reintroduce the creature for Universal Studios, he drastically altered the film, moving it away from both the original and the source novel, instead basing it more on the Peggy Webling play instead. The Monster in the novel becomes an intelligent creature, who can read and speak over time. The Monster also makes a conscious decision to become savage due to his treatment. Whale eliminated most of this, making The Monster more sympathetic and misunderstood, as much a victim as an evil creature. In much the same way as the play it was based, The Monster is made the star instead of Dr. Frankenstein and ends with Victor looking like a fool for messing with nature, instead of Victor understanding the evil possibilities of science. It is one of the most beloved classic horror films and influenced horror filmmakers for decades to come. Not bad for a remake.

4. Dawn of the Dead (2004) Directed by Zack Snyder Written by James Gunn based on the original film by George A. Romero Cast: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Webber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers In last week's column I listed George Romero's Dawn of the Dead as one of the best horror sequels ever made. This week, I present you with the remake of that classic movie as one of the best horror remakes ever made. Director Zack Snyder has proven to be a true student, remaking a horror classic while remaining true and following it up with two great graphic novel adaptations, 300 and the awesome Watchmen. The guy has a great respect for what came before and recreates the experience with great love and detail. Snyder, and screenwriter James Gunn (Slither), made some changes to the story and present us with a film that pays proper respect to the Romero classic but is a great, original movie in its own right. For one thing, the zombies are fast moving and run. A lot of people cannot get past this fact. It is true that slow zombies are scary as represent the fact you can run away from death but can't run forever and eventually they get you. To me, fast zombies are just as scary because you can run, but they can catch you even before you are ready to give up. The movie has so many jaw dropping moments, I can't even name them all. The beginning of the film is frightening when a young zombie girl attacks her parents. I can't tell you how freaky it is to have zombie kids trying to kill their moms and dads and this one succeeds in killing her father. Unlike regular zombies, these don't reanimate over time. The dad immediately comes back and starts after the mother, who eventually escapes in her car as mayhem erupts around her. With this scene, we know what to expect. Well, we kind of know what to expect. Nothing prepared me for when it was established an unborn baby can be born as a zombie in one of the most disturbing scenes I have ever witnessed. The movie retains the shopping mall and the underlying theme of consumerism in a decaying world remains. Snyder brings in a number of familiar faces for cameos including Ken Foree and Scott Reiniger (Night of the Living Dead) as well as special effects maestro Tom Savini, who created the gore for the original Dawn of the Dead and directed the colorized remake of Night of the Living Dead in 1990. It is a brutal horror movie that remains one of the better efforts this decade.

3. The Fly (1986) Directed by David Cronenberg Written by David Cronenberg and Charles Edward Pogue based on the shory story by George Langelaan Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz The original The Fly was released in 1958 and stars the legendary Vincent Price as a man whose sister-in-law admits to murdering his brother and then telling the story of how the brother became half man and half fly thanks to a teleporting accident. It spawned two sequels, Return of the Fly centering on the original victim's son and Curse of the Fly has a completely different cast, although they share the same family name as the others. David Cronenberg came aboard the remake after development had begun and rewrote the script himself, creating a film with the central plotline of genetic mutation and, instead of instant transformation into a monster, it became a gradual metamorphosis. He brought Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz as the leads and hired Chris Walas (Gremlins) to handle the special effects. What results is a disgusting display of horrid effects that earned an Academy Award. The Brundlefly creature is amazing, a horrible mishmash of Jeff Goldblum and a mutated fly-like creature. The skin falls off, the claws form, the body mutates and deforms, he loses his teeth and his jaw falls off. It is some of the best practical special effects I have ever seen. How great is The Fly? It is a gross out horror movie, but Gene Siskel still named it in his Top 10 movies of 1986. It won the Academy Award for makeup effects. In 2005, Time magazine listed it in their All-Time 100 Greatest Movies list. Bravo listed it in their 100 Scariest Movie Moments. And to top it off, the final transformation into the Brundlefly still grosses me out. The original is a B-movie classic. The remake is a cinematic masterpiece. You should expect no less from David Cronenberg.

2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Directed by Philip Kaufman Written by W.D. Richter based on the novel by Jack Finney Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a good sci-fi movie that appears to be a reference to the communist threat and is said to be an allegory of Cold War paranoia. At the time it was released (1956), Joseph McCarthy had America scared to death that anyone, anywhere could be a communist. Both the lead actor and novel's author claimed it was not meant to be political at all but the comparisons run deep. In 1978, the atmosphere was only slightly better. Gone was the McCarthy witch hunts but fear of the Cold War still plagued the nation. However, the ideas in this film are very different, but just as scary. The remake holds a sense of contempt for conforming to what society deems appropriate. It also shows the evil is living life with no emotion - no love, no hate, no envy. Just be like everyone else and don't live with any worries or regrets. What makes this version, in my opinion, superior to the original is the cast. Kevin McCarthy is awesome in the 1956 version and makes an awesome cameo in this film. However, the cast here is at the top of their game. Donald Sutherland is great in the role as the film's protagonist. Brooke Adams is solid as the polar opposite of Sutherland's cool and collected hero. Jeff Goldblum is Jeff Goldblum, which is to say he is awesome. Leonard Nimoy tries to break out of his Spock persona as a self help guru and doctor who refuses to believe there is a threat anywhere but in the individual's mind. The original movie had its original ending scrapped. It was set to end with Kevin McCarthy's character screaming for help but finding none. Studios demanded it be changed to a more hopeful ending, which hurt the movie a slight bit. This remake does not make the same mistake and, for those who have seen it, the screech at the end seals the deal. There have been four versions of this film (1956, 1978, 1993, 2007) but this one stands at the front of the list. The original is a classic. This remake is a masterpiece.

1. The Thing (1982) Directed by John Carpenter Written by Bill Lancaster based on the novel by John W. Campbell Jr. Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David When people bitch about remakes and claim there has never been a good one I only need to mention John Carpenter's The Thing. The Thing is not only the best horror remake ever made, it is one of the greatest horror movies of all time, period. The original film, The Thing from Another World is a 1951 science fiction film that tells a similar story of a group of people who must fight off a alien at a remote Arctic outpost. In this original film, the source novel is only used as reference as the alien is a humanoid being (James Arness), a being closer to vegetation than human. It feeds on blood to survive and kills to extract the blood from the individuals. The movie is an allusion to the fears of America at the time, both to the Communist threat and to the post-Hiroshima ideals towards science. John Carpenter has a deep love for the original, actually including scenes from the movie on the televisions in Halloween. He includes the burning letters in the opening scene as homage to the first movie and has his characters speak of an earlier team that used thermite charges to clear ice around the UFO, a direct reference to the first movie. However, Carpenter went back to the original novel and made his movie more of an adaptation rather than a remake of the 1951 film. Many consider John Carpenter's greatest film to be Halloween. I have always been more partial to The Thing. The change from the original movie to this version places the alien back into a being that can possess the body of anyone it touches. The idea of the Communist scare from Invasion of the Body Snatchers is on display here in full effect. Anyone, anywhere can be the man possessed. You can't trust anyone and that makes this movie more disturbing and suspenseful than the original ever could be. It is also Carpenter's foray into studio filmmaking and the extra money shows. The gore and effects are awesome when you see the creature. Kurt Russell was Carpenter's muse at the time. Between this, Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China, the two built a body of work to rival anyone. There have many remakes of horror movies over the years. Some have been horrible (The Fog), some decent (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and others really fun (The Blob). But along the way there have been some great horror movies to come from the rehash pile. Of those movies, The Thing is the greatest of them all.

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