What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

RedRiver
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by RedRiver »

I wish I had been aware of the bubble gum cards that inspired the movie. Do I have that right? Maybe I was too young.
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ChiO
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Just knew "Night Call" was somewhere out there...in the dark...alone.

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MichiganJ
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by MichiganJ »

Western Guy wrote:RedRiver, you ask the eternal puzzling question. Not just with Burton's unnecessary redo of "Planet of the Apes" but the tampering of all classic cinema:

Why?

Why do I suddenly hear the ka-ching of the cash register?
Hollywood has always done remakes. Fleming's Dr. Jekyll came out only ten years after Mamoulian's. And Mamoulian's came out eleven years after Barrymore's, which itself was a remake of a remake. Only nine years separate the Waterloo Bridges. There are plenty remakes of Kurosowa films. Ozu remade his own film, as did Browning, Gance, Ford, McCarey, etc. Heck, DeMille made The Squaw Man three times in thirteen years! The three Falcon's took only ten.

While Burton's Planet of the Apes is not nearly as good as the original, it also has very little in common with the '68 film. Thirty-three years seems a decent time between remakes, especially when the two films only share the basic premise, but have entirely different plots. They are less simian than the above mentioned Falcons, which all tell the same story. (One wonders if back in the day, if people cried fowl over all those remakes.)

I wonder if Burton's Apes would have been more successful if he'd done a more traditional remake, telling the same story. That worked with his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which follows Willie Wonka relatively closely, but is still Burton and is really, really sweet.
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ChiO
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by ChiO »

Hollywood has always done remakes.
I'm with you, MichJ. The issue should not be "re-makes". All forms of art and entertainment have re-makes. The issue for me is whether the later version does something differently than an earlier version -- be it plot, style of dialogue, cinematography, etc. -- and does it well. It does not necessarily have to be better to be worthwhile.

And I heard that Frankenstein's Monster and that Dracula guy were in more than one movie.
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Western Guy »

When a remake (or updating ) is done well, a la Scarface, I'm all for it. And you're right, MichiganJ, there certainly have been some very good redos: The Maltese Falcon, for instance. I suppose one of my main arguments is that in today's cinema originality has been replaced by the "If it was successful once, let's try it again" mentality, which so often leads to failure and may even turn off a contemporary audience from viewing the source material. The updates of "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" were not particularly successful (or good) and just this week I watched an absolutely terribly updated version of "Jekyll & Hyde". Won't even acknowledge Brando's vomitable "Island of Dr. Moreau". I honestly think that if these were my initial exposure to the classic stories, I'd have serious reservations about checking out the Lugosi, Karloff, Fredric March and Charles Laughton versions. And what a loss that would be.
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by moira finnie »

Western Guy wrote: Won't even acknowledge Brando's vomitable "Island of Dr. Moreau".
Hey, no offense, but I think you just did acknowledge it, which brings me to the question, did you see the Burt Lancaster version, made in 1977 when an aging Burt looked tame but still had a streak of danger lurking within? The co-stars were quite good (Michael York, Nigel Davenport, and Barbara Carrera) and it was directed by one of MGM's "nice boys," Don Taylor. It was actually quite close in tone to the H.G. Wells' original about the ongoing ethical and practical issues raised by science's advances.
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Western Guy »

Okay Moira, you caught me. I did acknowledge it. But a pasty-faced Brando with an ice bucket upon his head ---

The Lancaster version was IMO slightly better. The best thing about that film in my estimation was the inspired casting of Richard Basehart as Sayer of the Law. Personally I thought Burt (as much as I like him) was woefully miscast as Moreau. Maybe the story stuck closer to Wells but I found the execution pretty uninspired. Dreary and dull, in fact. Actually I much prefer Don Taylor's direction in the first "Omen" sequel (admittedly a guilty pleasure).

Of course we each have our preferences. To me, there was nothing in either of the "Island" remakes to equal the horrific crescendo of the '32 version. That climax and what it suggests (as the manimals rifle through the cabinets to grasp Moreau's "tools") still defines true horror.
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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MichiganJ and Western Guy:

Remakes or whatever you want to call them is still the re-telling of a certain story. However, as in the case of Yours, Mine and Ours a lot of things were changed to bring the film up to the 21 century. As in A Letter to Three Wives, there was no way for the ladies to call home and find out which husband had skipped because no phones are out in the middle of the lake they had the kids picnic on. . . so it was easier to keep up the mystique until dinner at the 'club'. I bring these non-horror movies up because they illustrate my point better than some of the sci-fi film remakes. I happened to catch the newer version of Mighty Joe Young last weekend and boy, was that story was messed up. The way they handled Joe's rampage left no time for sympathy for the gorilla. At this point, I wouldn't mind seeing someone like Spielberg re-making Frankenstein because he would keep some semblance of the monster's innate sweetness with the little girl, or whoever he chose, as well as keeping old Frank simple minded to gain the audience sympathy, again to leave some feeling for the movie in general. But if anyone else should try to do it, they would probably just make Frank a wild man who just causes death and destruction wherever he goes with no thought to back story on the character. There is a movie named People will Talk, with a character who you, as the audience wonders what in heck this guy is, to this kind and thoughtful doctor. This character is a huge man who seems dangerous, and the doctor's future depends on a sort of trial based on charges from a little creep (Hume Cronyn), claiming the doctor is not a licensed physician, and this large man seems to have a lot to do with him. In fact, Findlay Currie has one of my favorite lines from a movie. At the end of the 'trial' he turns to Cronyn and says; "Dr. Elwell you're a little man, oh I don't mean just short, but so little that tonight you tried to hurt a man whose shoes you couldn't touch from the highest mountain in the world". My point for all this fol-de-ral is that many movie makers no longer give explanatory scenes for why things happen, or why people do what they do. They seem to give as little info as possible so there is more time for the 'death and destruction' to begin.

I would love to rip these different movies (old and new) apart but we just don't have enough sci-fi fans, and as I said, I don't especially care for horror, but I love a good sci-fi - And if they ever try to remake my The Uninvited or Them, they'll have a fight on their hands.

.
Anne


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Western Guy
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Western Guy »

Owwwww! Careful Anne, that last sentence may give Hollywood ideas.

I just feel that there is a decided lack of originality in Hollywood; hence, studios and producers taking the easy way out by rehashing old material or inundating us with the tried and true. Remakes, sequels, teen sex "comedies" and superhero movies ad nauseum. Okay, I'm an anachronism and proud to admit it. I just like good old-fashioned storytelling, whatever the genre. Something fresh that displays creative ability. The same goes for television. What happened to the entertainment we enjoyed maybe a decade ago? I watch very few commercial programs (and man "commercial" is the word - I swear I've never seen so many ads as are shown nowadays)and basically keep my dial tuned to TCM. Without that station I seriously doubt I'd even watch television outside of playing DVDs.
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by MichiganJ »

I would love to see a remake of Them. Done right, like, say, the remakes of Ocean's Eleven, The Italian Game and True Grit, to name a few, a remake of Them could be great. And if it's horrible, so what? It's gone as quickly as 08's The Women, and the classic film is still intact.

Since Hollywood is producing fewer and fewer films, and we are all in the blockbuster mentality (Why should I care about weekend box office grosses?), it's understandable why Hollywood would do sequels and remakes that have a ready fan base and name recognition. But again, Hollywood always did this: The Thin Man; Andy Hardy; Tarzan; Ma and Pa Kettle, and, as ChiO pointed out, the horror giants like Frankenstein and Dracula. And while Hollywood now pilfers from comic books and TV shows, classic Hollywood borrowed from the funny pages and radio programs.

I just don't see the problem with remakes. At best, they are good films in and of themselves, and at worst, they wind up as DVDs languishing in the remaindered bin at Big Lots. Instead of asking why Hollywood would do a remake, I'd ask why not?

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Rita Hayworth
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

MichiganJ wrote:I would love to see a remake of Them. Done right, like, say, the remakes of Ocean's Eleven, The Italian Game and True Grit, to name a few, a remake of Them could be great. And if it's horrible, so what? It's gone as quickly as 08's The Women, and the classic film is still intact.
I would love to see a remake of Them too!
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by ChiO »

I just don't see the problem with remakes. At best, they are good films in and of themselves, and at worst, they wind up as DVDs languishing in the remaindered bin at Big Lots. Instead of asking why Hollywood would do a remake, I'd ask why not?
MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (Stahl 1935) begat MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (Sirk 1954), the popularity of which begat ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (Sirk 1955), which begat ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (Fassbinder 1974), which begat FAR FROM HEAVEN (Haynes 2002). Remakes can work -- sometimes they fail miserably; sometimes they are not quite as good, but are worthy and can stand on their own; and, sometimes they surpass the original. One never knows unless the remake is made.
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Maybe I'm being a little too hard on the subject of remakes. After all, if not for the redo we would not have the classic "The Maltese Falcon". I suppose my main gripe is that if Hollywood decides to remake a classic from years gone by, chances are they'll formulate it to satisfy contemporary audiences, and that troubles me. Not so much with horror/sci-fi (Carpenter's "The Thing" was kinda nifty, except for the ending. I visualize the following production dialogue: "We have to end this thing." "Okay, let's toss some dynamite at it." "Cool!").

But yes: "Imitatioon of Life" was remade and IMO the Lana Turner/John Gavin version is superior to the Irene Dunne film. I rather like the updated Lee Marvin version of "The Killers" (not a classic but en jo

Stepping backwards, do we dare discuss the "Psycho" remake? Moving forward a few years: The redo of "Night of the Living Dead"?!

Good point, ChiO: One never really knows until the project is done.

BTW: Anyone remember the remake of "The African Queen"? (though no one could be better to reprise the Bogart role than Mr. Oates). The "Casablanca" TV series with Charles McGraw?
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Western Guy wrote:Stepping backwards, do we dare discuss the "Psycho" remake?
I see Van Sant's remake of Psycho as an experiment. It was a deliberate attempt to re-shoot the film exactly as Hitchcock had done, same camera setups, dialogue, etc. As a film, it doesn't work all that well for me. But as an experiment, it's very interesting. Vaughn, Heche et al are in the same situations, on similar sets and say the same lines as Perkins and Leigh etc, but they are entirely different characters. More interesting is, despite the same script, setups and everything, Hitchcock is nowhere to be found. ("Auteur! Auteur!"). Also interesting to me is that you don't see Van Sant there either; except, of course, in the fact that he made the attempt. (I wonder if he'd have been more successful if he had chosen a lesser known film to re-create.)
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Well, experiment or not, I despised it. Felt cheated by it. Hell, any of the "Psycho" sequels were better than that mess.

Vince Vaughn . . . nada.
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