Everybody hates a remake.
That’s pretty unfortunate rule. I find some of them fascinating.
Why were they made (besides the cash grab)? What possessed the filmmakers to remake a classic that no one should have touched?
When will Casablanca get a remake that isn’t Barb Wire?
To me, remakes are fairly benign.
If they’re bad, they’ll be forgotten and no one will be the wiser. If they’re good, they add something to the original. Either way, they make people interested in the original. The worst thing that can happen is if the remake is middle of the road. Then nobody wins. (Sadly, that seems to be the trend.)
But think of it this way: People “remake” Shakespeare plays all the time.
Why can’t they remake A Nightmare On Elm Street? Sure, Robert Englund’s portrayal of Freddie Krueger is iconic. But would it be if the story had only been told in play form? Then no one would really care if Jackie Earle Haley had taken over the role. No one would care if Johnny Depp was playing Charles Foster Kane. No one would care if Pamela Anderson was playing Rick Blaine.
There are some remakes that are interesting not necessarily because of their execution, but because of the stories behind them.
Of course, it always makes it better when they’re both.
PSYCHO (1998)
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Written by Joseph Stefano
Based on a book by Robert Bloch and a film by Alfred Hitchcock
Gus Van Sant’s remake of Hitchcock’s slasher masterpiece Psycho is pretty legitimately maligned. It’s just not a very good movie. The shots are all there, but the casting is all wrong. The delivery is mechanical. Anne Heche is no Janet Leigh and Vince Vaughan is certainly no Anthony Perkins. He’s far too big to be as frighteningly creepy as Perkins. You’re a little scared of him in the very beginning because he’s so much bigger than Anne.
But look deeper than all of that. This is a shot for shot remake of a film made by one of THE masters of cinema. Many people said that it was superfluous, and I get that. It totally is. But I understand the need to do it. What better way to get into the head of a master than to remake something of his down to the nth degree? Gus Van Sant is probably closer to Hitch now after doing that than any other filmmaker since Brian De Palma.
Of course, that doesn’t make the movie any more fun to watch. What it does, though, is give it a reason to exist. I’m surprised that no one did this before, actually. I bet they did, but they had the good sense to film it and put it on a shelf where no one would ever see it.
Then again, Van Sant says that the film was made sort of as a joke. He had been joking with studio execs about it for eight years. Then he suddenly had a hit on his hands (Good Will Hunting) and they took him seriously. “Oh shit” was his thought when that happened. I think it was also the thought of many filmgoers at the time.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION
Directed by Eric Zala
Written by Lawrence Kasdan/George Lucas/Philip Kaufman
Based on a film by Steven Spielberg
This, on the other hand, is an absolutely fun experience. In the early 80s, Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos were best friends. They saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark in the theatre dozens of times…maybe hundreds. Then they got the idea: Let’s remake this!
So they did. Summer after summer after summer after summer. It took them eight years, about six to eight inches of growth and two Marions to get it in the can…mostly. (The guys recently got the band back together to film the final scene that they couldn’t do back in the day.)
The amazing thing about this movie isn’t just the heart and soul behind it (and the technical prowess of a bunch of kids in Mississippi). What’s amazing is that it’s been seen at all! If it hadn’t been for Harry Knowles, Eli Roth and Tim League, it may never have gotten a real screening.
I’m not sure how you can do it, but you need to see this film. The best way is in an Alamo Drafthouse-like environment with like-minded people. It is everything that is the love of filmmaking. Eric and Chris are amazing and this movie deserves to be seen. They also deserve a career in film, which has sadly eluded them for decades. They’ve tried (separately), but never quite made it. Maybe soon.
So, what are you waiting for? Go out and find this movie!
