by Adam Spence
It has become very common place in modern cinema to see an extreme lack of creativity in movies. Most of what makes it to theaters are sequels, reboots, or remakes. Sequels have always been around, atleast for a long time. Remakes, however, have become quite rampant in the past 10-15 years. Remakes can take something as simple as a title of a past film and change everything about it, or can go about a scene for scene copy fest. Regardless of how its gone about, it shows one thing: a lack of creativity (and a huge desire for cash.) Remakes occur in all genres, but have been most rampant in the horror genre. The horror genre happens to be my favorite, which is why I am so passionate about this topic. I feel that alot of effort has to be put forth to evoke the fear emotion, just like it has to be for happiness in comedies and the rush of different ones in dramas. Some horror remakes have actually improved on the original, The Last House on the Left comes to mind for me. The original did have a cult following, but was never a mainstream hit. It was not made to make money on name recognition, but to improve on the original. Most have gone way wrong, however, and for one great example i will discuss The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre originally came out in 1974 and was and still is one of the best examples of how a horror movie can go right. No name actors who looked like average people contributed to the realism, the gritty style made for visions of horror even before any actual scary "scenes" were shown, and some violence but not too much being shown added to suspense. The film had a very low budget, and was of course made to make money, but also to truly make a genuine movie. It is a horror staple, and a truly great example of how one can go right. This said, would of course lead to many sequels to capitalize on the popularity it got and also inspire many other filmakers to create other horror classics. In 2003, a certain line was crossed. A remake was released. It was not a sequel building off the original idea, but an attempt to recreate the original. If you have watched the first one, you can see that it was like catching lightning in a bottle, it could not happen again. Not only were the tone and visuals backed by being a product of its time which showcased gritty filmstyles and atmosphere, people simply did not know what to expect. The 2003 remake was a half hearted effort to capitalize on the name value of the franchise (and Jessica Biel). It showed far too much over the top violence simply for shock value, which doesnt always help horror films. Seeing Jessica Biel suspended the belief that what you were watching might actually be real, which was one of the biggest positives that the original produced. Simply put, there are just too many flaws to name. It was made to bring in money off the name, and while it did that, embarassed the efforts of the original.
So how about instead of trying to redo something that was already perfect, directors try and make something that others will later on strive to remake. I know for a fact that I will be more likely to watch films and especially horror films that show originality instead of stealing 8 bucks just to see the name of the older movie back on screen.
It has become very common place in modern cinema to see an extreme lack of creativity in movies. Most of what makes it to theaters are sequels, reboots, or remakes. Sequels have always been around, atleast for a long time. Remakes, however, have become quite rampant in the past 10-15 years. Remakes can take something as simple as a title of a past film and change everything about it, or can go about a scene for scene copy fest. Regardless of how its gone about, it shows one thing: a lack of creativity (and a huge desire for cash.) Remakes occur in all genres, but have been most rampant in the horror genre. The horror genre happens to be my favorite, which is why I am so passionate about this topic. I feel that alot of effort has to be put forth to evoke the fear emotion, just like it has to be for happiness in comedies and the rush of different ones in dramas. Some horror remakes have actually improved on the original, The Last House on the Left comes to mind for me. The original did have a cult following, but was never a mainstream hit. It was not made to make money on name recognition, but to improve on the original. Most have gone way wrong, however, and for one great example i will discuss The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre originally came out in 1974 and was and still is one of the best examples of how a horror movie can go right. No name actors who looked like average people contributed to the realism, the gritty style made for visions of horror even before any actual scary "scenes" were shown, and some violence but not too much being shown added to suspense. The film had a very low budget, and was of course made to make money, but also to truly make a genuine movie. It is a horror staple, and a truly great example of how one can go right. This said, would of course lead to many sequels to capitalize on the popularity it got and also inspire many other filmakers to create other horror classics. In 2003, a certain line was crossed. A remake was released. It was not a sequel building off the original idea, but an attempt to recreate the original. If you have watched the first one, you can see that it was like catching lightning in a bottle, it could not happen again. Not only were the tone and visuals backed by being a product of its time which showcased gritty filmstyles and atmosphere, people simply did not know what to expect. The 2003 remake was a half hearted effort to capitalize on the name value of the franchise (and Jessica Biel). It showed far too much over the top violence simply for shock value, which doesnt always help horror films. Seeing Jessica Biel suspended the belief that what you were watching might actually be real, which was one of the biggest positives that the original produced. Simply put, there are just too many flaws to name. It was made to bring in money off the name, and while it did that, embarassed the efforts of the original.
So how about instead of trying to redo something that was already perfect, directors try and make something that others will later on strive to remake. I know for a fact that I will be more likely to watch films and especially horror films that show originality instead of stealing 8 bucks just to see the name of the older movie back on screen.