10 Movie Pairs You Definitely Don't Want To Mix Up

By Simon Gallagher /

For all the money ploughed into Hollywood marketing, and the idea of selling movies from the minute they are announced, there are a surprising number of movies that fail at the first hurdle with either an awful title (or a ludicrously long one) or one that has already been used. Now, the familiarity isn't always a bad thing, especially if the newer movie can trade off the back of positive marketing for the original, but unfortunately, there are also a worrying number of films that share names that are rather uncomfortable relations. Whether the two films are hugely different in terms of quality, or their subject matter is jarringly different, the association between the pairs of films in this list is confusing and in some cases damaging, and crucially, choosing the wrong film would lead to some shattered expectations, and potentially haunted dreams. Occasionally, two films can co-exist with the same name €“ Ewan McGregor's skin-crawling horror is just as good as vampire flick The Nightwatch €“ and there's one pair of films with the same title that deserve special mention...

Honourable Mention

The Illusionist

Somewhat uncharacteristically of this odd little trend, both Neil Burger's mind-bending magical drama and the excellent Scottish-obsessed animation are great films in their own right, and both deserve watching. The latter wins the head-to-head, thanks to director Sylvain Chomet's wonderful vision, and the enchanting story of father/daughter love written by French comic legend Jacques Tati in the 1950s. It's also the perfect antidote to anyone who's ever watched an Irvine Welsh film, given how beautiful it makes Scotland €“ and specifically Edinburgh €“ look.