THE DEFINITIVE ARTICLE: Movie Remakes

12 remakes that don't suck, remakes that do, t.v. remakes made good & more!!!

By Michael Kaminski /

Yeah, there€™s been a lot written about how everything in Hollywood these days are re-makes and sequels. Nothing€™s original anymore, people say. And they€™re right. However, the bastardization of previous hits is nothing new to the industry€”case in point, it€™s often said that Ben Hur is an example of a good remake, but the movie Ben Hur was remaking was ironically itself a remake of an even earlier one. Even when Brendan Fraser made it big with the charming Mummy do-over in 1999, that had already been remade at least once before and had almost a half-dozen sequels to the original film before 1950. Hollywood churns out so many films each year that, simply based on the staggering amount of output, there€™s an abundance of great examples of remakes done right. It just takes a 10:1 ratio to get these occasional gems.

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Twelve Remakes That Don€™t Suck

The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg€™s masterpiece is still upheld as one of the best examples of a remake done right, and for good reason. Taking the basic premise from the original 1958 film, Cronenberg turned this into something totally different, giving it a highly personal twist and taking it to gruesome, operatic territory that Vincent Price€™s wildest nightmares could never have even begun to imagine.

Ben Hur (1959)

Remaking the 1925 feature (which had already been done as a short in 1907), Charlton Heston gave a rousing, charismatic performance that cemented him as a square-jawed larger than life hero. The fact that this was the most expensive and spectacular motion picture ever made at that point certainly didn€™t hurt as well.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Sergio Leone announced himself to the world when he completely re-invented the western genre with this violent and gritty interpretation of the harsh frontier land. He also completely ripped off Akira Kurosawa. In 1961, Kurosawa made Yojimbo, a now-classic film about a wandering, cynical samurai who drifts into a desolate town where competing gangs are warring and slowly manipulates them into hiring him to kill them all. Sergio Leone neglected to ask Kurosawa for permission€”which eventually led to him being sued.

Scarface (1983)

To be honest, this was never a favorite of mine, yet one cannot marvel at how director Brian DePalma floats his camera through the compelling tale of a Cuban immigrant€™s rise to riches amidst the cocaine trade of the 1980€™s. The film falls apart in its second half, but it€™s a remarkable modern interpretation of Howard Hawkes€™ prohibition-era original from 1933.

The Thing (1982)

Back when John Carpenter still made good movies, he realized that 1954€™s Cold War allegory The Thing From Another World would transpose well to a modern retelling. He was right. In the hands of another director it would have devolved into lots of monsters and special effects€”and the film does indeed have them in spades€”but what makes Carpenter€™s remake one of the best horror films of all time is his subtle hand and the way he slowly winds tension tighter and tighter. Like Alien a few years before, it€™s what you don€™t see that€™s much more frightening, and the terrific characters that are front and center are the key to reeling the audience in.

Solaris (2002)

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A lot of people don€™t like this film; they probably wouldn€™t like the original either. But a lot of Tarkovsky fans hate this too. Yes, it€™s sort of like remaking 2001 in that you could never match the original. But in my view, this is not an attempt to match or surpass the original, but merely to tell it in a different way. It is absolutely visually striking, and the hypnotic rhythm, fascinating ideas, and provoking characters are transferred over faithfully from Tarkovsky€™s 1972 original. At a lean 90 minutes, it may seem a bit quick-paced when considering the excruciating slowness the original proceeded with€”and indeed, the film moves rather swiftly. But it€™s purely due to the economics of storytelling, not due to editorial cutting or action cues. In my opinion, Steven Soderbergh captures the dreamy surrealism and frightening fantasy at the heart of the original tale in a much more memorable way. It€™s a shame this beautiful and provocative film gets so much flak.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

When it was announced that a music video director was remaking George Romero€™s 1978 landmark, fans went ballistic. I was one of them. Especially after the rash of unnecessary and bad horror remakes that were being churned out at the time, this seemed to be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. But to director Zack Synder€™s credit, pretty much everyone ate their words. No, its not quite as good as the original, but this still is an exciting, action-packed re-interpretation of the film that is actually at its best when it deviates the furthest from its source.

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Cecil B DeMille€™s silent version was a great spectacle when it came out in 1923, filled with hundreds of extras, enormous sets and the hefty gauntlet of the Bible€™s most extraordinary chapter. When DeMille set out to remake it in 1956, all eyes were on him to see if the aging master could live up to the epics of his golden era€”and with a budget of $13 million and the momentous presence of Charlton Heston, he did just that. This may be Heston€™s best and most memorable film, as he steals the thunder from the sets, the effects, and yes, even God himself. Grounded at the heart of this classic is a larger-than-life hero that only has one actor in history fit for the part.

The Ring (2002)

In what is probably the only example where an American remake was scarier than the Japanese original (Ringu), this was a creepy, enticing film of suspense that kept audiences hanging on till the startling end. A great way of building mythology around modern technology (though by now, with its VHS tapes, it€™s already dated), this was a clever and well-plotted little mystery.

War of the Worlds (2005)

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Technically, this is an adaptation of a novel, not a remake of a movie. However, Spielberg takes his plot mainly from the 1953 film version, which set the invasion in California. Here, Spielberg gives an apocalyptic take on the story, using it as a smart and provocative political allegory. The film is thematically dark, visually impressive, and edge-of-your-seat thrilling€”I know the film has its critics, but I personally do not get it; I think this is one of Spielberg€™s best.

The Departed (2006)

Martin Scorsese probably wasn€™t the first name people would have associated with a remake of the Hong Kong potboiler Infernal Affairs, but he gives the story of an undercover mob mole a great personal touch and a surprising energy that handed himself a well-deserved first Oscar and the rest of the world a first-rate crime drama.

Fist of Legend (1994)

Jet Li made a bold and potentially lethal statement about himself when he decided to remake Bruce Lee€™s 1972 Fist of Fury (aka Chinese Connection). While everyone wants to make the claim of being €œthe next Bruce Lee,€ Jet Li managed to succeed in making an entertaining, action-packed update of Lee€™s original. Showcasing Jet Li at his best, the film probably is better than the crude original, no offense to Lee fans. When TV Repeats Itself Right Sometimes, repeating a previously-successful TV series can be a good thing. The big-screen leaps of The Fugitive (1993) and Mission Impossible (1996) were tense, thrilling films, superbly made. British mini-series Traffik became a minor hit with Steven Soderbergh at the helm a decade later in 2000, and the UK€™s The Office thankfully translated well (some argue even better) when it jumped ashore to the USA shortly after its 2001 debut. On the small screen, overshadowed by the X-Files, the updated Outer Limits series of the mid-90€™s was a worthy successor to the 1960€™s original that was frequently a much better show, and easily gave its bigger-budget paranormal competitor a run for its money. Of course, the biggest success story of all time is Battlestar Galactica.

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Who would have thought that a tacky and horribly scripted, though perhaps charming (to its fans), 1970€™s Star Wars rip-off (Lucas sued them) could three decades later turn into what is, in my opinion, the best television series ever made? Certainly not me, that€™s for sure. This is easily one of the great science fiction works of all time, in any medium, and it still astounds me to consider how awful its roots are. Remakes That Should Have Been Good, but Sucked

King Kong (2005)

What happened here? Success went to Peter Jackson€™s head. One could see this in Return of the King and its never-ending endings and constant slow-motion shots of people crying. But that was practically restraint compared to the indulgence of King Kong. Jackson seemed perfectly suited to the material, especially as an enthusiast of Merian C. Cooper€™s still-breathtaking 1933 original. But when a fanboy gets an unlimited budget, an armful of Oscars and the reassurance that whatever he does will be brilliant, the result is this: a film that€™s an exciting and visually stunning update on the original that smartly carves out the €œBeauty and the Beast€ themes at the heart of the tale, but that gets overwhelmed by its own enthusiasm. There€™s a good movie in there somewhere, probably when the film gets down to a running time of about 2 hours. Unfortunately, Jackson€™s second crack at it on home video was an extended version. Planet of the Apes (2001)

Tim Burton seemed like a good candidate for a remake of the classic original, with his unique sensibilities sure to bring a dark and original spin on the quirky 1968 film. But not only did he produce a dull, plodding film without any ounce of heart (not to mention a totally idiotic ending), he also coined the marketing buzzword €œre-imagining€ to describe this mess, even though the only strict €œremake€ in history was Gus Van Sant€™s 1998 experiment.

Island of Doctor Moreau (1996)

John Frankenheimer€™s remake of countless other tellings of H.G Wells€™ story should have been chilling: a man stranded on an island where a mad doctor has been conducting grotesque experiments mixing humans and animals. Add in Ron Perlman, Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando as the sinister doctor, and it sounded like an intriguing project. Instead we get this hammy, hokey mess that remains an embarrassment to all involved. Remakes That Should Never Have Been Considered in the First Place

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

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Hey, let€™s get a music video director to do a glossy, super-gory version of the original with Jessica Biel in the lead. Yeah, we don€™t care that the original can€™t really be improved upon in the fist place. And we also don€™t care to create suspense and build tension like the original did. While we€™re at it, we€™ll forget that the original was good because of the rough, documentary quality and bloodless suspense and just go in the total opposite direction like every other teen horror movie in history.

Halloween (2007)

See above.

Psycho (1998)

Gus Van Sant€™s experiment is certainly a strange one: a literal remake of Psycho, re-creating every single angle, detail and shot from Hitchcock€™s 1960 original. It€™s certainly a first. Apparently, though, Van Sant forgot to ask himself the obvious question: what€™s the point?

Mr. Deeds (2002)

I€™m sure most fans of this movie have no idea that it€™s a remake of the Frank Capra-directed and Jimmy Stewart-starring 1936 classic Mr Deeds Goes to Town, a typical Capra feel-good fable that won the Oscar for Best Director. No doubt both of the aforementioned men rolled over in their graves when Adam Sandler turned it into€well, an Adam Sandler comedy. And a bad Adam Sandler comedy, at that.

House of Wax (2005)

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Paris Hilton. Need I say more? Remakes That Suck as Much as the Originals

The Nutty Professor (1996)

Okay, this film and the original have their fans. I suppose neither of them are awful, but to me if you can€™t come up with an original idea then at least steal from the good comedies.

Flubber (1997)

Forgetful Robin Williams remake of a dumb Disney movie from the 1960€™s about a bouncy blob of green goo. Yeah, it€™s as funny as it sounds.

Poseidon (2007)

Okay, I have a soft spot for action spectacle. But this isn€™t guilty-pleasure action spectacle, it€™s €œhow much of my life have I just wasted€ action spectacle. The 1972 original sucked too, though, and shows that the hollow special effects blockbuster predates Star Wars, despite what journalists today believe.

The Eye (2008)

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Yeah, this American remake of the Japanese original stars Jessica Alba and totally blows. But you know what? The original absolutely sucked too, a cookie-cutter Japanese supernatural thriller in the vein of Ju-on and Ringu but without any of the scares or originality of those films. Good Remakes That Aren€™t Quite Remakes But Sort of Are

Evil Dead II (1987)

Is it a remake or a sequel? Fans have long pondered this. The film does not link up to the cliffhanger ending of the original€”instead it starts the story over. That should signal it as a remake, but it€™s also weird the way it€™s called Evil Dead II. In truth, the film is both: originally, it was to open with a re-cap of the first Evil Dead before proceeding to continue the story. However, Sam Raimi couldn€™t get the rights to use the footage. Instead, he had to basically re-film it all over again, but he chose to simplify it as well (instead of a group of friends, it is merely one girlfriend). The moment where the film truly links up to the sequel portion comes when the POV camera rams into Bruce Campbell and sends him hurtling through the woods.

Metropolis (2001)

Fritz Lang€™s 1927 classic still stands as one of the most awe-inspiring films of all time, even after 80 years. This little-seen €œremake€ is an imaginative animated interpretation from the genius behind Astroboy. Playing the material loosely (very loosely), this is a visually stunning and captivating tale of robots and humans living in a towering city in the distant future. However, the film is actually an adaptation of a Japanese manga that was based on Metropolis, but not directly: mastermind Osamu Tezuka never actually saw Lang€™s original€”he just liked the poster and used that visual as inspiration to make his own story.

THX 1138 (1971)

George Lucas made probably the most successful student film of all time in 1967 with Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138: 4EB. He later used this as the basis for his first full-length directorial debut in 1971. But it€™s less a remake and more an inspiration, since the short film didn€™t have any plot or character€”it was simply a montage of a man running through corridors. Instead, Lucas used that visual reference as the basis for a story of a futuristic dystopia, culled from novelists Aldous Huxley€™s Brave New World and George Orwell€™s 1984.

Wizard of Oz (1939)

While the classic film is based on the series of children€™s books by L. Frank Baum, those books themselves had already been portrayed a few times before, none of which are very faithful (or good). The earliest is 1910€™s The Wizard of Oz, featuring Dorothy on the Kansas farm with men dressed up in donkey suits like you think of in vaudeville acts (one man for the back end and one man for the front end). A few more shorts came in 1914, with 1925€™s feature-length version nearly being a slapstick comedy.

About Schmidt (2002)

Most people don€™t realize that this is a loose remake of Ingmar Bergman€™s 1957 breakthrough Wild Strawberries. Sure, there€™s no weird dream sequences, and Schmidt is certainly a lot warmer and features a topless Kathy Bates. But both films are about an aging protagonist facing retirement, forcing him to reflect on his life; realizing it is empty and meaningless, he gets in his car and embarks on a road trip to re-discover himself. Both films are excellent character pieces, although Bergman€™s is expectedly steeped in symbolism.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

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Is this film a rip-off of a late-80€™s Hong Kong crime drama? A lot of people seem to think so. Tarantino denied that it was a remake of City on Fire, but admitted that film was also one of his favorites. The 1987 thriller, starring Chow Yun-Fat, was about an undercover cop who slowly infiltrates a crime gang, as their jewel heist goes wrong. However, similarities end there, and both films are totally different entities, with different plots€”and even that base similarity is a fairly general one. However, Reservoir Dogs definitely owes the greater part of its existence to City on Fire, even if it€™s not a remake per se

Star Wars (1977)

A lot people also seem to think that Star Wars is a remake of Akira Kurosawa€™s 1957 adventure fable The Hidden Fortress. The answer is both no and yes. No because the two films are entirely different and have only a few, general similarities. But yes because there are indeed similarities, and its no coincidence€”Lucas€™ first 1973 treatment was a flat-out remake of Kurosawa€™s film. He abandoned trying to remake it however, and, over the next three years and four screenplay drafts, slowly evolved it into a unique entity, which is why it is more apt to say it is €œinspired by€ Hidden Fortress, rather than a remake of it. 1999€™s Phantom Menace is actually a much closer adaptation than the 1977 original.

Hidden Fortress (1957)

However, most people don€™t realize that Hidden Fortress itself is partially based on another film! One of Kurosawa€™s earliest films was from 1945, called They Who Tread the Tiger's Tail (among many other translations). It was about a medieval Lord escaping through enemy territory with his bodyguards. The film is only an hour long, and from this basic plotline, Kurosawa redid it ten years later with the scope and scale he always envisioned now that he was Japan€™s top director. Guilty Pleasures

One Million Years B.C. (1967)

This was one of the cinematic staples of my childhood. Yes, it has 60€™s sex symbol Raquel Welch in a bikini for most of it, but it has something more interesting to pre-adolescent boys: dinosaurs! Not just regular ones, though€”these ones are conjured up and animated by the only special effects auteur in history, Ray Harryhausen. The film was originally a caveman drama from 1940 called One Million B.C.€”there, hairy white guys in leopard-skin cloths fought each other and occasionally a giant iguana. Harryhausen (controversially) kept the giant iguana, but in the 1967 version the film becomes a special effects fantasy filled with encounters with great prehistoric beasts, as tyrannosaurus rex€™s and triceratops€™ battle each other to the death and rip human beings out of trees in a ridiculous historical anachronism that€™s secondary to the imagination on display. It€™s pretty cheesy today, but even still the dinosaur sequences have an incredible excitement to them.

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

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Tom Savini got some mixed feelings when he directed this in 1990. It wasn€™t just that he was re-making a horror classic€”he was a special effects technician known for his over-the-top gore, and many felt not only would he not know how to direct, but that none of the suspense would be retained, that it would just be a special effects demo reel. Thankfully, this is a fun second look at the story of Romero€™s original. Aside from the novelty of being in color, the film indeed featured impressive make-up and gore effects, but it still managed a few scares and is generally faithful to the original film with its human drama. In fact, Savini€™s unique final act is in some ways a more interesting one that stays true to the thematic undertone of Romero€™s trilogy (minus the racial allegory of the original€™s ending€”an allegory that Romero insists is unintentional).

Godzilla (1985 and 1998)

Go ahead and laugh at me, but personally, I€™ve always felt that the Roland Emmerich-Dean Devlin Godzilla blockbuster was an absolute blast. It was exciting and fantastic and had some amazing special effects. Yeah, the characters were a bit thin, but I felt that Hank Azaria and Jean Reno brought great personality to the film, and Matthew Broderick had an appropriate level of cheesy earnestness for the role. It€™s a comic book on film. I mean€did people expect€good acting or something? Honestly. It€™s a Godzilla flick. It€™s about a 200 storey dinosaur destroying city landmarks. What were people expecting? If you turn off your brain and just enjoy the spectacle this is a fun and entertaining little popcorn movie that is easily better than anything Michael Bay has ever done. The 1985 remake was no less entertaining as well. Dated today, it still has that same fun charm that the 1998 Hollywood version does, and as a true sequel to the original (well, the American edit of the original), it brings back Raymond Burr and finally kills the monster for good. True, the original 1954 Gojira was a somber and serious allegory about the atomic bombing of Japan; I would love to see this more sophisticated approach taken again. However, the legacy of Godzilla comes from its slew of sequels, with men in rubber suits beating the crap out of each other on miniature sets of cardboard buildings. This is easily one of the better capturings of that sort of filmmaking. Remakes You Might Not Have Known AboutMagnificent Seven (1960): Actually a remake of Kurosawa€™s Seven Samurai. Basic (2003): The John McTiernan-directed thriller starring Sam Jackson and John Travolta is actually a loose remake of Kurosawa€™s Rashomon. Ladykillers (2003): The Cohen brothers€™ film starring Tom Hanks was originally made in 1955 with Alec Guiness and Peter Sellers. Mutiny on the Bounty (1962): Old-timey naval drama was famously made in 1935 with Clarke Gable in Marlon Brando€™s role. It was remade afterwards with Mel Gibson in the lead. Man on Fire (2004): Denzel Washington revenge flick was originally made in 1987. Evil Dead (1981): Cult film was originally a 1978 short called Within the Woods, made by Sam Raimi and his buddies. Resembles students making movies in the backyard, which is pretty much what it was. Breathless (1983): Jean-Luc Goddard€™s medium-defining 1960 masterpiece was remade with Richard Gere in 1983. Quickly written off, it€™s slowly becoming a cult film. Insomnia (2002): Disappointing Chris Nolan film is a remake of a really good Swedish film of the same name from 1997. The Lost Battalion (2001): This little-seen (but terrific) TV movie from A&E about WWI actually was first told not long after the historic events actually happened€”in 1919! Meet Joe Black (1998): Brad Pitt film was actually made in 1935, where it was called Death Takes a Holiday. Vanilla Sky (2001): Tom Cruise film was originally a much better movie from Spain called Open Your Eyes€”with Penelope Cruz in both versions. The Killing Hour (aka The Clairvoyant) (1982): Giallo-like mystery B-film is loosely based on Irvin Kershner€™s 1978 Faye Dunaway thriller Eyes of Laura Mars. Or maybe I just count this one as a rip-off. Meet the Parents (2000): Ben Stiller-Robert DeNiro comedy was originally made in 1992 to little success. Anymore remakes I have forgotten about, do let us know!