I really wish people would shut up about the unfairness of remakes. All you have to do is mention the possibility of a movie being remade and people automatically get upset and start throwing poop and tampons at Hollywood. Here's the thing---not every remake or idea for a remake is bad. Yes a lot of remakes are bad, but instantly jumping on the fuck you remake bandwagon is getting old really fast.
The latest outcry came earlier today when it was announced that Cloverfield director Matt Reeves had been signed by Universal to direct a film adaptation of Ray Nelson's short story 8 O'Clock in the Morning. This is of course the same short story that played a part in inspiring John Carpenter to write They Live. Carpenter's woefully underrated 80s horror gem however was also inspired by a story called Nada from the Alien Encounters comic book, which means for those of you keeping score at home, that Matt Reeves' adaptation will be different--and therefore, not really a remake at all. If all goes according to plan, Matt Reeves' creation could lay alongside other "sort of remakes" like Cronenberg's The Fly and Carpenter's own The Thing.
Matt Reeves even said this to Deadline,
Quote:
I saw an opportunity to do a movie that was very point-of-view driven, a psychological science fiction thriller that explores this guy’s nightmare…There could be a desperate love story at the center of this. Carpenter took a satirical view of the material and the larger political implication that we’re being controlled. I am very drawn to the emotional side, the nightmare experience with the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or a Roman Polanski-style film.
This pretty much solidifies the fact that Reeves will be taking things in a new direction and staying closer to the original source material. Granted, Reeves also said he wasn't remaking the film version of Let The Right One In so... hmmmm.
But really people, settle it down. They Live is not being remade in the way that you think. Matt Reeves is a capable director, and as of yet, Bradley Cooper has not been cast as Nada. And look, I love They Live as much as the next person--but just because someone is taking a different approach to it, doesn't mean it will be gone from our memories. That's what these fuck remakes people tend to forget. If you're not happy about it, lock yourself in a room and play the original on repeat while listening to Whitney Houston. The rest of us will be getting on with our lives.
Maybe they can leave in that 13-minute long fist fight in the alley - oh WAIT. Not. That part was stupid. They should not do that again.
Also, maybe the first ten minutes of this new version will make sense, instead of like in the original, where you see people wandering around while Carpenter does coke with his DP.
There have been some really good remakes of horror movies. Lest we forget,
- The Thing
- The Fly
- The Blob
- Dracula (Hammer!)
- My Bloody Valentine 3D (counts as "good")
- Dawn of the Dead (2004)
- Black Christmas (just fucking kidding!!!)
- Frankenstein (Branagh!)
- The upcoming John Carl Buechler 'Troll' remake with unicorns!
"Another great thing about being 70,000 light years away from the nearest Starfleet vessel is that once we finally get back to Earth, we can makeup bullshit stories. Off the top of my head: 'We met Amelia Earhart,' 'We singlehandedly eliminated most of the Borg fleet' or 'Paris and I turned into giant pink lizards and mated.'"
I'm the owner and editor of PlanetFury. You can also find me at PlanetEtheria.com