2009 Remakes - Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, and More!

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

The remake of The 39 Steps is also pretty atrocious from what I near, but I refuse to watch it out of my love for the original. Let's also not forget Psycho. What's the point in a remake that tries to perfectly copy the original? *sigh*

IIRC, in an interview the film's producer said that his kids wouldn't watch a B&W film, and he didn't have the money or clout to have the original colorized.

Err... what?! Surely it;s cheaper to colourise a movie than it is to make a whole new one! LOL!!!

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Sorry to doublt post, but this must be said.

In addition to Hellraiser and Friday 13th, the Nightmare on Elm Street remake is also out next year (unless it's delayed like it already has been form this year).

The first of the 2 Akira movies is also out (allegadly starring Leonardo Decaprio!). Akira will be released over 2 movies, it seems they want to fit all of the original sotry into it, or as much as they can.

Red Sonya, Robocop, Astro Boy, G-Force, Gatchaman (huh?!) and a few others are also slated for a 2009 release.

[Zettaijin]

Red Sonya, Robocop, Astro Boy, G-Force, Gatchaman (huh?!) and a few others are also slated for a 2009 release.

Wasn't G-Force an alternative English name for the Gatchaman series?

Freddy vs. Jason is more my style, but I'll admit I liked Jason X. Actually I hear it's going to go into the details of Jason's past that never got touched, like where the mask really came from and what he's been up to since his "death" in the Fifties. There's an article on Wikipedia here.

The mask came from a victim he killed in the third movie of the series (ya know, the 3-D one). Before then, he had a burlap sack over his head.

I feel old just for remembering all that.

[High Priest Mikhal]

The mask came from a victim he killed in the third movie of the series (ya know, the 3-D one). Before then, he had a burlap sack over his head.

I feel old just for remembering all that.

I know. But his mask has become such a trademark that they're revising the history.

And you're not alone in feeling old. Any day now I expect to hear myself say, "When I was young..."

[Zettaijin]

Jason's history has been one retcon after another since his very inception, I'm not too worried about what they plan to do with him in the near future.

[High Priest Mikhal]

The details may keep changing, but the core concept is the same: his mother was a cook at Camp Crystal Lake, he was a deformed child that others taunted and let drown (or so it seemed), and he seems intent on some perverse mission to please his mother's wishes (despite her being a decapitated head) of taking revenge on horny teens using all manner of weapons if his trusty machete isn't handy.

His mask has become such a vital part of the lore that some authors have gone so far as to say that's the source of his power. This concept was certainly jumped on by the creators of the Splatterhouse games.

[Gwynplaine]

A few more remakes that are coming out:

The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Wolfman
Frankenstein


I'm looking forward to the Wolfman one, he's always been my favorite classic monster...

The Day the Earth Stood Still was garbage - if you want to see it view thw '51 version.

[LadySoth]

Eh. Remakes aren't anything new in the movie industry. Heck, those old classic Hammer flicks are essentially re-makes of Universal's films from the 30s, and I kinda doubt if we'd have Ravenloft today if Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing hadn't brought Dracula back into the limelight.

That's an interesting point. I know a whole generation of people grew up with Christopher Lee as Dracula and don't remember the Bela Lugosi version, but for me the '31 Universal will always be the best, even if Tod Browning was a terrible director. I've only seen one of the Lee films and I got the general impression that he wasn't too good, no dialogue at all and all he did was growl and look vaguely menacing. But I guess that could be the fault of poor scripts as well . . .

. . . always liked Peter Cushing as Vanny though. He's fantastic in almost everything he does.

[Jack of Tears]

Some years ago I played a game of trivial pursuit with some friends when the question arose, "name three classic horror films", to which I responded: Dracula, Nosferatu, Frankenstien, Frankenstein vs Wolfman, Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde ... etc.

The films the card listed, however, were: Friday the 13th, Child's Play, Nightmare on Elm Street ... you see where that is going.

The game broke up at that point as I went off on a tirade and refused to play another hand. People have no sense of what makes a classic, much less enough respect to let them lay peacefully in their graves.

[steveflam]

Wasn't G-Force a cartoon in the 70's or 80's called Battle of the Planets?

[LadySoth]

Some years ago I played a game of trivial pursuit with some friends when the question arose, "name three classic horror films", to which I responded: Dracula, Nosferatu, Frankenstien, Frankenstein vs Wolfman, Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde ... etc.

The films the card listed, however, were: Friday the 13th, Child's Play, Nightmare on Elm Street ... you see where that is going.

The game broke up at that point as I went off on a tirade and refused to play another hand. People have no sense of what makes a classic, much less enough respect to let them lay peacefully in their graves.

Totally agree. While those films you mentioned are all "classics" in their own right (particularly the child's play films which were genius, IMO), they probably wouldn't have even existed in the form we know them today if it weren't for the Univesal Horror films of the 30s and 40s. Those movies opened up the possibility for films of a supernatural nature to exist without some logical explanation tacked on to the end. No modern film director could possibly remake these films again successfully, the time period and context are totally different today, and there could never be another Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Cheney (jr. and Sr.), Claude Rains or Dwight Frye.

[steveflam]

Hey I just realised why Alice Cooper does a song called the Ballad of Dwight Frye now! LOL!!!

Thanks, Lady Soth

[LadySoth]

Hey I just realised why Alice Cooper does a song called the Ballad of Dwight Frye now! LOL!!!

Thanks, Lady Soth

LOL No problem that's a great song, a real nice tribute by Alice to the types of characters Frye typically played-- Dwight Frye played Renfield in the '31 Universal Dracula. A beautiful man. He actually helped the US in WWII working on designing airplane tools for Lockheed Martin working nights and acting during the day just to make ends meet. He died of a heart attack at only 44 years old shortly before beginning filming on what would have been the biggest film of his career. . .

On the subject of remakes . . . I wonder how Universal would handle the character of Renfield today in their new Dracula?

[Brandi]

Err... what?! Surely it;s cheaper to colourise a movie than it is to make a whole new one! LOL!!!

Depends on how much the actual owners of the movie charge you to have the right to colorize it. Assuming, of course, they don't simply tell you to fsck off.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Wasn't G-Force a cartoon in the 70's or 80's called Battle of the Planets?

It was originally G-Force, Battle of the Planets was the spinoff/sequel. However, it was all drawn from about 4 different animes, lol.

I did hit upon a whole slew of remakes recently but I've forgotten them, I'll have to find them again and post the list. Let me just say that there are some true treasures that are about the get the teen horror treatment.

The Day The Earth Stood Still and Quarantine really were the last straw for me