Friday 13th 2009 (and a massive rant about remake culture)...

[MinionZombie]

http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/02/friday-13th-2009and-another-rant-about.html

It's a long one, with a lot of chat about remake culture book-ending the actual jibber jabber about the movie in question.

There might be a couple of mild (i.e. unimportant) spoilers in the Good and Bad lists, but really the only actual spoilers come in the portion (you'll see it's the bullet pointed part towards the end) where I list off some of the parts, off the top of my head, which are lifted from movies in the original F13th franchise. That part can be skipped easily as you'll see where it is ... but regardless, is it even possibly to "spoil" a movie such as this?

Anyway - have a read and discuss...:cool:

[DawnGirl27]

I totally agree (and I've said it myself) that there are too many remakes lately and not enough original, fresh material coming out from the studios. MZ, you said 'just because they can (produce a remake), doesn't mean they should.' True. You are also correct that there is a strong fan base of the originals that span years, even decades, and by reproducing a 're-envisioning' of one, you risk the indignation of those fans.
I just don't understand why there is this need to tamper with what are usually cult classics. There have to be enough intelligent, creative folks in the movie business that are capable of making more innovative films instead of recycling old ones.
That said, I did go see Friday the 13th yesterday, and at one point turned to my friend Mike and said (we were the only 2 in the theater), 'Why did we come to this again?' Same old, same old, for the most part, but I did like that there were nods to the original series, like MZ listed.
And there are rumors that Nightmare on Elm Street is next to be 're-envisioned'....... :rant:

[MinionZombie]

And there are rumors that Nightmare on Elm Street is next to be 're-envisioned'....... :rant:

I've heard this too - but only Nightmare 1 and 3 were any good, I thought all the others were either shit, or complete shit (e.g. Part 6's "death by road map" ... I mean come on).

If they do that (which they bloody well will, considering Halloween and Friday 13th and TCM have all been done), they'd better stay true to the roots and make it dark - Freddy is a child murdering paedo after all ... or they could just make a documentary about how fucked up it is that a child murdering paedo became a variety of merchandise including toys sold to children...I mean what the fuck ... and yet you've got church and parent groups worried about sex on TV and in movies...come on. :eek:

In terms of remakes of any merit or interest - TCM 2003, Hills Have Eyes 2006 and Halloween 2007 ... all of which never lived up to the original ... ... well, expect Hills Have Eyes 2006, which was spawned from a movie that wasn't shit-hot to begin with. The original Hills was alright, but nothing special, and I much preferred the inclusion of the nuclear test sight angle in the remake - that made the third act so much better in my view.

TCM2003 was the "you ain't from round 'ere" torture mentality of TCM1 mixed with the gore-factor mentality of TCM2.

Halloween 2007 was flawed in the second half, but was unmistakably Rob Zombie, and at least took the lore and looked at it from a different angle - and made Myers not only formidable again, but scary.

Then again - it's hard to fuck up the movie murderers in these flicks - but I do find it a bit wince-inducing when you see the guys playing the killers being sat down and interviewed (either in costume or not), or seen goofing off on set in the behind the scenes footage ... ... it muddies the mystique surrounding the characters when available in such an easy-to-access form as a DVD extra.

Like I said in my rant about DVD extras, it's both a plus and a minus for the fans.

[Doc]

I've heard this too - but only Nightmare 1 and 3 were any good, I thought all the others were either shit, or complete shit (e.g. Part 6's "death by road map" ... I mean come on).

Exactly! Well, I woulda have added Pt. 2 since, that one wasn't totally bad either. It still kept the atmosphere and dark Freddy from the original. But, yeah your dead-on. Unlike other Elm Street fans, I'm somewhat all for the remake. If its good then great! If it sucks...well, it can't damage the series anymore then Freddy's Dead and FvJ already did.

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, I'd probably let #2 off the hook and tag it within the realm of #1 and #3 ... but the rest were fetid bum burgers. :lol:

To be honest, Friday 13th 2009 could have been a lot more than it was, but nor was it The Fog remake ... so kinda middlin'

Interestingly, I'm watching Friday 13th Part 5 at the moment (only ever seen it once before) ... I've gotten into a spate of watching (what I call) 'second tier slashers' - My Bloody Valentine (original), Nightmare In A Damaged Brain (although that's 'third tier' in my terminology), Madman and now this.

Next up, possibly "Maniac" (which is 'first tier' stuff).

[Wyldwraith]

It's not that there's no creative talent out there,
It's that the money men would rather invest in a graph-plottable return by investing in the remake of a successful movie then accept the risk that comes with making original movies.

I could say A LOT more, but that's really the sum total of the problem. Anything else I said, other than the fact that we the viewing public enable this behavior on their part by watching this crap out of desperation for new fodder in our favored genres, would just be garnish on the shit sundae.

I loathe how remake-driven Hollywood has become. Sadly, I don't see the trend changing unless moviegoers/DVD purchasers start rejecting these offerings en masse.