I have a hard time with all the remakes and reboots occurring. I mean if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Sometimes, very few times, but sometimes the material needs an update to meet the new world, the new audience, the new technology. Occasional an update is desired to bring back an old friend. Here are my top five the remakes were better…let the hatred begin.
5. Mr. Deeds. This was a cute little film. The original starred Carey grant and was released in 1936, some things have changed and yet they have stayed the same. The movie is really not all that different with Adam Sandler at the helm. Mr. Deeds inherits a large sum of money and has to protect it from the scheming city folks who would like to take it from the farm rube. Seems the further we get away from how things used to be the closer we get to how they were. The story rings as true today as it did in the thirties. Plus the new one has John Turturro as the butler with “a very very sneaky” performance.
4. Oceans 11. I LOVE a good heist film and this fits the bill. An all-star cast running an elaborate con what more could you want. The original focused on a group of former paratroopers pulling off the biggest score. Now they are just simply a group of well accomplished criminals, not your typical stick up men mind you, but real honest to goodness criminals. They plot to rip off a Vegas casino and action ensues. It really is fun and simple. Clooney assembles his pals for a paid Vegas vacation just like frank did. You really feel as part of the team watching it. You actually root for the criminals, as they are the good guys, well better guys, than the mob boss casino owner. I definitely enjoyed the remake more.
3. Red Dawn. This one seemed to come and go under the radar. I had waited and waited for this. It took Thor becoming a hit to get it released, at least that what it felt like. The story here seems to stay fairly true to the original. You got an invading force catching America off guard and a rag tag team of kids fighting guerilla warfare to take back their town, their country. In the original it was the Cubans backed by the Russians, was there a better enemy than the Russians? They had history determination and an ideology to combat. Now we have the North Koreans. This was my real problem. I view the North Koreans and not a real adversary. They can’t run their own country how are they going to take us down? Seems that the only real change we have is no longer are the WOLVERINES lead by an outdoorsman with skills in hunting and tracking but an AWOL soldier who deals in counterinsurgency. This makes sense with our fights in the Middle East that a soldier would have these skills. How lucky for this small town that he is home during this attack. All the same issues are there, longing for home, interpersonal struggles and a desire for the way it was. Forty years old me enjoyed this as much thirteen year old me enjoyed the original.
2. Halloween. How do you improve on a classic? How do you make better what was already perfect? You give the monster reason; you explain his case. In the eighties Michael Meyers was a mindless heartless killing machine. He did for Halloween what jaws did for summer vacation, he made it unsafe. Michael Meyers was a simple two dimensional character. You had sex you died. You broke the rules you died. It was simple, but does that hold true for today? Can people simple be mad, in the crazy sense, and society accepts it? Every time we see a mass killing of some kind we have to know why? Rob Zombie shows us why and it doesn’t make it any better. You watch the remake and by the end of it you are thinking “this poor kid never stood a chance”. What kind of life would he have had if he had not been a heartless killer? Of course he went after those who broke the rules; this was what he saw as the main issue with in his own world. Nobody was there for him. Children are supposed to be cared for but this kid had to care for himself against situations that would destroy the average person today. This monster is not like Frankenstein’s monster her has heart, albeit a negative focus for it but at least he has it.

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I purchased the original on DVD when it came out. I watched it and it just felt wrong. A grainy print that was oh so clear how grainy it was gave it an almost Blair Witch quality. This felt real. I have been a fan of this movie since my first viewing. This was the taboo film in my house. This was the film that was forbidden. This was the movie that was going to push you over the edge. It had no story just horrific chainsaw deaths. Well after seeing it I realized that much of the violence and gore was actually only in my head. Did it show it? Yes some of it but it is nowhere as horrific as the hype makes it out to be. A genius film making move; let me be the sicko who fills in the horrific details and the film maker can keep his hands clean. A low budget film made on a short shoot with no stars what more could you need for horror. The remake had my personal favorite R. Lee Ermey as the creepiest sheriff ever and as well as Jessica Biel as heroine. This remake hits all the right points from the original and somehow amps up the creep factor on an already creepy film. As wondering into a deserted house looking for help wasn’t creepy enough the remake throws in a hands old man that somehow just pushes the whole thing to the next level. It is in the beginning that you realize this is something else. This is a remake in name only. It is the film that made me look at remakes in a different light.
Those are my top five remakes. Did I miss yours? Let me know in the comments. And as always remember to vote.