Within the last three years, we’ve seen revamps of at least four classic horror films. Halloween was smart to focus on the back story, but got bogged down in the present tense. Friday the 13th had a great opening, but sucked from then on. The Last House on the Left was just… bad, leaving A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Here’s a noble idea, remake a horror flick, but this time, cast an Oscar nominated actor as the villain. Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Kruger actually does work, but the rest of the film, including the as-bad-as-a-70s-porno supporting cast, is what you’d expect from a contemporary horror remake.
Instead of discussing the film, which I honestly don’t even think horror-film fans will enjoy, let’s talk about the current state of the American cinematic terror factor.
Think about it, what NEW film, made in the last 20 years, can you possibly see as being remade… 25-30 years from now? John Carpenter’s Halloween is a classic, so naturally it gets remade. But what horror film classics have we seen recently?
Off the top of my head, I can think of just three potential, remake-able candidates. Scream, Wes Craven’s 1996 rebel horrorfest, could easily be redone two decades from now, which is interesting, because Scream not-so-subtly pokes fun at slasher flicks to begin with, plus, part four is coming out next year.
The other two are The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, the two most influential films of the genre in the past 11 years. Would the remakes suck? Of course. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they get made. (P.S., I considered 2005’s The Descent, but really, how many people actually saw that? And if you haven’t, do.)
Oh yeah, let’s give A Nightmare on Elm Street a frightful D-.
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