WEINSTEIN'S PLAN HADDONFIELD FLASHBACK?
by Dan Whitehead
Source: New York Times
10.10.2005 -
It's never nice to start the week with bad news, but at least this latest leak from the Hollywood info-teat can just be filed under potentially bad news.
As watchers of the movie biz will know, the Weinstein brothers have split from Miramax and Disney to set up an all-new company dedicated to Tarantino and Rodriguez movies, over-delayed Asian imports and cashcow knock-off horror sequels.
It's this last area that interests us, as the New York Times is reporting that under the terms of the split, the Weinstein's take with them the rights to fifteen franchises - including, in the words of the paper, "a remake of Halloween."
Devin reported the news over at our well-endowed Whedon-baiting sister site, CHUD.com, and sagely pointed out that this in no way means that such a remake will happen, just that the Weinstein's could do it should the mood grab them.
Much will hinge on the box office performance of forthcoming The Fog remake, which pits Superboy against ghost pirates for shits and giggles, as well as the as-yet-unknown attitude of Moustapha Akkad to all of this. Has he given up his stake in the Myers series? Or will he be in bed with the Weinsteins?
And there's an image guaranteed to turn your hard-on to putty in a heartbeat.
Another question, one you may like to take up in a future edition of our Reader's Rites column, is...does it really matter? Would a Halloween remake really be any worse than the slew of cookie-cutter Halloween sequels? Would it detract any from Carpenter's classic?
Why do these Hollywood producers and directors think they have to fix something that aint broke? They need to leave the originals alone. Psycho anyone?????
Just because something was a "classic" doesn't mean it can't be improved. The original "Amityville" was spooky for it's time, but the story had the potential to be built upon, and personally, I think they improved it 100 times over. I've never seen the "Psycho" remake, and regardless of whatever suggested desecration of the original might have taken place by way of a remake, the original, while inventive, it really doesn't stand the test of time, and Hitchcock has WAY better, more underestimated films than that.
"Halloween" doesn't need to be remade. It's timeless, it's haunting, and one of the Top 5 creepiest movies of all time in my book.
Halloween was a great slasher film in it's own right, I wasn't overly impressed with the 1st (being the only one I've seen), I don't think the storyline has any more potential to be taken further or improved upon so I don't like the chances of it being every good at all. Although I could be wrong, because I have not seen the sequels which would have very little to do with a remake of the original in the first place. Right?
On that note are the sequels worth watching at all?
Gender: Female Location: Somewhere between Hell and insanity
Possibly to rent, but I wouldn't reccomend buying them. That way, you won't regret having purchased a film that it turns out you didn't like.
__________________ I'm fine, Drew, I seem to have lost my battery pack somewhere in the area of my buttocks. It's okay, my pack is halfway up my ass... -Colin Mochrie
I'd own "Halloween 2" for continuity sake. One of the greath things about the earlier installments of the franchise is that it went in sequential order. IMO, 1, 2 and 4 are own worthy. The end of 4 was sheer brilliance.
Gender: Female Location: Somewhere between Hell and insanity
I'm kinda on the fence with the remake. Part of me doesn't think it'll be any good. Yet, if people say that it's worth watching, I might see it. However, I do hope they keep the original theme-song. It's one of my favorite movie themes of all time.
__________________ I'm fine, Drew, I seem to have lost my battery pack somewhere in the area of my buttocks. It's okay, my pack is halfway up my ass... -Colin Mochrie
Does this actually surprise anyone? The hollywood horror film industry has been pointlessly remaking classics without reasoning or improvements for years.
All they've been doing is dumbing them down for a mainstreem audience that has no idea what true horror is. Damn near every major horror release these days is a shitty remake that adds absolutely nothing to the original and improves on jack and shit.
We should expect films like halloween to be remade, along with Nightmare on Elmstreet, Friday the 13th, Last House on the Left, The Thing, Return of the living dead, and any other horror film that's important to the genre. Nothing is sacred. This was made apparant to me early on when my favorite movie, TCM, was remade and completely trivialized and shittified everything the original stood for.
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Last edited by BackFire on Oct 19th, 2005 at 03:22 AM
I think the reason why there are so many remakes for this genre is simply because the genre is dying, and the only way to revive it is to remake the originals, which is definitely adding to the death of horror.
Original horror movies these days are pretty awful. Even legendary film makers like Romero are having a hard time doing it (e.g. Land of the dead). I'm still learning about the horror genre I'm trying to pick up on it, but this is just what I see these days with new releases coming out.
The horror genre is totally losing its touch. Movies like A nightmare on Elm street just don't happen any more, all the conventions that made horror great is totally lost on these new releases (or what I have seen from "new release" which is not a lot but a board speculation). I'm a man for moving forward and changing the way things are done, but horror has no good direction to go to now-a-days, I'd say stick to conventional methods, until something good comes a long. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Well, in essence you're right, that is - mainstream horror films are definately lacking these days.
Though, I think the idea of the horror genre dying completely is premature. If anything, the horror genre has been enjoying a resurgance over the last few years. There's been some exceptional horror films, most of them have gone under the radar of most people. Movies like Dog Soldiers, 28 Days Later, May, Irreversible, High Tension, Shaun of the Dead, Battle Royale and Land of the Dead are all excellent horror films that have the making of classics. Also some future horror films look extremely promising - The Woods, The Descent, Silent Hil, Cannibal Holocaust 2.
Quality horror movies are still there, you just gotta look for them. Mainstream horror films may be dying, but the genre itself has more life in it then it's had in a decade.
Gender: Male Location: .::The Anti-Fanboy Confederation::.
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They should make a movie called "Hollyween", were they show the reality of Hollywood setting out to remake great films for their own personal benefit, but murdering the classics by doing so.
If they remake the original, I will commit Hara Kiri.
I get tired of Hollywood ruining the Le Original/
Anyone see Herbie: Fully loaded? Or the latest Amityville? Didn't think so.
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An Ancient Prophecy . . . The deity shall walk forth . . .
Gender: Female Location: Somewhere between Hell and insanity
Man, I'm getting so tired of remakes. I mean, I'll watch a remake if it's worth watching. But, I'm still getting pretty sick of them. To be honest, I'd rather watch a craptastic sequel rather than a remake of the original film. At least a sequel, no matter how shitty it is, is a continuation (in one way or another) of the original film.
__________________ I'm fine, Drew, I seem to have lost my battery pack somewhere in the area of my buttocks. It's okay, my pack is halfway up my ass... -Colin Mochrie
Apparently the movie makers are concentrating on Halloween 9 at the moment and just said the remake is possible, but Halloween 9 for now. Hopefully they will go off the idea.
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Is nothing sacred - Halloween THE REMAKE
Oct 14th, 2005 12:46 PM
