For this week’s blog post, I’d like to take a little detour from writing horror movie reviews, and instead write a little rant. It still sort of has to do with horror movies, and I have lot to say about this topic. So nonetheless, I hope you enjoy.
So last week, I reviewed the film Train to Busan. To give a brief summary, I gave it a glowing review and a recommendation for people to watch it. That same week, it just so happened that an announcement of an American remake of the movie is being put into production. This announce got a lot of negative feedback from fans. Many believe that this remake is unnecessary and the original is already perfect, and I agree with them. This isn’t the first instance where a foreign film has gotten the Hollywood remake treatment. Famous (or infamous I should say) examples would be:
- The Korean film Oldboy and it’s remake of the same name directed by Spike Lee.
- The Spanish horror film Rec and it’s remake Quarantine.
- The Japanese horror film The Eye and it’s remake of the same name.
(There are film remakes, however that I, along with others, consider to be very good. But I’ll go over that later.)
The foreign films listed received generally good responses from audiences, while their remakes aren’t as positively received. The biggest reason being that the remakes don’t do the original justice. There will be so many changes made to this one when compared to the other that the remake will just feel like a completely different film. It could either be because the director wanted to make the remake better than the original, or try too hard to be like the original.
So why would an American studio decide to put their own spin on a foreign film? I couldn’t find a solid reason online, so if I have to guess it would either have to be to make money or to introduce American audiences to these films. The “to make money” may sound generic, by I find it to be a solid reason. A lot of these films became popular and even became cult classics, so studios may find this as a way to sell on an already popular idea. Then there is the second idea, and if true, then I do find it commendable wanting to introduce more audiences to a film. But as stated before, there is so much change in these films that it does not accurately represent the original.
However, at this point it may sound like there are NO good American remakes at all. Well, . . . not really. There are some very good ones out there, masterpieces even. Movies such as The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese which is based on a film from Hong Kong, Internal Affairs. Scorsese’s film drew critical acclaim among critics, sitting at a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and even won four Oscars, including best picture. But since I haven’t seen either film, I can’t really talk much about it. One film remake that I did see however, that I also absolutely love, is The Ring, based off the Japanese horror movie, Ringu. Now I don’t find The Ring to be better than Ringu, but I don’t think Ringu is better that its remake either. I think this is better than the remake being inferior to the original.
With all of this said, am I looking forward to the remake of Train to Busan? Not really. Although I just gave two examples of good film remakes, I still don’t see a remake of Train to Busan as necessary, or any foreign film remake for that matter. But who knows? Maybe I’ll be surprised.
Ramblings and Reviews 