FEARce FIVE Vol. 1 - Remakes

Greetings my dears and welcome to my very first FEARce FIVE post! Every Friday I plan on asking a fellow horror hound five questions on a horror related topic. For instance, volume 1 will be a post on horror movie remakes, so my five questions will be related to this topic. At the end of each post, myself and my fellow heebee jeebee loving friend will give out our own, individual top five lists related to the same topic. 

I hope you all are ready, because today you're in for double trouble! That's right, volume 1 and 2 will be available for you today! 

As I mentioned earlier, volume 1 is about horror movie remakes. Since 2013 started we have seen a reboot for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead, and now Carrie. These aren't just random 80's horror flicks that could have been better, these are classics in the genre! Well, luckily I have the lovely owner of XO Skeleton Creations, Nichol, to chat with about this phenomena for today's FEARCe FIVE!

1. Why do you think film remakes are more popular in the horror genre than any other? I mean, it's not everyday you hear about a romantic comedy being remade...

Horror movies have the advantage of being some of the cheapest movies to make and they come with a built in audience of die hard fans. There isn't much risk of losing money on the film with the type of draw that horror gets at the box office. Even the fans who are upset about a certain remake will often pay to watch the movie just so they can see what was done with it. The promise of updated gore fx probably doesn't hurt either. ;)

2. What expectations do you have when you hear a classic horror film is being remade? I know I had several when I heard A Nightmare on Elm Street was being rebooted as well as Evil Dead.

Honestly, my only expectation is usually that they are going to be terrible. I'm not a fan of remaking the classics. I would much rather see new horror movies hitting the theaters, but if it has to be a remake, I think it should be something that missed the mark in some way the first time.

3. What was the best remake you have seen recently and why would you call it the best?

“Let Me In” in 2010. I know this may not seem very recent, but remakes that I enjoy can be few and far between. I really loved “Let The Right One In”, so naturally I was pretty worried about the direction this film could take. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't stray too far from the original plot. The best thing about it for me was the actors who played Eli (Abby in this film) and Oskar. I thought they did a great job and I felt the chemistry they had made their relationship in the film very believable. My least favorite thing about it were the CG scenes and some of the over the top makeup effects, less is more for me when it comes to this story. Overall though, I felt it was one of the better remakes I've seen.

4. What was the worst remake you have seen and what was it that turned you off from the film?

Rob Zombie's Halloween. In my opinion (and I know I'm not alone on this one), the original Halloween is a movie that you just don't touch - E V E R. This is a perfect example of that phenomenon I mentioned above about going to see a film even though you are completely livid that it is being remade just so you can see how bad they screwed it up. I think that the absolute worst thing about this movie was the fact that Rob Zombie managed to remove every ounce of that great Hitchcock-esque suspense that made the original film so powerful. I also really didn't see the need for Michael Myers to be given the “troubled childhood” back story. It's so much creepier when there is no reason for him doing the things he does other than being inherently evil. Anyway, I could obviously go on about this one forever, haha. *jumps off the soapbox*


5. Is there a horror film out there that you would love to see remade? What is it and why?

“Tourist Trap”. This movie has some really creepy concepts, but is also pretty dated and cheesy. I think if the right person got a hold of this and took it in a more serious direction, this movie could have a lot of potential to be pretty disturbing. 

Nichol's Top Five Favorite Horror Movie Remakes:

1. The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)

2. The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002) 

3. Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004) 

4. The Crazies (Breck Eisner, 2010) 

5. Let Me In (Matt Reeves, 2010)

This Ghouls Top Five Favorite Horror Movie Remakes

1. Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez, 2013)

2. I Spit on Your Grave (Steven R. Monroe, 2010)

3. Fright Night (Craig Gillespie, 2011)

4. Texas Chainsaw 3D (John Luessenhop, 2013)

5. Piranha (Alexandre Aja, 2010)