Okay. I will stop trying to defend my dislike for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake riiiiiiiiiiiight NOW (uh, after this blog post). But by god, I am sick of hearing/reading comments from people that those who dislike this new one are giving the original too much credit because NO, no I am not. Maybe these people are giving the original too much credit for having an influence over how I feel about its remake.
Let me clarify something: I DO NOT THINK ALL REMAKES ARE BAD. Yes, I acknowledge that I did not like (to put it kindly) the Friday the 13th and the Halloween remakes. I will even admit that my dislike for RZ's Halloween was definitely colored by my own reverence for John Carpenter's original and my affection for that series as a whole. (Hey, you're talking about someone who will totally defend parts 4 and 5 (but never The Curse and Resurrection. I'm not crazy.) However, I HAVE LIKED REMAKES BEFORE. Honest. I swear! There is the remake of The Thing, but that's too easy. Let's go with newer stuff. I believe I was one of the few defenders of My Bloody Valentine 3D. I fucking loved that movie. I own that shit on DVD and have actually watched the 2D version and I STILL LIKED IT! I thought it was a heck of a good time. I got over the stiff acting, plot contrivances, and CGI blood because it was just fun to watch. Now, I've listened to the commentary and learned that the filmmakers were taking things waaaaaaay too seriously, but somehow that didn't come through on the screen for me. It was just a fun viewing experience.
And you know what else I liked? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Another Platinum Dunes vehicle even! Oh, I know for some that means I lose a lot of my horror cred and I will lose some more when I admit (once again, for I'm sure I've said this before) I am not enamored of the original. Yeah, I like it okay and I can kinda see how that movie might have been shockingly groundbreaking in its time, but it's just no great shakes for me. The best part of the movie is hating Franklin which probably isn't the objective. It's been a while since I saw the remake, but I remember it being suspenseful and creepy and also fun to watch. Its sequel: not so much.
Those are the biggest names I can think of. I also watched the Prom Night remake and didn't hate the hell out of it and I'm sure there are others, but I just wanted to point out that I'm not just some hater. The new NoES just didn't appeal to me. If this same flick had been a straight-to-Netflix-streaming movie with a creepy child molester mysteriously causing kids to die, I would have still thought it was boring (and I probably would have accused it of ripping off A Nightmare on Elm Street). I wanted it to be good and it wasn't and that has very little to do with how I felt about the first movie.
Okay, I'm letting it go now. I really am. On a side note, I almost wish they'd stop making remakes so we could all stop having this same tired argument.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
Not over the hill yet
Something is bugging me. Naturally after seeing the new A Nightmare on Elm Street movie and writing my own assessment of it, I ventured to a few other sites to see what others thought. I've come across one or two that enjoyed it, a couple others that absolutely hated it, but a majority (including me) which just found the film meddling. What bugs me is a lot of the comments made by others, specifically by people who liked the movie, about negative reviews. Many of these defenders are making the argument that negative reviewers are unfairly trashing this movie because they remember the original Elm Street too fondly. It has a ring of "Shut up, you old farts. It's our turn now." Maybe I'm a bit sensitive about that since I am one of them old farts.
The thing is that I don't think these commentors are considering several factors. Firstly, we fogies get to have an opinion too, even if that opinion is dripping with nostalgia. Trust me, I shrugged off terrible dialogue, ridiculous plot-contrivances, and mouth-breather acting when I saw the first movie back in my youth. However, I have to ask: isn't the objective of these new filmmakers to IMPROVE on the original? If the first was full of lame F/X, crazy plot holes, and dialogue no actual person would say, then don't you want to change that in your version? Secondly, it is reasonable for someone to expect better effects from a movie made in 2009 than a movie made in 1984. Filmmakers have so much technology at hand now, so yeah, your Freddy shouldn't look like a hairless rat. Finally, a remake is going to inevitably be compared to its fore bearers. Clearly, the makers of new Elm Street knew that because they CHOSE to include recreations of several iconic scenes from the original.
You know, one of the guys on the Now Playing podcast asked his fellow hosts, which of the 3 big franchise remakes (Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street), they thought was best. That question got me thinking and I was surprised at my own answer. Despite my complete and utter contempt for the film, I have to say it was...........................................Friday the 13th. (Hahaha, you totally thought I was gonna say RZ's Halloween. NEVER!!!) Looking at the film as an homage to the F13 series, I'd say those folks probably were the only one's to GET what those flicks were about (or at least the later flicks in the series). RZ's Halloween and (new) NoES seemed to take their subjects WAAAAAY too seriously. Both films seem to be scolding those old audiences for making icons out of the killers. This new Freddy will not be making an appearance on The Simpson. Michael Myers never gained the same kind of following as Freddy and Jason, but Rob apparently didn't like that we didn't know anything about where he came from. We needed to have Michael's story, in all it's trashy glory.
Now, I get that we old folks are gonna have different tastes than the youths. The person who becomes a horror fan after seeing Saw is gonna expect different things from the genre than someone who's first film was Friday the 13th Pt. 2 (me). Somehow in the 30s the Frankenstein monster's make-up caused people to faint. Times change, tastes change. But I'm not SO old that I can't appreciate some of the newer stuff. Who liked the TCM remake AND the MBV remake? This chick. But don't dismiss my dislike for nostalgia or plain ole hateration. Maybe, just maybe, I dislike it because it's just not likable.
The thing is that I don't think these commentors are considering several factors. Firstly, we fogies get to have an opinion too, even if that opinion is dripping with nostalgia. Trust me, I shrugged off terrible dialogue, ridiculous plot-contrivances, and mouth-breather acting when I saw the first movie back in my youth. However, I have to ask: isn't the objective of these new filmmakers to IMPROVE on the original? If the first was full of lame F/X, crazy plot holes, and dialogue no actual person would say, then don't you want to change that in your version? Secondly, it is reasonable for someone to expect better effects from a movie made in 2009 than a movie made in 1984. Filmmakers have so much technology at hand now, so yeah, your Freddy shouldn't look like a hairless rat. Finally, a remake is going to inevitably be compared to its fore bearers. Clearly, the makers of new Elm Street knew that because they CHOSE to include recreations of several iconic scenes from the original.
You know, one of the guys on the Now Playing podcast asked his fellow hosts, which of the 3 big franchise remakes (Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street), they thought was best. That question got me thinking and I was surprised at my own answer. Despite my complete and utter contempt for the film, I have to say it was...........................................Friday the 13th. (Hahaha, you totally thought I was gonna say RZ's Halloween. NEVER!!!) Looking at the film as an homage to the F13 series, I'd say those folks probably were the only one's to GET what those flicks were about (or at least the later flicks in the series). RZ's Halloween and (new) NoES seemed to take their subjects WAAAAAY too seriously. Both films seem to be scolding those old audiences for making icons out of the killers. This new Freddy will not be making an appearance on The Simpson. Michael Myers never gained the same kind of following as Freddy and Jason, but Rob apparently didn't like that we didn't know anything about where he came from. We needed to have Michael's story, in all it's trashy glory.
Now, I get that we old folks are gonna have different tastes than the youths. The person who becomes a horror fan after seeing Saw is gonna expect different things from the genre than someone who's first film was Friday the 13th Pt. 2 (me). Somehow in the 30s the Frankenstein monster's make-up caused people to faint. Times change, tastes change. But I'm not SO old that I can't appreciate some of the newer stuff. Who liked the TCM remake AND the MBV remake? This chick. But don't dismiss my dislike for nostalgia or plain ole hateration. Maybe, just maybe, I dislike it because it's just not likable.
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