On the defensive

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.