The Thing.........

[The Invader]

Two more glaring examples:

Dawn of the Dead
The Italian Job

I would agree with you wrt remakes, however there are still plenty of quality films being made. Just as there has never been so much quality music available, thanks mainly to the internet.

It's the mainstream of the film, TV and music industries which have become increasingly bloated by the accountants and lawyers.

[Deuce Bigolo]

Every generation takes a swipe at the current one because they've already seen it except the industries have been remaking successful films & songs
for ever

My father still says things from the 40/50s remade in the 60/70s suck big time

I personally dont have anything against remakes except where all thats been added is CGI effects.

Personally I loathe sequels far more than remakes but then as we're in this age of not wanting to pay for anything can you really blame the accountants for only investing in sure things?

The other big change in films that I can see is the TV director/producers suddenly think their good enough to make films for the big screen

Totally different genres and it shows

Most fall short of the mark which is why you have movies made for TV

[spider]

The John Carpenter 1982 film was a re-make itself of a 1952 Black and White film made in 1951.

The Thing from Another World.



I remember seeing the 1951 version on TV years ago.

I recall it was really scary because for most of the film they only talked about the monster, it wasn't till right near the end of the film that you actually got to see "The Thing".

When you actually got to see the monster it was pretty pathetic, just a bloke in a rubber suit, but the build-up was really effective.

That was because you never saw ?the Thing?, you just heard people talking about him as he stomped about outside, banging on the walks and screaming, that was very effective.

Regarding the comments about re-makes generally.

I can not think of a single example of where the re-make was better than the original.

Adding to glaring examples, can anyone recall the 1997 re-make of the 1973 film ?The Day of the Jackal?.

What a pile of poo the 1997 re-make was.

The re-make had Richard Gere and Bruce Willis as the stars so it didn?t have a chance really!

I recall Dick Gere played a ?nice IRA man?. The yanks don?t have a clue really do they?

The 1973 film was superb, proper story, good acting and gripping plot.

All those connected with the 1997 version should have been put against a wall, I was going to say shot, but perhaps being made to watch the 1973 version on a continuous link for the next twenty years or so might have been more beneficial.

[frankthring]

Interesting topic but Spider`s point about "The Thing" is correct ie its a
very bad example, Turan, to use about remakes since Carpenter`s film
is itself exactly that - a remake.
On its release I recall several critics attacking both its gruesome effects
(which today we all hail as innovative and terrifying) and the fact that the
original "The Thing", (1951) was produced (and in reality directed too) by
the famous Howard Hawks ("Bringing Up Baby" with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, "Red River" with John Wayne etc). But the creature in
that one is a joke - its leggy James Arness (of TV`s "Gunsmoke") dressed
in a funny suit. Personally I think Carpenter`s movie is a masterpiece of
creeping horror.....
The latest "remake" may not be so bad; its based around the original team
of mainly european scientists who unearth the flying saucer in the ice (and
we all know at the start whats going to happen to them) ! The trailer
looks fun and I for one will see it, and probably enjoy it, without expecting
it to be the masterpiece that is Carpenter`s movie.

[number 6]

One of the best horror flicks, on a par with Alien and way better than most of the crap that passes for horror these days.