Modern movies that rip of earlier better black and white films

[Lark]

Mr Deeds, Last Holiday, those are two movies that I can think of in this category, can anyone think of any others?

There's great old black and white movies which havent been remade and which I doubt would be as good either, like twelve angry men or that other one about Darwinism being on trial in the US but I'm wondering about others which you may have seen in the colour, modern version and only watched the other by chance maybe and thought, man, that's some difference there.

What do you think makes the difference? Is it that the movies are played more as straight features or human interest than cliched humour flicks? Or is it all to do with the actor rather than the story?

 

[Thalassa]

Twelve Angry Men was sort of re-done as 12, a really powerful Russian film. It was good, not complaining, but informing.

I think THE WORST re-make of a black and white film is anything that rips off Psycho.

I'm sure there are others, though, I just have to think about it. I'm usually pissed off about horror movies being re-done (with the exception of Rob Zombie's Halloween) more than black and whites.

But black and white films tended to rely on things like, oh I don't know, acting and writing, while a lot of more modern mainstream films don't. I emphasize "mainstream" there, though.

 

[Lark]

Twelve Angry Men was sort of re-done as 12, a really powerful Russian film. It was good, not complaining, but informing.

I think THE WORST re-make of a black and white film is anything that rips off Psycho.

I'm sure there are others, though, I just have to think about it. I'm usually pissed off about horror movies being re-done (with the exception of Rob Zombie's Halloween) more than black and whites.

But black and white films tended to rely on things like, oh I don't know, acting and writing, while a lot of more modern mainstream films don't. I emphasize "mainstream" there, though.

I dislike a lot of remakes, especially the texas chainsaw ones, I dont know that any movie has achieved the traumatic element of the first one, the roving eye scene which is on the menu screen on the dvd.

Mind up for the same reason last house on the left, the original was better than any remake but also worth the ban it once had, I'm not convinced that the actors in some of those early features were fine afterwards or that some of the actors playing the vilains werent twisted individuals in reality, some of them were too convincing.

Now there were good, horrible, horrors like Black Christmas, which didnt go too far like last house on the left, now I find there's the same sort of horrible horror produced on a routine basis, often consumed on a routine basis, often by young people and I wonder about the consequences, like the movie Eden Lake.

I saw that movie and took the message away from it that you shouldnt expect to be saved, that you should make difficult choices as a survivor not to perpetuate cycles of violence but I've known lots of kids who've seen it to interpret it that the victims werent violent enough in order to deter anyone from messing with them in the first place, the wrong, damn, message.

 

[Thalassa]

I actually love the original Black Christmas. That movie is creepy as fuck. I believed the slasher was really insane. You know that film is also historically important as being the first slasher film, yes? It pre-dates the original Halloween.

Or do you mean you don't like the re-make?

I never took any "message" from Black Christmas, other than it's a good idea to check the attic and the closets, especially if you live in a huge old house and someone could climb up your trellis.

No one can touch the original Chainsaw. That movie was a low-budget work of art. It's truly frightening and part of the reason is because Tobe Hooper was so obsessive. Those people actually sat in sweltering Texas temperatures in the summer time, and they could smell meat rotting on the table, he made them sit at that kitchen table scene for like 24 hours and Marilyn Burns (oops I did not mean to put a porn actress) actually vomited from the heat and stench. There was no air conditioning. There was not Hollywood luxury. The suffering is so realistic because I think on some level the horror was real.

Same with the Exorcist, and William Friedkin. Apparently he did things like shoot shutguns near people to keep them scared.

Being a good director is hard work, and they are the driving force behind the film, I think. That's one of the reasons I probably like Rob Zombie's version of Halloween, I respect him as a director, and I think he took it in a totally different direction instead of just trying to update it or make it "modern."

There are horror films with messages of course, I don't mean to say that they don't have messages, I was just going on about the meaning and interpretation of Yellow Brick Road on another web site last night... but I never too any sort of "message" from Black Christmas, nor did I look for one, that movie is just atmospheric and scary.

I don't like the message in Hostel,that is, that people from Eastern Europe are going to skin you alive if you go stay in a French hostel. I was very displeased with that film.

I've never seen Eden Lake.

I've also never seen the re-make of Last House on the Left, but the first one is like...real life horror. Like stuff that really disturbs me, real people doing sick twisted things.