There are so many remakes out lately, and most are worth complaining about. There is no rationale behind the remake of Point Break, or to remake Total Recall and remove Mars from the plot. The newest addition to the list is this summer’s Ben-Hur. However, there have been amazingly well-done remakes. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and Mad Max Fury Road are quality films, and were critically successful.
This calls to mind three films that could use an amazing remake. Not, that the originals are bad, but we have the technology, we can rebuild them.
The Creature From The Black Lagoon
The Creature From the Black Lagoon is one of the best sci-fi films and monster movies of the 1950s. It is, however, unmistakably a film from the 50s. It has bad special effects and a damsel-in-distress plotline. An update faithful to the scientifically minded mythos of the original, but with modern effects and writing, would attract plenty of people. With the popularity of shows like Animal Planet’s River Monsters and its knockoffs, as well as the Sharknado series, a good marine horror movie would be timely.
The Running Man
The Hunger Games novels did a wonderful job of indicting desensitization and glorification of violence in the media, but the films did not. That shortcoming leaves room for a movie to take up the issue. The obvious candidate for that film would be a remake of 1987’s The Running Man. Schwarzenegger is a singular commodity, and It would be impossible to recreate the feel of the original Schwarzenegger film. Chris Hemsworth is the only actor today that has the potential to pull-off 80’s Arnold. With that said, the right director and cast could create a successfully and compelling film.
The Birds
There is a resurgence of monster movies lately, but the focus has been on a single creature. The Birds remains original in its use of many smaller “monsters,” but, like The Creature From The Black Lagoon, it’s outdated and stylistically old-fashioned. A remake, particularly one more faithful to the original short story, would be fun to see. The concept is still scary.
Each of these, of course, could be remade poorly, but each also has the potential to be amazing if done well.
What films do you think need a remake? Leave your comments below.
