Friday, May 17, 2013

Best/Worst Movie Remake Blogfest


Hosted by Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, Father Dragon, and Livia.

Best Remake - The Ring

I remember seeing The Ring in theaters. Not only was it scary, it was unnerving. The imagery set a creepy tone and the music got under your skin. I love a good horror film, but that one really shook me. In fact, I was shaking so much when I went into the bathroom afterwards that I dropped by cell phone in the toilet. (Yes, I saved it. The cheap thing still worked!)

Two years later we watched the original Japanese film, Ringu. Not only did it have this other weird mumbo-jumbo going on, but the woman wasn’t half as strong as Naomi Watts’ character in The Ring. For once, Hollywood did a much better job.

Worst Remake - Red Dragon

This isn’t an awful movie - it just didn’t need to be made. I’ve read the book and Manhunter did a far better job capturing the essence. It was so stylish and creepy - and it featured William Petersen. After seeing Manhunter, Red Dragon fell so short. Plus it was only made to capitalize on the success of Silence of the Lambs.

Best Song Remake - Cars, originally by Gary Numan, remade by Fear Factory. The remake and video even feature Gary Numan:

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved the song Cars by Gary Numan, but have not heard of Fear Factory so can't compare.

Yvonne,

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I'll have to check out that Cars remake...cool that they featured Numan in it!

Karen Baldwin said...

I like the remix, but not as much as the original. Once you've got a song in your head, it's hard to replace it.

Joss said...

I love a good horror film so I think I will def have to check out The Ring. I'll just be sure not to take my phone with me into the bathroom after :)

shelly said...

The Cars are great. Loved The Ring. Never saw the Japanese version.

Hugs and chocolate,
Shelly

randi lee said...

Completely agree about the Ring. Something about the original that just can't be touched!

Timothy S. Brannan said...

I love that fear Factory remake.

Like you mentioned on my page we had different opinions on The Ring/Ringu. But I can't disagree with you on Red Dragon.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

The Ring was better than the original and no one can beat Michael Mann's film.
Fear Factory's Cars - excellent choice.
Thanks for participating in our blogfest!

Ella said...

oooh, I shake too! I am know for dropping things, no cell phones in the toliet yet, but glasses and other fun items! Japanese horror is different-reminds me of this Hairy Girl on the ceiling, in another film?! It looked like cousin IT-not funny, not scary, just odd?!

Yes, I love the Cars!
Happy Friday
:D

Michelle Wallace said...

I'm not familiar with these movies. Well I'm not really a movie fanatic.
I'm off to check out the songs...

Writer In Transit

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Elizabeth, and he looks as weird as ever.

Ella, I'm clumsy, so I should've known better.

Al Diaz said...

My dear Diane, I didn't see either movie but I'll take your word for it. I also heard Red Dragon was very bad. I just saw bits of it and went to sleep.
Thanks for participating in our blogfest! :D

LD Masterson said...

You're right. A re-make doesn't have to be bad to qualify for the Worst list, it just has to be unnecessary.

Donna Shields said...

I love the book, just not the movie.

Isis Rushdan said...

I agree Manhunter didn't need to be redone, but I'll go see anything with Ralph Fiennes :).

Tara Tyler said...

i cant watch horror, i dont like being scared! ah!
but i love cars and thats a cool version!

jaybird said...

Still won't go down in the basement after watching The Ring. Totally creeped me out.

Mark Means said...

Couldn't agree more with Red Dragon. It didn't hold a candle to Manhunter and, yes, I also agree that it was just made to capitalize on SotL.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I love that Cars song. I need to put it on my iPod.
Didn't see Manhunter but I'm not sure I want to if it's scarier.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

LD, and that one was so unnecessary.

Tara and Mark, they did a good job with the song.

Unknown said...

Definitely a huge disagreement on The Ring. :)

I think the worst song remake is the country album that came out of all Rolling Stones songs. Talk about travesty and insult.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Love the song remake!!!
However, I haven't seen the movies . . .

Laura Eno said...

I don't know either of those two movies but you mentioned "creepy" so I probably never will! :)

Hart Johnson said...

I like the remix pretty well, though my favorite song remake lately is Seether's version of Careless Whisper. The original was VERY 80s... definitely like the heavy metal version better.

nutschell said...

Haven't yet found the nerve to watch the Ring, but I'll take your word for it :) Never heard of Red Dragon. must check it out.
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Tony Laplume said...

Red Dragon had a terrific cast.

Laura S. said...

I haven't seen either of those. Little Women is one of my favorite remakes. I also really like the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. One of the worst remakes is The Truth about Charlie, which was a remake of the Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn film Charade. Charade is one of my favorite "oldies", but the remake was terrible.

Happy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines

Jennifer Shirk said...

Oh dear. It sounds like the Ring would FREAK ME OUT.

Hey, that Cars remake IS good!

Kate Larkindale said...

I agree that the remake of Red Dragon was awful. Not to mention unnecessary.

Interesting you've mentioned The Ring as the best. I've seen it as the worst in other parts of this blogfest. I can't comment because I've only seen the Japanese version.

Carol Kilgore said...

I never saw Red Dragon - I heard it was bad.

Happy Weekend!

Arlee Bird said...

I've seen both films but don't remember them much. I know I didn't drop my cell phone in the toilet. That I would remember.

Lee
A Faraway View
An A to Z Co-host blog

Jo said...

I don't watch scary movies if I can help it. Love the idea of you dropping your phone.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Stephen Tremp said...

Love Fear Factory's remake of Cars. And the video is just fun to watch!

I just came from a blog stating Ringu was great and the American version was awful. Guess its a matter of perspective.

Johanna Garth said...

I still want to see The Ring. Maybe I should see if its downloadable and watch it tonight :)

Anonymous said...

I remember the RING very well, but I forgot it was a remake. A good one!

M Pax said...

Ya know, I hated Cars since it first came out. I don't know why. Just did. Have a wonderful weekend!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Hart, considering the artist, Seether's version is much better.

Tony, so did Manhunter.

Laura, it's it terrible when they ruin an old film for us?

Stephen, it is all in how we view things. The video is really fun, which is why I posted it!

Heather M. Gardner said...

Very good point about Red Dragon! They did try to capitalize off of Silence and could not pull it off!

Great picks.

Heather

Karen Lange said...

Haven't seen either of these. Will skip the worst one. :) Remakes are tough to get right, aren't they?

Happy weekend!

Chancelet said...

I actually liked Red Dragon, but you're right, the first one fit the book better in some ways. Writer’s Mark

Rhonda Albom said...

We watch completely different movies. BTW - there is no link (or it's not working).

Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Thanks, everyone. My in-laws are visiting so I'll visit everyone tomorrow once they have gone!

Rhonda, the links to the blogfest hosts are all working.

Sandy said...

Not familiar with any of those, so can't say if there were good bad or indifferent. First movie that came to mind as a really re-make was The Italian Job.
After A-Z

Jai Joshi said...

I think Planet of the Apes is the worst remake for me. The Italian Job is a close second.

Jai

Trisha said...

I haven't heard FF's version ;) But I do like that band.

I loved the remake of Ring as well, but I can't really judge because I haven't seen the original. I recently read the book though and was surprised by all the differences in plot. I loved the book, even if it was my idea of 'wacko genius' ;)

James Garcia Jr said...

I've never seen The Ring. Some horror writer, huh? *laughs* I do agree with you on the Red Dragon comments. The book was excellent and the remake clearly was only riding coat tails.
Have a great week, Diane.

-Jimmy

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

I didn't see those movies, but I just watched the video. It's great. It helps that the song is so catchy too. I almost jumped up and danced, but his face morphed and I got a bit creeped out. =)

Be well, Diane, and thanks for your well wishes.
xoRobyn

Rachel Schieffelbein said...

I totally didn't know The Ring was a remake. It was pretty dang scary!

DL Hammons said...

I agree 100% with you about Red Dragon. Manhunter was such a better movie! :)