Tags: remake

With the prequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning coming out on October 6th, 2006, I thought it was just about time to take a look at the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its 2003 remake (The Beginning is connected to the remake).

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (henceforth referred to as TCM03) should come with a warning label on it. "Do not consume within 2 months of ingesting 1974 version." The problem is that if you look at TCM03 up against the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM74), the newer film will appear to be complete crap. The social commentary is gone, the story is juiced up with sex and drugs, and it misses the almost nihilistic "s**t happens, then you die" philosophy of Tobe Hooper's seminal classic.(read more...)

They messed with Night of the Living Dead, and it wasn't half-bad. It had a good cast, and didn't change too much of the formula. Then, they provided a "redux" of Dawn of the Dead. It was okay, but Romero's trademark extreme gore and social commentary was lost and replaced by a new, hip, action-oriented formula. But I can deal with that.(read more...)

So, a few new trailers/teasers have recently made it to the web, and whaddya know, they just happen to fit within our beloved genre! Enclosed are the titles of the newest horror trailers/teasers, along with links so you can sit back, relax, and develop an opinion on whether or not the following films "look good":

Amityville Horror Trailer 2
http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/the_amityville_horror/trailer_2/

Oldboy
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/old_boy.html

War of the Worlds Teaser 2
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/waroftheworlds/(read more...)

A couple days after the last edition of Haunted Newsreel, a trailer for the Amityville Horror remake found a home on the web, but it was only available for viewing on MTV.com and you could only watch it through a very new version of Windows Media Player that I did not have.(read more...)

Sam Raimi's production outfit Ghost House Pictures (whatever happened to Renaissance, anyway?) is looking to fund a sequel to their recent horror remake hit The Grudge. Stephen Susco, the writer of the previous entry, has been contracted to pen the second film in what may become a franchise. The Grudge is a remake of the 2003 Japanese horror flick Ju-On, and the two films shared the same director, Takashi Shimizu.(read more...)

David Cronenberg's getting the remake treatment lately. Lions Gate is working on a new version of Scanners, inheriting the project from its days at the recently bought-out Artisan. Pierre David, René Malo and Clark Peterson will serve as producers. James Wan (Saw) has already passed on directing (he also passed on Fox's in-the-works remake of The Fly).

Tobe Hooper (of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame), in case you didn't know, just finished directing a new movie called The Toolbox Murders (one movie I am seriously anticipating), which is an in-name-only remake of the 1970s slasher flick. Hooper's Toolbox Murders should be hitting stores later this year (yep, it's direct-to-video) and already Mr. Hooper is planning a sequel.(read more...)

Yet another classic horror film that is entirely unique and probably doesn't need any sort of remake is getting remade... and this time, at the behest of its original director. Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures is gearing up to remake The Evil Dead. Raimi will not direct the film himself, but is actively looking for a new person to take the helm. Although there's been no official casting, word has come down the pike that both Seann William Scott (American Pie) and Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive) are strong contenders to replace Bruce Campbell as Ash.

A round up of minor stories from across the web:(read more...)

Zack Snyder, director of the highly mediocre Dawn of the Dead remake, announced earlier this week that he will soon start working on a sequel to Dawn. But here's where it gets cryptic: this sequel will not be based on George Romero's original sequel for the original Dawn, and will instead be a stand-alone film. I suppose this is good news… I mean, I'm all for creativity instead of copying someone else's work, so I can't say that I'm against this sequel, but I have do have my doubts as far as the quality of the actual film is concerned, and they were created by the Dawn remake's inability to truly impress me.