I can’t remember why I went on a mission about this now but I got into a discussion about movie remakes recently and ended up on a rant.  These are some of the reasons why:

1. The Pink Panther – why on earth would you remake these films.  Peter Sellers is a legend as Clouseau and has made that role his own.  Not to mention Herbert Lom’s long suffering Dreyfuss!
2. The Haunting – the new film had plenty of CGI but no tension
3. The Omen – there is just simply no need to remake this film.  I wouldn’t say the latest film is a bad film but it just doesn’t have the harshness or fear value for me.
4. The Ladykillers – the original is black and white so not everyone’s cup of tea but I think it’s brilliant, a great Ealing comedy with dark shadowy moments.  The remake is a reinterpretation but falls short on laughs
5. Psycho – this has to be one of the biggest errors in the history of film!  Come on.  Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins are fantastic.  Perkins completely owns the Norman Bates role.  He has this strange, nervous, almost bird like quality that makes him come across as anything but a psychotic murderer.  Vaughan, well you just don’t have any problem believing that he is a killer and so it kind of changes the nature of the film.
6. The Italian Job – okay, I won’t say this is a terrible film, it has a couple of good chases and I like the actors but it’s just a bit ‘everyday’ so why remake the film at all??
7. Arthur – no.  I simply refuse to even talk about this.
8. Halloween – the real fear value for me personally was that Myers is ‘unknown’ and also seemingly unkillable!  In the remake there is simply too much explanation which undermines his mystery.
9. The Hitcher – again, Rutger Hauer owns this role and even if the remake is a good film I can’t see the point in remaking just to be an ‘also ran’.
10. Mr Deeds – stick to Mr Deeds goes to Town.  This remake loses the plot completely and is just ‘meh’.

However, fret not, I also found some very excellent remakes….(which I’ll leave out for now!)