Remakes: Sometimes You Win

I've noticed a very strange phenomena when it comes to remakes. Eight out of ten are in the horror genre.

Why?

On the whole, I will agree with a lot of horror fans that remakes suck. But sometimes a remake will utterly shock and surprise, and become bigger and better than the original.

I remember when word originally got out that John Carpenter of Halloween fame announced he was going to remake Howard Hawks' classic The Thing. People screamed. Me, I remembered the original black and white version (in which James Arness of TV's Gunsmoke played the titular character). But I also knew that movies had come a long, long way since the 1950s. Plus it was going to be in color - way cool!

I followed any news I could get my hands on regarding the production aspect of it, right down to the fact that one of my all-time favorite actors was starring: Kurt Russell.

There were no CGI effects back in those days. Everything was done by animatronics and hands-on special effects. As a result, the film scared the crap out of me when I went to see it in the theaters.

Now it's rumored there will be a third Thing, another remake, and all I can think of is that that CGI will be an integral part of the movie. Frankly, I don't mind CGI as long as it doesn't overwhelm the story, but recently I think Hollywood has been relying too much on the computerized horror and not enough on the emotional gut punches to make a movie memorable.

Does this mean I won't like the new remake? To be honest, I'm willing to give #3 a try. But the moment I see the seams and zippers showing on the creature, and the wires to my suspension of belief are cut, I will do what a lot of other horror lovers might do... pull out my Carpenter DVD to help get the bad taste out of my mouth.