Are horror remakes more successful than other genres?

Hey all, i was very much hoping for some help on my A2 media coursework. Im not asking for the work to be done, just any ideas on my question of whether horror remakes post-'scream' seem to have more success than those of genres. If anyone can post some recent remakes post 96, it would be greatly appreciated.

Horror:
-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
-The Grudge
-Dawn of the Dead
-The Ring

Other
-Alfie
-Get Carter
-The Italian Job

thanks

Hmm... Without doing research (which doesn't interest me at the moment.... see how I am?) I'd say yes, they're more successful. There are more of them. If you felt like looking it up, you could probably establish further success with box office numbers.

I wonder why that is, though.
Anyone have any thoughts?
[/threadjack]

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Horror remakes are more successful (financially) than other genre remakes, as is the case with all of your examples, and you could easily justify this with some stats from www.boxofficemojo.com but you have to ask yourself are they more successful because they are remakes or simply because of their genre. To put it this way, horror is just a financially more succesful genre than almost every other genre out there (save for action/adventure). Just something to think about.

As for why the remakes are more successful, or why horror is in general...people like to be scared. They like to be shaken and nothing does it better than horror.

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Sure.
I'm curious why they like to be scared by sequels rather than by new scary stories, I guess.

Well that's easy. People are stupid and don't have the patience to look at an original and their 5 second attention span is only spiked by the ad they see on MTV. People, and by this I mean the teen generation who spend what has been coined as "guilt money" (the money given to them by their parents because the parents don't have the time to spend with kids anymore), have some belief that if it isn't new and modern (or as is the case with several members on this board, American) then it is crap. How they got that belief is beyond me, but it probably came from a text message on their cell phone they've had since they were 6. Can you tell I hate the new generation?

Anywho...I've never seen a horror remake that is better than it's original and probably never will. The closest I've seen is the Grudge. It wasn't nearly as scary as the original Ju-On, but the inclusion of some small plot tweaks (mainly the origination of the ghost) resulted in a much more cohesive story. The Dawn of the Dead remake wasn't too shabby entertainment wise, but it fell far, far, far short of it's legendary predecessor.

Do you just mean financially successful?

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Yeah, that comes across...

So your stance is that, while the re-makers don't really have a prayer of surpassing the original artistically, they hop on the bandwagon to make a buck? And it's more successful than trying to get an uneducated audience to get into something new. Makes as much sense as anything else.

Thanks for all this feedback, its greatly appreciated.
Holden, yes, sorry if i didnt clarify, success financially although opinions on whether they are better films are still welcome

I thought the Solaris remake was top notch.

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Insomnia was also good

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While it didn't come across in my first post, with my views on the next generation, that is actually exactly what I believe. Production companies are no longer willing to put up the financial risk for the sake of making a solid all around horror flick and instead take the route of sacrificing the content of it for more ticket sales. As a horror entrepreneur this greatly saddens me.

Are you serious?

I'm serious anyway. Soderbergh's Solaris is excellent, though I still prefer Tarkovsky's between the two. But I do love the 2002 version. Definitely.

"It's the puppet's dream, being normal."

You're talking about that snooze-fest with George Clooney?
I had some problems with that one. I felt like it never got going, for one.

Completely!

I love this film. Excellent sci-fi that builds on character and mood, eschewing frenetic action scenes and subtley using futuristic technology to add the the environment, rather than relying on technology as a main plot focus. The long sweeping exterior shots in space are a tad derivative of Kubrick, but that's a good thing.

One of the better sci-fi films to come out in awhile IMO.

_Cheers

i have confirmed reports that the new solaris was far better than the older one....

Cool beans. Thanks for explaining that, Sedai.

Well, it is quite the slow film, so I see why some folks wouldn't get down with it. For instance, Ms. Sedai wasn't a big fan of the film on first viewing, as she wasn't in the right frame of mind for it when we watched it the first time. She wasn't geared up for slow and floaty deep concept time. After a few months had passed, she gave it another shot, knowing she was in for some slow pacing and has now started to dig the concepts more. And really, if you give it another shot, check out the photography (shot by Soderbergh himself), as it is really amazing.

Near the beginning of the film, check out the way the communications panel freezes the image of Dr. Gabarian. I haven't seen the original, so I don't know if the concept was lifted from that, but it is just a brilliantly conceived and executed idea, speaking volumes about one of the main themes of the film.

i hope OG doesn't mean that all of the new generation are like he explains


i am part of that "new"generation....scrap that.....new generation

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"I realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion and they have every right to express it, but some people are just stupid."-- OG-

The horror genre in itself is having a resurgence, I feel, due to the growing realization that the PG-13 crowd will pay over and over to be scared. For a large portion of the last 25 years in horror, films were made for the bloodlust of teenagers, and therefore garnered an R, most times. With the last 5 or 10 years of a return to moral values and parental involvement, these rated R films have not met with the same success of its predecessors. Now, with Grudge, Ring and countless others invading the market previously unattainable without a willing parent, making money hand over fist; the studios are snapping up any existing story line they can to tailor it into a PG-13 flick that will drive in these masses.

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