"True" Remakes - Recommendations

Had an idea for a convo

True Remakes...

So, what I mean by "True" are movie remakes, where the original movie was an original script idea.
So, movies like The Thing (1982), Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (78), The Fly (86), and the various Planet Of The Apes movies, don't count.
They don't count, because they're based on books, novellas and short stories... Who Goes There?, The Body Snatchers, The Fly and Planet Of The Apes, respectively.

So... to kick off, I'll throw out...

The Blob (1988)

Based off an idea by Irving H. Millgate after a Star Jelly was discovered in 1950 in Pennsylvania... and the script was renamed from Molten Meteor to The Blob when screenwriter Kay Linkater, who wasn't actually working on the movie at the time, referred to the creature as "A Blob".

Personally, when it comes to remakes of original movies, The Blob from 1988, is probably the greatest remake of all time, second to none.
I mean, with Frank Darabont writing, the guy behind The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, The Fly 2, Elm Street 3, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein... and directed by Chuck Russell who gave us Elm Street 3 and The Mask... the movie almost can't go wrong.

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Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005) ... which personally, I think is also one of the best of all time. The 1976 movie with Jeff Bridges is, and as much as I love Bridges, it's just... terrible.
Not much I can say about King Kong that hasn't already been covered, but I think Jackson's movie, though a long watch, is easily up there as one of the greatest of all time.

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So, recommendations on "True" Remakes that surpass the original?

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^I can't stand the Peter Jackson Kong movie. That is not a film that need almost an hour of new crap added to it. The jungle part at the start is way too long and there's the bizarre ice-skating event right in the middle of the New York rampage that is bloody ridiculous. Like with Return of the King, Jackson layers the emotion far too thick where I was sick of it. I think it's the film that made me swear off Peter Jackson going forward.

I'll take the Jeff Bridges one, thanks.

I guess I'm a sucker for the long burners.

I love Jackson's movie. It takes all the little things that most movies cut out, and makes them part of the narrative.
I think that's what separates it from the original, and from other movies as well, is that it glorifies fine details, and makes a set-piece of literally sitting around and doing nothing for the plot.
I think the word I'm looking for is character... and that's something sadly missing from a lot of movies.

I mean, Jurassic Park and Terminator 2... you could remove most of the scenes in those movie, and go only for the action set-pieces, and they'd still work... but would they be as remembered 30 years later? Probably not.

Jackson's King Kong definitely has that longevity because of the extra depth he went by making scenes that pushed against the streamlined norms.

I love Peter Jackson’s King Kong and think it’s better than the 1933 version (which is also a classic) because it added a human element that the original lacked. However, that doesn’t count as a “true” remake because the original was based on a story.

Mark

-The Departed. Most people love it, but I think it's one of Scorsese's weakest and the original film is far better.

-Similarly, Insomnia, the original is excellent. Nolan's version, not so much.

-The Holdovers was completely ripped from 'Merlusse' 1935, and I don't think any credit was given either. It's more or less the exact same plot.

-K-Pax, similarly ripped off a film called 'Man Facing South East', same plot - and gave zero credit.

Not sure I'd exactly recommend these remakes but it gives some context.

What story was Kong based on?
I thought the 1933 movie was an original script.




For some reason you reminded me of Red (2008) and John Wick.
JW is a redo of the Brian Cox movie Red, both of which were concepts taken from the novel by Jack Ketchum... John Wick doesn't credit Ketchum at all though for the concept of the movie.

Quoted from my other thread ^^

I always forget about Invaders From Mars (1953) being remade in 86 by Tobe Hooper and written by Dan O'Bannon.
Yeah now that's a true remake, and solidly made as well.

The 80s took a lot of movies from the 50s and 60s and redid them... it's just finding the ones that were original screenplays and written as movies rather than based on books and novellas.

Don't know anything about those films, they're really not my bag.

Got one...

The Brendan Fraser blockbuster The Mummy (1999)

Based off the original script for the 1932 movie by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer.

Psycho

Airplane

^Big difference between a parody and a remake. Airplane was parodying a bunch of movies.

Originally Posted by The Rodent

What story was Kong based on? I thought the 1933 movie was an original script.

The 1933 King Kong was based on a novel version of the screenplay, which was published in 1932.

Mark