Between “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Fright Night,” if you’re into remakes of Roddy McDowall films, then this is your month.
PAD
Between “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Fright Night,” if you’re into remakes of Roddy McDowall films, then this is your month.
PAD
• 
So when’s the remake of Overboard coming out?
Screw that. I’m eagerly awaiting the remake of “Bullwhip Griffin.”
.
PAD
Circle Of Iron!!!
.
Some of the greatest hats in movie history.
as remakes go, “Rise” had a lot going for it. Fun, clever new “origin” for the myth, the right number of callbacks. bad guys were kinda cartoony but Ceasar was great! Lithgow too.
Havn’t seen “Fright Night” but David Tennant in Roddy’s role makes for a good argument in favor.
.
Just so long as they leave The Legend of Hëll House alone. After seeing what modern Hollywood will do with the last classic ghost story in my top five horror movies of all time (The Haunting, which was an amazingly well made and atmospheric film that was remade into a CGI crapfest) I don’t have any desire to even hear about how they would butcher that one.
Why not remake some of his BAD movies? IT, for example. The movie is dreadful and we haven’t had a really good Golem film since what, 1921? Some would suggest LASERBLAST to which I say–a kid finds a lasergun and blasts stuff up for 90 minutes. What the hëll more do you want from a movie called LASERBLAST? Maybe they could meld two features into THAT DARN CAT FROM OUTER SPACE which sounds to me like a license to print money.
Ah yes, THE HAUNTING. The original: a true classic, with no gore (it’s rated G! Seriously!) or special effects that manages to be terrifying. The remake: an incoherent mess (the house needs her help, or wants to kill her, or something) that wastes several normally talentged actors. Some (many?) remakes should be abandoned from the start.
You know, I was actually kind of disappointed with The Haunting, after hearing so much about it for so many years. I expected it to be like The Innocents, which is probably the scariest movie ever made, but I didn’t find it scary at all. I think you have to find ghosts, and noises made by ghosts, to be inherently scary in order to be frightened by that movie, and I just don’t. Of course, it was still a lot better than the remake, which was truly dreadful.
Actually, the original “The Haunting” is NOT rated G. The film came out in 1963 which was 5 years before the MPAA ratings system came out.
.
Many films released prior to 1968 have received MPAA ratings but many of them simply carry “Unrated” or “NR” for video releases while airings on television follow the general TV ratings guidelines. For many of the horror and SF films from the 1930s through the 1960s, the movies are utterly tame in comparison with today’s films and would rarely merit anything stronger than a “G” (OTOH, the original “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” had a “G” rating when released but was rated “PG” for the director’s cut released in 2001).
Haven’t seen the new Apes movie yet, but Fright Night was pretty good. I’m extremely happy that Apes performed well at the box office I wasn’t sure if there was an interest anymore.
Hah, didn’t think of it. Now when is the remake of The Cat From Outer Space coming out? They already did That Darn Cat!
Great developments! I’m eagerly awaiting the return of the Bookworm (from the 1960s Batman TV series).
.
Heck, I bet Grant Morrison could turn him into the cornerstone of a whole metatextual DC crossover.
McDowall’s most memorable performance for me was the 1960 Twilight Zone episode “People Are Alike All Over”, although it took me well into my adulthood to truly appreciate the social statement it was making.
.
Such a fine, underated actor.
What, has everyone forgotten The Black Hole?
We’re trying, man, we’re trying.
Aint-it-cool had some rumblings about someone wanting to remake THAT, too.
What about a remake of “Lord, Love A Duck”?
Rise of Planet of the Apes was a GREAT film and it did hit all the notes with the little easter eggs from the first film (idiot brother watching the original movie, the shuttle launch/and “losing” the shuttle, and the immortal line “get your hands off me you dámņ dirty ape!”) My favorite part of the whole movie is when Ceasar
Says “NO!”. I dont know about anyone else when that scene happend you could hear an audible gasp of amazement. Thats why I love going to the movies there is that shared community feeling of experiencing special moments like that. On the other hand Fright Night I am NOT interested in but Conan the Barbarian? I saw this with some friends this past Saturday (again community experience) and we all had a good time laughing, high fiving each other while watching the movie. By Crom its been a good summer for movies. Next year: TDKR, Avengers, Spider Man AND Superman! Bring it on and screw the Myans! :)LOL
Actually, that moment that you designate being your favorite part was a call back to “Escape from the Planet of the Apes.” Cornelius, in detailing the rise of the apes, states explicitly that the revolt truly began on a “historic day, commemorated by my species and fully documented in the sacred scrolls,” when there came an ape “who spoke a word that had been spoken to him, time without number, by humans. He said ‘No.'”
.
PAD
Fright Night – sadly a contender for biggest flop of the year – is a fun little diversion of a film with all around good acting and a script by Marti Noxon that shows her background in Sunnydale without aping it too closely.
But if were a really big fan of Roddy’s Peter Vincent, the new sleazeball magician version might disappoint you. They share only a name, though David Tennant does a good with what he’s given.
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is not actually a remake… No other film had that title.
That’s your criteria? Title? Vincent Price starred in a film called “The Last Man on Earth,” which was then remade as “The Omega Man” with Charlton Heston, and only relatively recently was it remade yet again with the title of the original story that launched it: “I am Legend.”
.
There are plenty of films that are remakes and the title changes. I’m sure people hereabouts can name many more.
.
PAD
Bedtime Story remade as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
.
The Shop Around the Corner remade as In the Good Old Summertime, then remade again as You’ve Got Mail.
.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan remade as Heaven Can Wait then again as Down to Earth.
.
A Guy Named Joe remade as Always.
.
Just to name a few.
Well, to be fair to Kevin, “Rise” is actually a “reinterpretation” of “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”, the 4th film in the original series, with the central character being Caesar who leads his fellow apes to freedom. Obviously the vast differences between the two films makes the term “remake” somewhat questionable.
L. Hicks gets it.
.
Thank you.
@ PAD: Wow. I totally missed that. Thanks for sharing that tid bit of information. Its sad to say that I have NEVER seen the Planet of the Apes sequels nor TV show. I look forward to the sequel that I am sure is coming.
I agree with Simon that the new Fright Night was a good little film and I personally think David Tennant steals the show, as a cross between Criss Angel and Rusell Brand. I just wish it hadn’t been presented in 3D, which felt absolutely unnecessary to the film, although that might have been one of the reasons for its recent failure. I’m hoping the general public are finally voting with their feet and telling the studios they’re not willing to pay an extra five bucks for no real reason other than greed.
.
As for Bullwhip Griffin, it’s one of my childhood favorites too, although having seen it again for the first time a few months ago, I was disappointed that it seemed to have dated quite badly. I suspect childhood memories cheat even more than we realize.
And, in the category of remakes no one asked for, Colin Farrell (from “Fright Night”) is apparently starring in a remake of “Total Recall.”
Another flop from this weekend was the remake of “Conan the Barbarian.” Me, I think, since Arnold is free now, it’s well-past time for him to do “King Conan.”