Remakes That Are Better Than The Original

[Chancey289]

Sure remakes are usually things that are always condemned right out the gate and that attitude while deserved for some (looking at you RoboCop remake) for others it's just a hackneyed attitude that sometimes shouldn't be brought upon some because there are remakes that actually in one way or another outshine the original.

It's not saying the originals are bad movies but, one of the reasons a movie should be remade is when they can actually improve on things and what are some remakes done right? I have a few in mind so I'll make a list.

The list may surprise you as they do me. I'M SERIOUSLY BAFFLED MYSELF AT SOME OF MY OWN CHOICES but I will explain.

True Grit
-May consider the original with John Wayne a classic that shouldn't be touched. It is a classic indeed but the thing is when it comes to comparing the original and remake, they are so alike yet so different at the same time with personally the 2011 update coming out on top. With fantastic performances from a great cast all around and an experience that is truly believable of the tale and Jeff Bridge's Rooster more human in a way, this tale of vengeance was a superb one that actually came out above and went beyond the original.

The Karate Kid
-HOLD UP AND LISTEN. I LOVE THE ORIGINAL KARATE KID. LIKE FREAKING SERIOUSLY.
Believe me, if anyone was more p!ssed than me when I heard it was getting a remake with Jaden Smith in the lead I would be surprised. I went in to this movie expecting to hate on it and literally sh!t all over it even if it stars also like one of my favorite people in the world Jackie Chan.

But color me shocked that the remake actually arguably was better than the original. Someone needed to help me pick up my jaw off the floor because I did not expect to have those words come outta my mouth. I still absolutely adore the original film. I watched that movie like religiously when I was a little kid.

What I love about this version of The Karate Kid was that it took it's own liberties and did it the right way. This time around the kid was actually a kid and instead of dealing with the outcast situation in the setting of high school it was literally an outcast scenario. Interesting choice and it made for some visually cool scenes. Taking place in China was actually really cool.

While I love Mr. Miyagi Jackie Chan as the teacher Mr. Han was more believable. In the original it's kinda just implied this guy knows everything he's talking about right off the back. Jackie Chan knows what he's talking about because we all knows he DOES. The dude in real life knows his sh!t. And I must admit he gives off quite the performance here and I can't say I wasn't getting feels when he was breaking down about his tragic past. The chemistry shared between this teacher and student really worked for the films advantage and Jaden can actually be a decent actor. He surely isn't shy in front of the camera. Also I must admit the humor was genuinely funny and it had me cracking up quite a few times.

I wasn't expecting to admit it and say it (I slapped myself across the face to see if I wasn't dreaming. True story) but the remake actually in its own right was better and good enough of a movie to stand along side the original I've always adored that is still in my heart.

The Fly
-One of the films that made us all forever fall in love with Jeff Goldblum this remake no doubt outshines the original that was somewhat campy and this version makes the original look like Blue's Clues. With very strong characters it's a masterful tragic science fiction and gothic horror tale.

Ocean's Eleven
-With a more diverse, all around likable, and amazing cast consisting of some of my favorite actors, Ocean's Eleven was a great remake to the original 60s heist film. It just had this fun style to it and all around fell in to place and was smooth. While the sequels were decent at best but kinda unneeded if you ask me, this was a fun time.

The Ring
-Now, I am a MASSIVE fan of Asian horror. Like, I think it's safe to say I'm the biggest Asian horror fan on this forum. But this is pretty much the ONLY foreign horror remake that actually I enjoyed more than the original. And I loved the original. I have all 4 original Japanese films.
See? Cool huh.

But I just thought the new one was actually a pretty damn good adaption. I do love the subtlety of the original and it arguably does do better in that regard but the remake was very atmospheric with a great score by Hans Zimmer and also creepy visuals aided by a story that was paced well with good performances. Overall it is pretty much the only foreign remake I'll agree that's better than the original and I'm probably in a minority but I'm sticking to it.

Maniac
-For all you hardcore horror fans, you've probably heard of Maniac. If not, it's ok. It still is a rather obscure flick but the remake is worth checking out if you're in for being part of a twisted experimental film that for some will either make it or break it for you. Elijah Wood is really good at playing a creepy serial killer. The dude is already creepy in real life if you ask me so why not?

What makes Maniac stand out though is it's style that like I said will make or break the film for you. It's not your average slasher. The film is entirely shot through the point of view of our maniac Frank. This is interesting and it does take you for basically a first person serial killer ride that is brutal. I personally got a kick out of this film and while not for everyone it really did decide to do something interesting and I'm sure this film will go down as a cult classic. Wearing its influences on its sleeve and capitalizing on it.

Evil Dead
-Now, The Evil Dead trilogy are some of my favorite movies of all time. LIKE, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, I EFFING LOVE THE EVIL DEAD MOVIES! The remake however was one movie that was everything Evil Dead should be without being just some carbon copy and if you say any different, you aren't a true Evil Dead fan.

With Raimi and Cambell themselves backing this flick, I was able to sleep soundly. And people need to realize that this was a remake of THE EVIL DEAD. Which was a straight up horror flick. The franchise didn't go horror comedy until Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (Which is still my favorite Evil Dead movie of them all).

To me, this is sort of the film Raimi always wanted to make if he had the budget back then. And while I still love the original to death, there's no denying of the way it comes off to today's standards. Evil Dead updates it in all the right ways and definitely gives a worthy experience that only adds on to the already incredible legacy of the film series. It's GROOVY enough to stand with the rest and actually surpasses it. Bravo. F#cking bravo. I loved the hell outta it.

John Carpenter's The Thing.
-I love this movie. It is one of my favorite horror movies like, ever. So of course I would put this in my best remakes list. Who cares that it's technically not a remake. Everyone and their grandma considers it so just sit down and shut up. Enjoy this fantastic flick and don't question that it's truly one of the greatest remakes of all time.

Honorable Mention: Dawn of The Dead
-Zack Snyder's remake of Romero's classic was actually surprisingly great. Does it top the original? Nah. But it came pretty damn close.

So, there's more but I'll cut my list here. Discuss and have fun. Also, let's stick to films and leave video games out.

 

[Chancey289]

The remakes of Total Recall, The Thing, Pulse, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Godzilla, and Planet of the Apes were just terrible.

Sorry but the film lover in me can not stand idle and act like those atrocities are better than the originals. I question what the people who enjoyed those films were smoking.

 

[ROCKMAN X]

And as much nostalgia i have for the original Spiderman trilogy i can't help but acknowledge the fact that Amazing spiderman is overall a much better movie with well written characters and visuals effects.

also judge dredd remake is a better movie than the 80's campy Stallone version

and wasn't scarface a remake too?

The remakes of Total Recall, The Thing, Pulse, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Godzilla, and Planet of the Apes were just terrible.

lol i think she's pulling your leg by listing all the horrible remakes.. XD

the planet of the apes ending was so much of a mindfu*k someone made 2 youtube videos explaining that.

 

[Chancey289]

And as much nostalgia i have for the original Spiderman trilogy i can't help but acknowledged the fact that Amazing spiderman is overall a much better movie with well written characters and visuals effects.

also judge dredd remake is a better movie than the 80's campy Stallone version

and wasn't scarface a remake too?
lol i think she's pulling your leg by listing all the horrible remakes.. XD

the planet of the apes ending was so much of a mindfu*k someone made 2 youtube videos explaining that.

I'm a massive Spidey fan and The Amazing Spider-Man was better than it had any right being. I also really enjoyed and no doubt the cast so much better.

And dude, Dredd was f#cking awesome. A shame that movie got overlooked because it was one of the best comic book movies that year.

And yes, Scarface is a remake but, I think everyone knows that and also knows it's better so that's why I didn't list it. Like I said, I didn't list everything. There's more.

And hopefully Vamp is just messing around because man, there is no defense for those terrible films.

 

[Jak]

*phantom of the opera (2004)
*12 (angry men)
*death race
*halloween

 

[AgentRedgrave]

Lol I actually have guilty pleasures that are remakes. Remakes I like ( I said like, not like better then the originals, there's a difference)

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (It was one of my very first horror films and scared the crap outta me as a kid, plus Jessica Biel, nuff said)
2. Halloween (The original 1978 Halloween is actually my favorite horror film, but I do like some things about the 2007 film. While I didn't like the backstory they tried to give Michael. I like the film's gritty style, Malcom Mcdowell was excellent, and well I do personally find the character's more believable (shows you how screwed up my view of the world is), and I love the 2007 version of Micheal's mask)
3. Friday the 13th (I actually do like this film more then the originals, or at-least more then the 4 it was based on, Friday the 13th 2009 is actually my third favorite Friday the 13th film (behind Freddy vs Jason, though I hated Jason being scared of water, and my 1 favorite of the series Part 6: Jason Lives. which proves Jason is not afriad of water) I thought they did a good job of making a decent old fashion slasher film, and I love their version of Jason)
   
4. The Wolfman (After years of Twilight and Twilight knock-offs r@p!ng vampires and werewolves, and werewolves being turned into superheros (which is cool too when ya do it right) it was nice to see an old fashion werewolf story of a cursed man. Fun fact, some Twi-hard sent a letter to Universal saying they ripped off New Moon with this film lol XD what a dumb@$$)
   
5. Fright Night (I pretty much like this film for the same reasons I like the Wolfman remake.....cept for vampires. That and Collen Farrell was pretty good in this)
   
6. The Evil Dead (I thought this one was pretty well done)
7. Scarface (I saw this one before the original, and when I saw the original I didn't like it, sorry)
8. The Thing (Never saw the original, just love a good John Carpenter movie, the 2011 film (which was prequel to the 80's film not a remake) was also pretty good)
9. Robocop (I know what you're thinking "Whaaaaa?". Don't get me wrong this film is a piece of s#!t compared to the original, don't get me started. But for the series as a whole, it is one of the better installments, it's better then the tv show, it's better then the miniseries, it's better then those crap cartoons, It's better then Robocop 2 and 3)
10. King Kong (The Peter Jackson film, not the 70's film the film was a little long though and slow paced, but still a decent film when it picked up. Hoping Godzilla goes the same route (what with the first reimagining being crap and then being followed by a highly successful version) Fun fact, Andy Serkis who motioned captured for Kong also did motion capture for Godzilla in the upcoming film

 

[ROCKMAN X]

I'm a massive Spidey fan and The Amazing Spider-Man was better than it had any right being. I also really enjoyed and no doubt the cast so much better.

I mostly liked it that they didn't go cheap and just tell the same origin story without any creativity also the villain's motivations were actually more believable here.

And hopefully Vamp is just messing around because man, there is no defense for those terrible films.

They may not be terrible per se,but saying that they are better than the originals is just ridiculous.

Halloween (The original 1978 Halloween is actually my favorite horror film, but I do like some things about the 2007 film. While I didn't like the backstory they tried to give Michael. I like the film's gritty style, Malcom Mcdowell was excellent, and well I do personally find the character's more believable (shows you how screwed up my view of the world is), and I love the 2007 version of Micheal's mask

IMHO the only thing that made halloween a horror classic is the fact that it NEVER tried to be over the top gruesome like this remake.

The original lacks any kind of deep writing and has laughably campy character backstories but it kinda works because it never focuses on its characters it only focuses on building suspense.

This remake focuses too much on the already shallow character backstory of the killer and tries to be over the top gruesome which is the exact opposite of what the original tried to be.

Halloween remake isn't a bad movie but it just isn't anything more than your run of the mill horror flick.

 

[Chancey289]

The remake of Halloween is decent at best but, I think they really messed up when they gave Michael Myers a more fleshed out backstory that was just pretty generic too overall.

"I met him, fifteen years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding; and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."

Done. That's all you need.

 

[AgentRedgrave]

The remake of Halloween is decent at best but, I think they really messed up when they gave Michael Myers a more fleshed out backstory that was just pretty generic too overall.

"I met him, fifteen years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding; and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."

Done. That's all you need.

Lol I agree, like I said that was one thing about the 2007 film I didn't like. F.Y.I. I love that line. It shows just how scared/mentally scarred Loomis is because of Michael, which makes Michael even creepier and scarier

 

[Chancey289]

The Friday The 13th remake (well technically a remake of part 2) was actually solid too when I think about it. I mean, it was a slasher flick and nothing more. I even liked the fact that Jason actually would run and really he seem more brutal overall. With some nice kills thrown in the mix it was what Friday The 13th kinda always was so yea.

A Nightmare on Elm Street however WAS TERRIBLE. ROBERT ENGLUND WILL ALWAYS BE FREDDY KRUEGER.
The biggest problem with the Nightmare remake was that it also seriously just tried to shoot some scenes exactly the same. It was just trying to recreate the same film but with less charm and spirit. Plus Jackie Earl Hayley's Freddy sucked a$$. Freddy was always this psychopathic killer who also didn't take things very seriously. Freddy not only scared people but he was able to deliver laughs. Jackie's one was a big no no. Why they couldn't just get Robert to reprise the role is beyond me.

 

[Jak]

The Friday The 13th remake (well technically a remake of part 2) was actually solid too when I think about it. I mean, it was a slasher flick and nothing more. I even liked the fact that Jason actually would run and really he seem more brutal overall. With some nice kills thrown in the mix it was what Friday The 13th kinda always was so yea.

A Nightmare on Elm Street however WAS TERRIBLE. ROBERT ENGLUND WILL ALWAYS BE FREDDY KRUEGER.
The biggest problem with the Nightmare remake was that it also seriously just tried to shoot some scenes exactly the same. It was just trying to recreate the same film but with less charm and spirit. Plus Jackie Earl Hayley's Freddy sucked a$$. Freddy was always this psychopathic killer who also didn't take things very seriously. Freddy not only scared people but he was able to deliver laughs. Jackie's one was a big no no. Why they couldn't just get Robert to reprise the role is beyond me.

i was with you...but then you said nightmare remake was bad. Personally, i prefer the rorschach freddy because there's a calm creepiness to him that appeals to me. sure robert was charismatic and what not, but i was really taken by how they went with a different take on freddy.

 

[AgentRedgrave]

The Friday The 13th remake (well technically a remake of part 2) was actually solid too when I think about it. I mean, it was a slasher flick and nothing more. I even liked the fact that Jason actually would run and really he seem more brutal overall. With some nice kills thrown in the mix it was what Friday The 13th kinda always was so yea.

Well not to split hairs but the Friday the 13th remake was actually more like a reboot then a remake. The opening was a remake of the ending of part 1, from there it's mainly it's own thing with some elements taken from parts 2, 3 and 4 to a lesser extent.

A Nightmare on Elm Street however WAS TERRIBLE. ROBERT ENGLUND WILL ALWAYS BE FREDDY KRUEGER.
The biggest problem with the Nightmare remake was that it also seriously just tried to shoot some scenes exactly the same. It was just trying to recreate the same film but with less charm and spirit. Plus Jackie Earl Hayley's Freddy sucked a$$. Freddy was always this psychopathic killer who also didn't take things very seriously. Freddy not only scared people but he was able to deliver laughs. Jackie's one was a big no no. Why they couldn't just get Robert to reprise the role is beyond me.

The remake Freddy is actually much closer to what Wes Craven always invisioned the character as, he hates how far the sequels took Freddy's humor. Ironically though, A Nightmare on Elm Street, was the one remake of one of his films that he did not support. More then likely cause he had no involvement with it. Also Robert Englund didn't want to do another film. While I did think Jackie Earl Hayley was pretty good, at-least as a more serious Freddy, no one beats Robert Englund. But yeah I agree with you, while I enjoyed Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003, Halloween 2007, and Friday the 13th 2009, I've got no love for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

 

[Chancey289]

Robert just defines the character and really is who and what he is. And like I said one of the biggest problems with the Nightmare remake is the how it's a remake that lives up to its lineage in the worst possible way. No depth. No subversive twist. No good characters. I really don't like Michael Bay's horror production company.

 

[AgentRedgrave]

Robert just defines the character and really is who and what he is. And like I said one of the biggest problems with the Nightmare remake is the how it's a remake that lives up to its lineage in the worst possible way. No depth. No subversive twist. No good characters. I really don't like Michael Bay's horror production company.

Or Michael Bay films in general lol

 

[Chancey289]

Yea, in general. I HATE Michael Bay. He's an awful film maker.

 

[Razyel]

The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 (& 3)

The reason:
While the originals established the standard for future superhero movies and were pretty darn good movies (especially Spider-Man 1), they didn't quite catch the Spidey of the comic books.

This is of course arguable since the comics are so diversed and Spidey has 3-4 different comic book series nowadays.
What I consider the purest Spidey incarnation is however the original The amazing Spider-Man comic book series.
With Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr. etc. in charge.

The reason why these new movies are better has everything to do with the new director Mark Webb, who can make these characters more relatable and emotional while not forgetting the essential humor of the comics.

Not saying that the original trilogy didn't have any humor or good characters, however the foundation is just not where it should have been, the respect for the original comics is not there.
Here's some examples:
1 Organic web over web-shooters.
2 MJ Watson over Gwen Stacy.
3 Including Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3 for no reason.

top 5 in my opinion is:
1 The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2 Spider-Man
3 The Amazing Spider-Man
4 Spider-Man 2 & Spider-Man 3