Remakes of movies have a reputation for often being worse than the original. Fortunately, this is not true for all remakes. Below, we present 5 examples that surpass their originals.
Re-making a movie does not necessarily show great creativity. However, Hollywood often relies on remakes because it is an easy way to repackage tried and tested stories.
This often leads to mediocre to poor results, which are a clear indication of the minimal effort involved. However, some films manage to far exceed their originals. The following list showcases five of the best that are worth watching. The order is purely random.
Scarface
The film by Brian De Palma, starring Al Pacino, is a remake of a film of the same name from 1932. Since the remake was released in 1983, the story was conveniently set in that very time.
This gives the remake a lot of 80s charm. The plot revolves around gangster Tony Montana and his rise in Miami, filled with many memorable moments. While the original was a good but not particularly remarkable gangster film for its time, the “new” Scarface had a significant impact on pop culture. A game like GTA Vice City draws heavily from the aesthetics and scenes of the film. The hip-hop scene often references it as well.
Fun fact: Initially, the violent scenes of the film caused controversy, leading to it being indexed in Germany until 2011 in its uncut version.
The Thing
Horror expert John Carpenter tackled a remake of The Thing in 1982. The original is a classic mix of horror and science fiction from the 1950s. However, only the remake can truly convey the horror of the source material.
The story, told from the perspective of a research team in Antarctica, is incredibly thrillingly staged. An alien creature can change shape at will and even impersonate one of the researchers. Who is “the thing”? This question looms throughout. Grandiose practical effects give the body horror a face – these are images you won’t forget. The whole chaos could have been avoided if one of the researchers had only spoken Norwegian.
Fun fact: The Thing received a prequel in the form of another film in 2011. Unfortunately, this film could not match the intensity of its predecessor.
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