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Four Things To Remember When Remaking Asian Horror

Being the movie capital of the Western world, Hollywood has always sought ideas from other cultures to use for its own nefarious ends. Be it the straight-forward twisting of the story of Arabian Nights to the sprinkling of racism that peppers most Disney animations, the practice became solidified as a grade-A money-spinner in a big, award-winning way with the release of Martin Scorsese's 2007 film The Departed.

[h2]3) Don’t use the original director[/h2]

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How are you supposed to change details that don’t make sense in the film’s new context, while keeping the spirit the same, if you’ve got the original director in to helm your film? It can’t be done.

The man above is Hideo Nakata, director of the original Ringu series, and the original Dark Water. All of these films are classics, but having the person there whose idea this whole endeavour was in the first place is going to hinder your project indubitably. I even have proof – he directed The Ring Two, taking over from Gore Verbinski, which was famously a stinker. While he did write the screenplay to the US remake of Dark Water, he has disappeared off the map somewhat in recent years.

Why is this a bad thing? Well, it smacks of fake authenticity. Just hiring the guy who made the original and placing him slap-bang in the middle of the Hollywood system isn’t a recipe for a great film. It’s a recipe for a disaster, and that disaster is called The Ring Two. If only they’d based it on Ringu 2.

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