I’m not sure what the future has in store for horror remakes and their sequels. The Nightmare on Elm Street remake and the Friday the 13th remake both made decent money, yet sequels have not been greenlit or rushed into production. Hopefully it remains that way until they get some good people on the projects that are actually passionate and committed to making the best possible sequels and not something for quick cash.
Texas Chainsaw 3D is going to let us know how the 3D route works and how successful a film can be if you disregard the remakes and prequels and instead make a direct sequel to the original. It’s been done before, but my money is that all of this confusion will result in a film that plays more like a remake than a sequel. The trailer shares too many similarities with the remake and prequel that came before it and it makes me question why they’ve jumped through all of these hoops to try and establish this new film as something completely different.
The Evil Dead remake might prove to be worth a damn, if only because they went with bringing back the original director and his star to help produce and oversee the film. They’ve also went with a known writer (Diablo Cody) to help modernize the film, while still paying tribute to the original. I’m remaining the most hopeful for this one, but I’m still questioning the purpose of a remake if it plays too closely to the original.
Halloween 3 was last in the hands of the My Bloody Valentine 3D director Patrick Lussier and that could have been a lot of fun because he wanted to continue the series by putting it back on a more traditional path and also adding 3D. The Weinstein Company hasn’t furthered the development of that one too much, which means it’s probably dead until they remake it again in 10 years.
We need to remain hopeful, despite logic telling us not to. Horror remakes are mostly bad, which means that their eventual sequel will probably be even worse. I’m doubting very much that Platinum Dunes does anything with their franchises unless they completely have to and the same can be said about TWC and Halloween. Heck, the whole reason the new Chainsaw flick is coming out is because New Line didn’t care to do anything else with the character and figured it would be best to sell it to Lionsgate while it’s still worth a damn.
Horror has shifted from making big remakes to instead focusing on ghosts, vampires and zombies and making found-footage stuff the cheapest way possible. For the time being we’re going to have to buckle down and take it, but to show them that we want better work we can simply not show up for the latest Paranormal Activity film or we can take to the streets and riot! I’m kidding, but wouldn’t that be cool? I’d give my right arm to see fans actively (and safely) rioting over a proper Freddy sequel!
It’s hard to look at this positively, but we must, because our horror icons will never die and instead be reinserted into pop culture over and over until the end of times. It’s our duty to make sure that these characters are given justice on film, on paper or wherever they pop up next.
