A psychedelic remake that enraged the director of the original so much he wished they’d ‘die in hell’ suffers streaming withdrawals

Remakes are pretty much an everyday occurrence in Hollywood at this stage, but few have generated a response anywhere near as heated as Abel Ferrara’s reaction to Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

“Inspired” by the filmmaker’s 1992 cult classic starring Harvey Keitel, Werner Herzog recruited Nicolas Cage for a crime thriller that was every bit as unusual as you’d expect from two singular and famously eccentric talents joining forces on a hard-boiled crime caper.

Despite Herzog’s insistence that it was neither a sequel nor a remake but a standalone story, Ferrara wasn’t buying it. In fact, he went scorched earth on Port of Call New Orleans‘ entire existence by saying “as far as remakes go, I wish these people die in Hell. I hope they’re all in the same streetcar, and it blows up.” In short, he wasn’t a fan.

Critics certainly were, though, seeing as the movie ended up securing a Certified Fresh score of 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with Cage winning widespread praise for his performance as a drug-addled sergeant who ends up becoming addicted to painkillers after suffering an injury for heroism that landed him the promotion to the titular rank.

Streaming subscribers aren’t in the same camp as Ferrara, either, with FlixPatrol revealing the follow-up (or sequel and/or remake depending on whether or not you buy into Herzog’s approach) has become one of the most-watched titles on Max’s worldwide charts. It’s a deep dive into drugs, despair, and all-out weirdness, and it certainly isn’t worthy of the vitriolic savaging.