We all know who Platinum Dunes is, right? The production company that was formed in 2001 by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form? I'll be honest, when they first came out and made it brutally clear that they'd be basically cherry picking some of the most influential horror films from my past and 're-envisioning' them, I was none too happy. Although I prayed for each film to fail and that Platinum Dunes would close up shop, they didn't. Not only that, I hate to admit that my hatred's softening over time. Don't get me wrong, a bit of me died with each announcement. First, with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 2003, then "The Amityville Horror", a suspect sequel to "TCM", then "The Hitcher", "The Unborn" and "Friday the 13th". Now, they're slated to remake "Near Dark", they're doing a "Friday the 13th Part 2", "The Birds" and, worst of all, coming out in 2010, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" - which was one of the most influential movies in my life, with one of the most influential characters. By the way, the reason this all came up is because they've picked who's going to play Freddy and, obviously, it isn't Robert Englund. It's none other than Jackie Earle Haley... if that doesn't ring any bells, he played Rorschach in "Watchmen". Here's an article on him getting the role. Anyhow, back to my rant... I'm assuming that you and I are probably on similar pages... like, the movies that influenced you and made you the filmmaker/writer/producer that you are, were made 15 to 25 years ago. You've probably thought, "this new stuff is just not as good as the old stuff" and when a remake comes out, you almost always say, "the original was better". Well, I got to thinking... these remakes aren't really for us. They're for the next generation of horror fans and horror filmmakers/writers/producers. I'll leave out the whole monetary aspect, as that obviously plays a major part, but... consider this: I remember listening to Motley Crue's version of "Helter Skelter", having no idea that it was a remake... then being informed by my father that it was a Beatles song from 20 years earlier and that the original was better. Now, put that experience in the context of me and Platinum Dunes and I'm the old man saying that the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is better. So, I think, in the future, the correct response to someone getting excited about a Platinum Dunes remake should be... "Hmmm... interesting that they're remaking that. You did know that it's a remake, right? I sure hope it's a good movie... You should check out the original when you get a chance and let me know what you think." Then, appreciate the fact that Platinum Dunes is playing a part in keeping horror alive and shaping the horror filmmakers of the next generation. Or is that way too soft? Here's a link to an interesting article that I read on TheWrap.com called "Coming Soon to Your Flat Screen: Layoff TV". So, what was that movie... or was it just a story? You know... it's in the middle of the Great Depression and the news is all upbeat and fake and it pisses this one filmmaker off. So, he sacrifices everything to make a film with an honest take, with honest characters and after years of sweat, blood and tears, he creates his opus and, when he screens it, everyone hates it. They tell him, "Man, life is depressing enough, we'd rather see some fake, upbeat shit". I'd research that a bit better, but you get the point. There's actually two trains of thought on this. One is, people like escapism during rough times. They want fantastic movies that take them to different worlds and have happy endings. They want to forget about the daily grind and all the depressing things that come with it. The other train of thought is, people don't want to see that shit because they can't identify with the characters. Bad times call for down-to-earth characters with problems and issues. To be honest, this is the type of shit that you need to be thinking about when you're writing - think about your audience (reoccurring theme here, people). Anyhow, this article seems to think that people want escapism on the big screen, while they want realistic, down-to-earth stuff on the small screen. Check it out and think about it when you're writing...
Lastly, I received a very strange link to a video on Youtube, I embedded it below. Check it out...
