Remake or Rehash?

The topic of discussion this week was reproducibility and copyright infringement on particular works of art. This caused me to think more in depth of a recent medium I viewed this week, Sorority Row. A new horror movie that was released in theatres and a remake of the cult classic horror movie “House on Sorority Row” (1983). Although I enjoyed the film and its throwback to the 90's horror era, I began wondering if the original directors of these films were upset with their works of art being transformed into something completely different. This is not the case with Sorority Row. The original director served as executive producer for the film. Other horror film directors many times are not as fortunate.

It seems like the latest horror-marketing tool is remaking horror classics. However, some of the directors of these original movies may be terrified after seeing their "baby" that they created years ago turned into someone else's work of art using the same name. Case example, the Halloween remakes. Halloween (1978) is known to some as one of the best horror films in movie history. The latest remakes by writer/director Rob Zombie have been less of a hit with fans. In some interviews with John Carpenter, he explains that Dimension Films or Rob Zombie never approached him for permission or advice since he no longer owned the rights to the film. Another example is the currently in production A Nightmare on Elm Street remake, original writer/director Wes Craven has stated he is very disappointed that he had not been approached by the current studio or directors to provide input in the film because he is one of the few directors that always loves to be apart of his films' remakes (The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left). I think the main reason for the sudden abundance of movie remakes is because Hollywood seems to be out of fresh and original ideas and until more fresh faces make it in the industry a lot of ideas are going to be rehashed in the future. I think the punctum of remakes definitely has to do with older generations having powerful memories of seeing these classics originally in theatre and they want to experience those feelings again. Unfortunately most remakes nowadays strongly differ from the films of which they are based on. It appears that it is not only songs that are plagued with copyright infringement in modern media, but film as well and judging by the success rates of the latest remakes this trend will be around for quite some time.