by Paul Macdonald

Created on: June 12, 2008

Hollywood is in the midst of a famine of original ideas, particularly in the genre of horror. In the past decade the number of remakes has been disproportionately high when compared to fresh projects.

It arguably started with the Japanese Horror classic, 'The Ring' which grew cult status with Western audiences as one of the most disturbing films ever made. Hollywood got its mitts on it in 2002, making an inferior film that grossed huge amounts at the box office.

This set the tone - it appeared to be a case of re-inventing popular but relatively unknown horror classics and letting them steamroller the box office.

Off the back of The Ring's success, The Grudge, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, soon followed. This again came from 'J' horror, the prefix for the unique style that Japanese directors such as Hideo Nakata used to create their fantastical visions. Hollywood continued to mine the 'J' horror vault, with 'Dark Water' starring Jennifer Connolly, and more recently 'the Eye' featuring Jessica Alba have also been subjected to an American re-imagination.

Perhaps the most galling Asian remake by Hollywood is the 'The Condemned', released in 2007 starring wrestler Steve Austin and former footballer Vinnie Jones. The original version, 'Battle Royale' involved a dystopian future where students are punished for insubordination by being sent to an island accompanied by various weaponry, fighting it out until the death until only one remains. It is generally regarded amongst horror enthusiasts as one of the greatest movies ever made in the horror genre. The less said about the Hollywood version, the better.

What is the need to re-make a film that is expertly crafted in the first place? Is there perhaps a complex among people that makes watching international films quite literally a foreign idea? Whatever the reason, it will continue unabated. America even remakes their own produce - for examples see The Fog, Halloween, Prom Night, Dawn of the Dead, and many, many more.
In every case, the re-make is vastly inferior to the original, because it is merely a regurgitation of someone else's vision, and so can never have the same intent as its predecessor.

Horror appears to be most adversely hit by the obsession with the re-making of a foreign film; however it may not be too long before everything we see will have been done better in another place, at another time.

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