Road House remake

[SimonDoom]

Today I found out a remake of the cult-trash classic Road House is being remade, with Jake Gyllenhall playing the Dalton role. Part of me thinks this is nuts. Road House, starring a mullet-wearing Patrick Swayze as a martial-arts fighting, zenmaster bar cooler, is one of the stupidest movies ever made, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe my favorite trash movie ever. But I don't get the point of remaking it, even though I think Jake Gyllenhall is a very good actor.

It got me to thinking, what's a good remake, and what's a bad remake?

One of my picks for a good remake: John Carpenter's 1982 remake of The Thing, starring Kurt Russell. It flopped at the box office, but I think it's one of the most underrated sci fi/horror movies. It's much more faithful to the source material short story, Who Goes There, than the early 1950s original movie (which starred James Arness from Gunsmoke as the monster/alien).

Bad remake: The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Keanu Reeves. Another update of a 1950s classic sci fi, but it's dull and flat (not surprising, with Reeves as an actor, although I've enjoyed him in many things where emotional range isn't an issue, like Speed, The Matrix, and John Wick).

Remake I'd like to see: a remake of Forbidden Planet, another 1950s sci fi classic which, though cheesy in some ways, has some cool themes that could be explored profitably in a more contemporary way.

 

[XerXesXu]

Remake I'd like to see: a remake of Forbidden Planet, another 1950s sci fi classic which, though cheesy in some ways, has some cool themes that could be explored profitably in a more contemporary way.

That brings back memories. I used to enjoy listening to Journey into Space on the radio, and Dan Dare - the Mekon was really creepy - so, as a treat, my Grandad took me to see Forbidden Planet. It was scary. It was the last film that scared me - I was seven or eight. I might watch a remake for old time's sake.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Today I found out a remake of the cult-trash classic Road House is being remade, with Jake Gyllenhall playing the Dalton role. Part of me thinks this is nuts. Road House, starring a mullet-wearing Patrick Swayze as a martial-arts fighting, zenmaster bar cooler, is one of the stupidest movies ever made, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe my favorite trash movie ever. But I don't get the point of remaking it, even though I think Jake Gyllenhall is a very good actor.

B grade trash movies must be open fodder for remakes, coz the rights can't cost much, and if you can jump on the back of a cult following you've got something of a built in audience. For example, yourself, if you enjoyed the first one.

Agree your comment on John Carpenter's The Thing. Creepy fucking horrible critter. Have you seen that schlocky cowboy vampire thing he did a lot later? Boy oh boy, did he go off the boil.

Other not so good remakes - the spin on Total Recall with Colin Farrell. Even Jessica Biel couldn't save it, although admittedly she's more a crush than an actress.

 

[shakna]

The Pingu "The Thing" is still my favourite version. For destroying all childhood nostalgia.

 

[SimonDoom]

Other not so good remakes - the spin on Total Recall with Colin Farrell. Even Jessica Biel couldn't save it, although admittedly she's more a crush than an actress.

Agree, totally. That was another of my choices but I was keeping it to one each. I have mixed feelings about the first one, but at least it's high on Verhoeven's weird, artistic style, and Arnold is fun to watch even if he isn't much of an actor. I didn't see the point of the second one.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Good remake: (Since "The Thing" has already been mentioned) "The Fly" with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. (And I love the Vincent Price version, too.)

Bad remake: Nightmare on Elm Street.I really wanted Jackie Earle Haley to have a shot at taking over, but between a bad script and pathetic makeup idea of real burn victim vs demonic burn victim, it just fell apart from all angles.

Remake I'd like to see happen: Phantoms (Yes, the Ben Affleck movie.) I loved the book and think the movie was a horrible injustice to it. Same with The Devil's Advocate.

Though that last one has some magnificent scenery chewing by Al Pacino.

 

[SimonDoom]

The Pingu "The Thing" is still my favourite version. For destroying all childhood nostalgia.

I didn't know about that one. That was very entertaining.

 

[LilyWaters]

I'm a huge fan of the original The Thing (although I still have to hide my eyes a lot, even today!) I saw it on the big screen just before the pandemic, and it holds up really well, especially that fantastic ending. And Kurt Russell is dreamy.

For that reason, I had been reluctant to watch the remake, but I definitely will now that I have read this thread!

I haven't rewatched Cape Fear since a few years after it came out, but I thought it was a very good remake. Not sure if it still holds up, but I'd put that one on the "good remake" list.

And I am a real sucker for a good heist movie, so I'd put Ocean's 11 on this list too.

The 1999 remake of The Haunting tops my list for one of the all time worst. Just bafflingly bad. Maybe it doesn't count because both films are based on a novel, but I hate that movie so much that I can't resist the opportunity to drag it here.

 

[LilyWaters]

Though that last one has some magnificent scenery chewing by Al Pacino.

That movie drives me crazy because at the centre, it's a really great premise - working as a lawyer for what turns out to be the literal devil. That's fun, and such good fodder for lawyer jokes.

But why, why, WHY then is it called "The Devil's Advocate???" They're tipping their hand SO EARLY. The movie is about 2.5 hours long, and when Pacino tells Keanu that he is the devil at about 2h 15 min, it's got this orchestral thunderclap like it's supposed to be this giant reveal to the audience. But it's apparent from like, minute 10, and it's given away by the movie poster and literal title!!!! Just such a waste of a great idea.

I didn't realize it was a novel first, and I'm curious as to how it was handled in that case...

 

[MrPixel]

...WHY then is it called "The Devil's Advocate???" They're tipping their hand SO EARLY. ...

Never saw the movie, but I get the drift. I think since "the devil's advocate" is a very common metaphor, bringing the metaphor to life is what I'd regard as a pretty yummy twist.

 

[LilyWaters]

Never saw the movie, but I get the drift. I think since "the devil's advocate" is a very common metaphor, bringing the metaphor to life is what I'd regard as a pretty yummy twist.

Oh, for sure, I know the expression - it's just - in the movie, they play out the devil reveal like... "TAH-DAHHHHHH!!!!" and I was like - yes, thank you, I got it. I'm sure the novel handled it better.

In weighing up the value of a clever plot twist vs. a clever title, I'd take the plot twist as a bigger bang for my buck. It's kind of like calling The Usual Suspects "Interviewing Keyser Soze."

I still had fun watching The Devil's Advocate, though.

 

[Comshaw]

As far as the worse remakes, I have a whole long list. But just a few:

Overboard, WTF was in their head? It was funny, it was campy, it was endearing. Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn nailed it so why try again?

Ghostbusters: It has nothing to do with the female leads in the remake. All of them are great actresses. But you don't take a cultural icon like that movie and remake it FFS.

True Grit: I'm a fan of Jeff Bridges. The Dude is one of my favorite actors. BUT, the remake was so dry and without emotion it was like eating dust. John Wayne's Rooster was a perfect mirror of a man with numerous flaws, but a rock at heart.

The best remake? While I loved "The Omega man" (I saw it in the theater in 1971) I think the 2007 "I am Legend" surpassed it. I haven't yet seen the original 1954 version though.

Another is "The Revenant" a remake of the 1971 movie "Man in the Wilderness" with Richard Harris which in turn was based on the true story of Huge Glass. I wil lsay the original was almost as good as the remake though.

Now:
[rant]
I read an article the other day that listed the 25 top Scifi authors who have influenced the genre.
I agreed with most of their choices, but nowhere on that list was Issac Asimov. Here's an author who has written 200 books, 100's of scifi stories, came up with the three laws of robotics and has literally hundreds of awards from the Scifi community. WTF??? [/rant]

Comshaw

 

[Bubo_bubo]

<snip>
Now:
[rant]
I read an article the other day that listed the 25 top Scifi authors who have influenced the genre.
I agreed with most of their choices, but nowhere on that list was Issac Asimov.

Here's an author who has written 200 books, 100's of scifi stories, came up with the three laws of robotics and has literally hundreds of awards from the Scifi community. WTF??? [/rant]
Comshaw

 

[MillieDynamite]

That brings back memories. I used to enjoy listening to Journey into Space on the radio, and Dan Dare - the Mekon was really creepy - so, as a treat, my Grandad took me to see Forbidden Planet. It was scary. It was the last film that scared me - I was seven or eight. I might watch a remake for old time's sake.

According to friends of my adoptive father, only one film ever scared him. He watched Psyco, the year it was released, when pops was 6, with his father and mother, who were terrified he'd be frightened once they got into the film. He wasn't. But when they took him to Hush Hush Sweet Charlot, he had trouble sleeping for three nights. Not that not sleeping was a big deal; he and his mother shared a lifetime of insomnia. What I'm saying is that for three nights pop didn't sleep. He was afraid to close his eyes.

 

[Comshaw]

According to friends of my adoptive father, only one film ever scared him. He watched Psyco, the year it was released, when pops was 6, with his father and mother, who were terrified he'd be frightened once they got into the film. He wasn't. But when they took him to Hush Hush Sweet Charlot, he had trouble sleeping for three nights. Not that not sleeping was a big deal; he and his mother shared a lifetime of insomnia. What I'm saying is that for three nights pop didn't sleep. He was afraid to close his eyes.

I think the reason that movie scared so many, it was possible. A lot of the horror movies that have been produced make me jump when what ever nasty thing the bad guys do pops onto the screen, but none of those ever gave me nightmares. The only moves that ever did were some of the more graphic war movies and one that gave me nightmares for a long time was "The Ghost and the Darkness". I read the story of those two lions in Argosy magazine when I was a kid. As a kid that wandered through the deep woods alone all the time it gave chills. When I saw the movie those chills were transmuted to nightmares. It was a real story, It happened. The evil of those two cats walked in the world. I can sympathize with your pops.

Comshaw

 

[MillieDynamite]

According to dad, he thought the story was real and that feeling that it really happened scared the shee-it, out of him. Yes, he says it that way. Often h drags out the Sheeeee-it even more. Once his mom explained it was only a movie and not even based on a true story, he was able to sleep. He said maybe all the horror he watched in movies prepared him for a world with real-life monsters.

 

[lovecraft68]

Everything is a remake, sequel or reboot. Hollywood literally has nothing other than other people's work and super hero movies and they're trashing those.

I'm also tired of most remakes having to be 'woke' with race and gender swaps. Patronizing tokenism at its finest.

The Thing tops the good remake list. Part of why it flopped is it went up against ET...a lovable alien for kids vs...that nightmare.
Another good remake. Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, good to the original but a enough new stuff to put a stamp on it.
Evil Dead 2013 the same as DOTD but even better, the gore was on point.
My one non horror remake is I believe the Birdcage with Robin Williams is a remake, it was hilarious.

Bad-Zombie's Halloween....ugh.
The grudge(remaking a movie not even that old)
Exorcist 2 The Heretic this in the realm of horror is panned as the worst sequel of all time.

 

[lovecraft68]

On topic of Roadhouse....how many people knew there was an actual sequel(without Swayze) that was just awful?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Everything is a remake, sequel or reboot. Hollywood literally has nothing other than other people's work and super hero movies and they're trashing those.

I'm also tired of most remakes having to be 'woke' with race and gender swaps. Patronizing tokenism at its finest.

The Thing tops the good remake list. Part of why it flopped is it went up against ET...a lovable alien for kids vs...that nightmare.
Another good remake. Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, good to the original but a enough new stuff to put a stamp on it.
Evil Dead 2013 the same as DOTD but even better, the gore was on point.
My one non horror remake is I believe the Birdcage with Robin Williams is a remake, it was hilarious.

Bad-Zombie's Halloween....ugh.
The grudge(remaking a movie not even that old)
Exorcist 2 The Heretic this in the realm of horror is panned as the worst sequel of all time.

A Film Noir movie in 1948 shares the title Road House, and while there are elements of this film in the Swayze film, it isn't exactly a remake. However, Road House has in its IMBD connections listing the word remake, as in it is a remake. It could be similar to the way Against All Odds is a remake of Out of the Past 1947. Or Pale Rider is an unofficial remake of Shane. Though the reference isn't specific to what it is a remake of.

 

[lovecraft68]

A Film Noir movie in 1948 shares the title Road House, and while there are elements of this film in the Swayze film, it isn't exactly a remake. However, Road House has in its IMBD connections listing the word remake, as in it is a remake. It could be similar to the way Against All Odds is a remake of Out of the Past 1947. Or Pale Rider is an unofficial remake of Shane. Though the reference isn't specific to what it is a remake of.

There's based on or similar to, but I think, at least in more modern times remakes have the title of that they're cashing in on to try and get the built in fan base. These days they more often than not shit on the original and the fan base because they use the name, then change everything.

I've reached a point to where I see remake or 'soft reboot' and I won't watch. I could be missing out on a a couple of decent efforts, but I'll risk that over the crap.

In horror most remakes tend to just try to top the gore and violence of the originals, but there's none of the feeling to it there was in the classic version just shock value

I spit on your grave, last house on the left and The Hills have eyes all went that route. Torture porn with little else.

 

[Handley_Page]

Ah

That brings back memories. I used to enjoy listening to Journey into Space on the radio, and Dan Dare - the Mekon was really creepy - so, as a treat, my Grandad took me to see Forbidden Planet.

"Journey into Space" the work of Charles Chilton.
And damned exciting it was, too.
Then the BBC cut it off and we got the "Archers" ('an everyday story of countryfolk').
Chilton produce a 90 minute radio play and that was quite a good story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I agreed with most of their choices, but nowhere on that list was Issac Asimov. Here's an author who has written 200 books, 100's of scifi stories, came up with the three laws of robotics and has literally hundreds of awards from the Scifi community. WTF??? [/rant]

How would that list have any credibility at all? No Asimov? That's absurd.

 

[MetaBob]

Why would anyone remake Road House? Or Total Recall or The Thing (again) or A Star Is Born (again) or Dune (wait ...) or for God's sake, Vanishing Point?

A: $$

 

[ElectricBlue]

Why would anyone remake Road House? Or Total Recall or The Thing (again) or A Star Is Born (again) or Dune (wait ...) or for God's sake, Vanishing Point?

A: $$

The most bizarre remake, for me, was the shot for shot reconstruction of Psycho, in colour. It had a strange fascination, but why it ever got made, I'm not sure.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The most bizarre remake, for me, was the shot for shot reconstruction of Psycho, in colour. It had a strange fascination, but why it ever got made, I'm not sure.

No one else is either. It was the same script, with no rework at all other than to make it contemporary. A waste of film, in my humble opinion. My pop (who isn't nor should he be on film subject humble) shares my view.