Comments on: Review: A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) by R.J. Cavender http://www.darkrecesses.com Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:23:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: ADH http://www.darkrecesses.com/non-fiction/reviews/review-a-nightmare-on-elm-street-2010-by-r-j-cavender/comment-page-1/#comment-2473 ADH Thu, 13 May 2010 03:09:33 +0000 http://www.darkrecesses.com/?page_id=2025#comment-2473 Despite that fact that there is much uncertainty in this world of ours, certain truths are self-evident and sacred. For example, you don't remake the film "Citizen Kane." You just don't it. Watching the film once and acquiring just a smidgeon of knowledge about the film's artistic and historical significance are enough to make this fact self-evident. Same goes for “The Sound of Music,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Star Wars,” “The Godfather,” “Pulp Fiction,” etc. (there are obviously many, many more to speak of). And yes, people, the same goes for John (Mother-Effin’) Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic, “Halloween.” You just don’t remake it. IT IS SACRED. But someone remade it anyway. Synthesized score and 80’s hairstyles notwithstanding, did John Carpenter--in his apparent ineptitude, myopia, laziness and lack of imagination--need the superior-thinking Rob Zombie to complete his artistic vision 25 years later and fill in all that was lacking in the original “Halloween” mythology and legacy? Of course not. It was just another creatively and artistically barren way for Hollywood to make more money. What about Wes Craven’s genre-defining horror classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street”? Yes, I’m afraid the same applies here. Ya don’t remake this one either, folks. It is a classic--IT IS SACRED. But once again, someone did it! And the result was, of course, more stuff for the trashcan. Douchebags! Next thing you know these ass clowns are gonna feel compelled to update “The Exorcist” for the new generation, having judged the original film to be too culturally removed from today’s audience. In the new version, one of the ways in which the devil will gradually make its presence felt in the household before the actual possession takes place is by appearing on a laptop monitor after crawling into the computer via the internet—eeeekkkk!! I’m so scared!! Blatty’s dark artistic vision is finally realized!!) Yes, I agree with R.J. and MLD that it would be nice to see Hollywood use its resources to come up with something new. Or at least try to. Despite that fact that there is much uncertainty in this world of ours, certain truths are self-evident and sacred. For example, you don’t remake the film “Citizen Kane.” You just don’t it. Watching the film once and acquiring just a smidgeon of knowledge about the film’s artistic and historical significance are enough to make this fact self-evident. Same goes for “The Sound of Music,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Star Wars,” “The Godfather,” “Pulp Fiction,” etc. (there are obviously many, many more to speak of).

And yes, people, the same goes for John (Mother-Effin’) Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic, “Halloween.” You just don’t remake it. IT IS SACRED. But someone remade it anyway. Synthesized score and 80’s hairstyles notwithstanding, did John Carpenter–in his apparent ineptitude, myopia, laziness and lack of imagination–need the superior-thinking Rob Zombie to complete his artistic vision 25 years later and fill in all that was lacking in the original “Halloween” mythology and legacy? Of course not. It was just another creatively and artistically barren way for Hollywood to make more money.

What about Wes Craven’s genre-defining horror classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street”? Yes, I’m afraid the same applies here. Ya don’t remake this one either, folks. It is a classic–IT IS SACRED. But once again, someone did it! And the result was, of course, more stuff for the trashcan. Douchebags! Next thing you know these ass clowns are gonna feel compelled to update “The Exorcist” for the new generation, having judged the original film to be too culturally removed from today’s audience. In the new version, one of the ways in which the devil will gradually make its presence felt in the household before the actual possession takes place is by appearing on a laptop monitor after crawling into the computer via the internet—eeeekkkk!! I’m so scared!! Blatty’s dark artistic vision is finally realized!!)

Yes, I agree with R.J. and MLD that it would be nice to see Hollywood use its resources to come up with something new. Or at least try to.

]]> By: M. Louis Dixon http://www.darkrecesses.com/non-fiction/reviews/review-a-nightmare-on-elm-street-2010-by-r-j-cavender/comment-page-1/#comment-2430 M. Louis Dixon Mon, 10 May 2010 11:01:49 +0000 http://www.darkrecesses.com/?page_id=2025#comment-2430 Hi Shannon, I guess the point R.J. was making, albeit with a heavy tone, was that remakes are Hollywood's way of making quick easy money but do nothing to further the genre. There are tons of amazing writers who are putting out very scary and fresh stories on a regular basis, but Hollywood won't invest in them. They're a business that does not want to take risks. They only think about how to make a quick guaranteed profit. This means that they don't care about reintroducing their younger audience to classic horror with new versions that are more updated. They only want to put something out there that will hit their labor load to gross margin target and net them the most profit without having to invest too much capital. Remaking old classics solves a huge investment problem: the story is already written, the marketing in more than halfway complete, and they can move on the the next easy release. MLD Hi Shannon,

I guess the point R.J. was making, albeit with a heavy tone, was that remakes are Hollywood’s way of making quick easy money but do nothing to further the genre. There are tons of amazing writers who are putting out very scary and fresh stories on a regular basis, but Hollywood won’t invest in them. They’re a business that does not want to take risks. They only think about how to make a quick guaranteed profit. This means that they don’t care about reintroducing their younger audience to classic horror with new versions that are more updated. They only want to put something out there that will hit their labor load to gross margin target and net them the most profit without having to invest too much capital. Remaking old classics solves a huge investment problem: the story is already written, the marketing in more than halfway complete, and they can move on the the next easy release.

MLD

]]>