Remakes & Reboots Part 2 – The Good

In our first installment of Remakes & Reboots, I took a look at not only a particulary bad update of a classic 80s horror film, Friday the 13th, but also pinned the blame squarely on the shoulders of the folks at Platinum Dunes for adhering to their cookie cutter approach to making horror films. In the past five years, we’ve seen almost every classic (and not-so-classic) 80s horror film remade — with the exception of Terror Train (a guilty pleasure) — and usually remade badly by bringing absolutely nothing new to the table. But now it’s out with The Bad and in with …

THE GOOD

I remember going to see My Bloody Valentine back in 1981. It had some good makeup effects and I’ll never forget the burned body falling out of the dryer at the laundromat. But even then, I felt it was just slow going and not all that suspenseful. Watching it 25 years later, it seemed even slower than I remembered, but at that point I still hadn’t (and still haven’t) seen the restored Director’s Cut, which is supposed to have improved the film greatly.

So I was not too keen when I first heard about a remake, and the only part of it I was interested in was the 3D. I mean, come on, the script was written by the guy who wrote Jason X, and in the minds of many fans of the original film, that was not a good sign (I still got a kick out of Jason X regardless of what the masses thought). The new movie had no right to be any good, but you know what? It rocked! My Bloody Valentine 3D was probably the best of the 80s horror remakes to that point … and it was all because of Todd Farmer‘s script.

I’ve become a huge fan of Farmer’s since this movie (I absolutely love Drive Angry) because it’s obvious that he gets the genre.  He gets the era too (and credit also goes to director Patrick Lussier, who also gave Drive Angry a perfect 70s grindhouse tone). My Bloody Valentine 3D takes the original premise of the ’81 version, brings it into the present day, but by keeping the setting in a small mining town, it retains the feel of the 1981 film but it’s still modern and moves at a pace that’s leisurely but never boring, and it holds the viewer’s interest with enough bloody violence to appease any gorehound, and some of the snappiest dialog that sounds like the way people really talk. It’s funny, but it never make light of the film or dishonors the original. It’s not jokey at all, so no one is winking at the camera while saying Farmer’s words.

The film also benefits from a terrific cast with Jensen Ackles in his first lead movie role outside of TV’s Supernatural — faring much better than his TV brother Jared Padelecki in Friday the 13th — as well as Jamie King, Kerr Smith, great roles for veteran actors Kevin Tighe and Tom Atkins, and even Farmer himself makes an appearance in the role of, as I like to call him now after a similar role in Drive Angry, the naked, angry dude (Farmer knows his fans demand his nudity in every film now).  But besides the great script, the direction that makes good use of the 3D, the cast, and Farmer’s ass, what I really appreciate about My Bloody Valentine 3D is the mystery of the killer. I was pretty certain going in who it was, but Farmer puts enough doubt in your mind to make you consider another character without it all seeming like a red herring. I honestly did not know which of the two characters the killer was going to be until the final reveal. That really says something, and I give Farmer major kudos for keeping me guessing.

So, if you’re looking for something to help fill up your own 31 Days of Halloween, I highly recommend My Bloody Valentine 3D (even if it’s not in 3D) simply because it was able to break the cycle of truly awful 80s horror movie rehashes. And bravo, Todd Farmer!  I can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve next!

In the final installment of Remakes & Reboots, I’ll take a look at one of the most controversial remakes to come along in quite some time — Rob Zombie‘s Halloween.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Oct 27, 2011 @ 09:00 EST5EDT