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Has Anyone Successfully Remade a Movie From the 80s?

ManaByte

ManaByte

Gold Member
I'm sitting here watching the original Red Dawn, and I was reminded of the terrible remake. And it made me think of all of the other terrible remakes of 80s movies and I couldn't think of a single one that was actually as good as the original.

Red Dawn: original was John Milius making teenage Rambo and being given a gun of his choice for doing it. The remake probably sucked BEFORE they digitally changed China to North Korea just to suck up to the CCP for a Chinese release (that they never got).

Total Recall: The remake didn't even go to Mars. They went to Australia instead.

Robocop: Murphy knew about his wife and kid. Ruining one of the biggest character development parts of the original.

Conan the Barbarian: Jason Momoa is great, but he'll never be Arnold. Ironically he lost the role of Drax due to that movie as because of it he tried to high-ball cheap Marvel and they dropped him for Bautista.

Ghostbusters: ROFL

Point Break (Ok, it's 1991): The remake looked so shit I never bothered to see it.
 
I collect VHS tapes

I collect VHS tapes

Member
maniac-by-jeff-proctor-regular-edition.jpg


I know it's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it
 
C

Corgi1985

Banned
Robocop remake is watchable, certainly better than robocop 3. It was never going to be better than the original because robocop is a perfect movie.

Red dawn the original sucked too.

The fright night remake from 2011 wasn't garbage
 
sol_bad

sol_bad

Member
Hairspray and Evil Dead?

*EDIT*
IMO, the problem with Total Recall for me was that it was just constant action, it's speeding forward at 100km's for the entire run time. Movies need a bit of a break from the action to let audiences catch their breath. So I was just feeling numb throughout the film and not excited or wowed by the action, and the action is directed well but there is too much of it.

PS: Total Recall doesn't need Mars.
 
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K

Kimahri

Banned
ManaByte said:
I'm sitting here watching the original Red Dawn, and I was reminded of the terrible remake. And it made me think of all of the other terrible remakes of 80s movies and I couldn't think of a single one that was actually as good as the original.

Red Dawn: original was John Milius making teenage Rambo and being given a gun of his choice for doing it. The remake probably sucked BEFORE they digitally changed China to North Korea just to suck up to the CCP for a Chinese release (that they never got).

Total Recall: The remake didn't even go to Mars. They went to Australia instead.

Robocop: Murphy knew about his wife and kid. Ruining one of the biggest character development parts of the original.

Conan the Barbarian: Jason Momoa is great, but he'll never be Arnold. Ironically he lost the role of Drax due to that movie as because of it he tried to high-ball cheap Marvel and they dropped him for Bautista.

Ghostbusters: ROFL

Point Break (Ok, it's 1991): The remake looked so shit I never bothered to see it.
Click to expand...
I liked Momoa's Conan better to be honest. No a great film, but... eh, Arnold is a terrible Conan. Come on guys, he's just horrible. He's like a dumb, very confused bull running around grunting and yelling "aah ahh". It's an okay movie, but good? naaaah.

Momoa was a far better Conan, and I enjoyed the movie enough to see it a few times.

Edit: Also, it's not a remake. Just a new take on Conan, leaning on the books and ignoring the previous film completely.
 
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AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
As people have already said, Evil Dead, Maniac, Dawn of the Dead, all the modern ones are good movies in their own right.

I would guess horror's a good way to go about it because you can easily update them while retaining the same themes. There's just no need to remake something like Annie or Arthur when the originals still hold up.
 
J

joedan

Member
Kimahri said:
I liked Momoa's Conan better to be honest. No a great film, but... eh, Arnold is a terrible Conan. Come on guys, he's just horrible. He's like a dumb, very confused bull running around grunting and yelling "aah ahh". It's an okay movie, but good? naaaah.

Momoa was a far better Conan, and I enjoyed the movie enough to see it a few times.

Edit: Also, it's not a remake. Just a new take on Conan, leaning on the books and ignoring the previous film completely.
Click to expand...

Hell no
 
Keihart

Keihart

Member
Evil Dead's remake is pretty good in my book.
The Thing remake would of been good but the studio didn't like practical effects and replaced everything with CG, what a bunch of cucks.
IT's remake is alright too i guess.
 
T8SC

T8SC

Member
I was going to say True Grit, but the original wasn't from the 80's. Same goes for 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe & Casino Royale (Daniel Craig).

Dredd was a remake of a 90's movie, does that count?

I also considered Dawn Of The Dead, but 2004 isn't really "modern" anymore, however, still fits the question in this thread and was a competent remake. (Ok the original was the 70's).




Edit: What about The Force Awakens? :lollipop_hushed: 🧐🤪
 
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sol_bad

sol_bad

Member
joedan said:
Hell no
Click to expand...

All I can say about Conan is that Arnold Conan and Marvel 70's Conan are very different and I like the Marvel 70's Conan way way more.
Haven't seen the Momma Conan yet. Now I want to watch it.

Keihart said:
Evil Dead's remake is pretty good in my book.
The Thing remake would of been good but the studio didn't like practical effects and replaced everything with CG, what a bunch of cucks.
IT's remake is alright too i guess.
Click to expand...

The Thing isn't a remake. ;)

T8SC said:
Dredd was a remake of a 90's movie, does that count?
Click to expand...

Dread isn't a remake either, just another adaptation.
 
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Keihart

Keihart

Member
sol_bad said:
All I can say about Conan is that Arnold Conan and Marvel 70's Conan are very different and I like the Marvel 70's Conan way way more.
Haven't seen the Momma Conan yet. Now I want to watch it.



The Thing isn't a remake. ;)



Dread isn't a remake either, just another adaptation.
Click to expand...
By that logic Robocop neither.
I don't think drawing the line at movies based on books or something else makes much sense.
 
Airola

Airola

Member
ManaByte said:
Robocop: Murphy knew about his wife and kid. Ruining one of the biggest character development parts of the original.
Click to expand...

I liked how the concept this time was the opposite. In the original a robot struggles with his humanity, while in the remake a human struggles with being a robot. In other words, the original had a robot figuring out he is much more human than he ever thought, while the remake had a human figuring out he is much more robot than he ever thought. Him knowing about his wife and kid was all ok with that in mind. It was an interesting twist for the concept.

The problems of that movie were something else, from uncharismatic lead actor to dull and anticlimactic ending. The only actually good part of the movie was the lung scene. If only they had done the rest of the movie with that much thought and good ideas it could've been worthwhile. It had a great premise for a remake, but sadly the movie fell flat. It wasn't a complete disaster, but it surely was below average. Ok to watch once, but that's way too little for a Robocop movie.
 
Ionian

Ionian

Member
sol_bad said:
All I can say about Conan is that Arnold Conan and Marvel 70's Conan are very different and I like the Marvel 70's Conan way way more.
Haven't seen the Momma Conan yet. Now I want to watch it.



The Thing isn't a remake. ;)



Dread isn't a remake either, just another adaptation.
Click to expand...
sure was better than stallone removing his helmet
 
OmegaSupreme

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Kimahri said:
Did you read the books? or hell, comics? Arnold Conan is a complete joke. It's like they made a parody of Conan. The music is fantastic though. Especially in the sequel.
Click to expand...
Hard disagree. He may not be comics or book accurate but it hardly matters. He is Conan. Mamoa doesn't have an ounce of the charisma Arnold has. It's a great film.

On the subject. They've mostly been terrible. The Poltergeist remake from a few years back was borderline insulting.
 
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J

jason10mm

Gold Member
What would we LIKE to see remade?
No horror for me since the F13th (well, I guess they are technically remaking part 2/3) and Nightmare on Elm Street remakes had so little soul. Never even saw Poltergeist. Maybe fantasy horror like Something Wicked this way Comes would work better.

But Last Starfighter could work. Highlander with better stunt work but thank God the Ryan Reynolds version seems to be in limbo. They Live is VERY appropo of today. Gremlins, maybe? Definitely not Goonies or ET. War games perhaps, but they will change W. H.O.P..R to T. R. U. M. P. The other thread about First Blood though I want a fresh adaptation of the book. Bryce Howard is doing Flight of the Navigator but I don't really remember that one, I confabulate it with Explorers.
 
K

Kimahri

Banned
OmegaSupreme said:
Hard disagree. He may not be comics or book accurate but it hardly matters. He is Conan. Mamoa doesn't have an ounce of the charisma Arnold has. It's a great film.

On the subject. They've mostly been terrible. The Poltergeist remake from a few years back was borderline insulting.
Click to expand...
Alright, I'll bite. Care to explain how he's great as Conan and why you think it's a great film?

I saw it back when I was a kid and thought it was shit, and I gave it a chance again last year and still thought it was shit. to me it's just a very long, slow and frankly silly movie. Arnold is nothing like the lion (or was it panther, can't remember) he's described as in the books. He's an almost clumsy oaf where his bulk gets in the way of his movement. That scene where he flings the sword around makes me laugh every time, and Arnold's acting at the time was just awful. I just don't understand why people like it so much. I enjoy it in the way I enjoy bad movies. It has its moments, but mostly its just silly.

So, yeah. What is it you like about it?
 
Keihart

Keihart

Member
I forgot about it, i love the first Halloween by Rob Zombie, that count as a remake i guess.
I find the portrait of Michael Myers so much scarier in the remake than the original although some people didn't like the trashy tone of some characters, which is something that Rob Zombie always do.
 
Hulk_Smash

Hulk_Smash

Banned
There’s a whole lotta posts here that are ignoring the OPs question and posting whatever they want.

Like Heat for example. The 1995 movie is NOT a remake of the movie Heat with Burt Reynolds that only has the name in common.

And then there’s a lot of others that are posting stuff from the 1990s, 70s and even 60s. Really?!
 
N

NahaNago

Member
I don't remember any of the new total recall or robocop. I know I watched them but that is about it. The new Bladerunner movie was enjoyable but felt nothing like the original. The conan movie with Jason Momoa was just weak. I guess my answer would be no. I don't think a big hollywood studio could do these movies right.
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Clash of the Titans was successful from a box office standpoint (500 million worldwide) and I thought the movie was decent enough. Successful enough that they put out a sequel.

Edit: Also got that fun "Release the Kracken!" Liam Neeson meme that stuck around for a while too!
 
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