Anyone who knows me knows I am against remakes, sequels, prequels, whatever. I have always been very vocal against these up until the 2011 prequel/remake of The Thing, at which point I finally accepted that the Hollywood machine had no soul and would remake anything and everything just to make money out of theater-goers (and home video markets, and now of course the streaming services). I always thought that, for the most case, when someone does sequels/prequels or remakes that they are lazy and profiteers; only in it to do the cash grab dance for the board members running the bog studios to inflate their own pockets and create propaganda adds about how piracy makes people lose money and their jobs, etc. But in all seriousness, one could stop in their tracks and realize that sometimes, remakes, prequels and sequels can not only have some merit, they can sometimes actually stand by their own selves quite properly without too much aid of their original. Such situations are very rare, but not impossible. And although I could spend hours researching this for more detail and accuracy, with the little to no readers presently on my blog, it is basically just a self-serving... well service!
THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982) : enjoying a larger-than-life boom or re-ignited followers, Carpenter's then big studio flop seems to be on everyone's love list these days, as though no one had access to the VHS tapes and then the DVDs in the few years after the film's original theatrical run. Although I myself was not a fan at first (my history with THE THING is well documented elsewhere ad nauseum), it grew on me a wee bit on home video (VHS) and sometime in the 90s I became a real die-core fan thanks to a widescreen release on VHS (up to that point I only saw the pan-n-scan 4x3 version for TV and regular VHS. Needless to say by viewing it in it's complete 2:35 widescreen format, I finally saw the scope of the vision originally intended, and of course as soon as I got access to a DVD player, THE THING was the first disc I bought! But all of this has been written all over the internet on various forums and whatnot during the mid-late 90s so it's nothing new.
Carpenter's THE THING isn't as much of a technical remake of the Christian NyBy 1951 THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD as much of a re-interpretation of the original source material. In fact, the 1982 Carpenter version is perhaps closer to the original short novel material than it's predecessor, and in that interpretation, stands pretty much alone on it's own two feet (or various morphing appendages, so to speak!). However, on paper, the 1982 version is a sort-of remake of the 1951 version, and yet it far surpasses it's senior by leaps and bounds on almost all levels.
THE FLY (1986) David Cronenberg - Perhaps the best example of when a remake surpasses the original would be Cronenberg's near masterpiece 1986 version, not that there is anything wrong with the "campy" fun of the original version, which in it's own defense has both an ambiance and it,s share of chilling moments. However the Cronenberg version is especially chilling and downright terrifying as it explores in slightly more vivid detail (warning: spoilers!) how such a transformation on a cellular level (molecular, actually) would affect not only the protagonist, but his direct entourage. Many will, like THE THING, only remember the more gruesome special effects and won't bother to pick up on the more existential themes, THE FLY is a terrific exploration of the complete transformation of a human being into an amalgam hybrid creature, as well as the nature of humanity and the "human" treatment of each other. The film succeeds with me (as well as resonates on a rather disturbingly deep level) as it is in some of it's more subtle moments, often played to pitch perfection by Jeff Goldblum, which the true horror rears itself. I may be the only one who cries at the end of the film when the Brundlefly/telepod hybrid points the barrel of the shotgun held by Geena Davis' character on it's own head, as perhaps the last remnant of humanity left in this horrible creature. I do strongly suggest you re-watch this film with an attention on the internal transformation of eccentric scientist Seth Brundle. Oh, yes the effects and quite something to enjoy without a doubt, as is Cronenberg's own unique vision, but it is also in the themes explored that the true chills come out. Whereas at the end of the original 1950s version, the one of the hybrid creatures begs to survive, the 1980s version sees it as Something which has outgrown any humanity.
Anyway like I said if I had more time and more ressources at this present moment in time, I would have come up with a better post, but for the purposes of what I set out to do, this has been done. Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!
