“IF IT AIN’T BROKE...DON’T FUCK WITH IT!!!” By Mike Wrigley ahead, adapt the story, nothing wrong with that, one of the best horrors of all time has come from that idea.
B
ack in 1958 we had a B movie about a man turning slowly into an insect. It had its moments but was limited by what was available at the time, fun and watchable but you wouldn’t go miles out of your way to seek it out today, despite the fact it had Vincent Price in it, which always makes a film worth watching. Then David Cronenberg gets hold of the idea. Yes! And casts Jeff Goldblum. Yes! And Geena Davis, oh well, you cant get everything right?! What results is a superb piece of cinema. Does The Fly bear much resemblance to the original film? Nope; and that is a good thing. It means both are relevant and watchable in their own right.
S
o we have established that remakes are worthless pieces of shit (well you have! – Ed) and adaptations are fabulous and creative, right? Not so fast matey boy. Not all remakes are awful and worthless, and not all adaptations are worthwhile. If we take adaptations first and go Italian and sleazy we get... The Cannibal Film Cycle
Y
ou could say that the Cannibal film genre, so loved by most of us horror fans, are all just adaptations of the same basic premise and that would be a valid viewpoint. But not all Cannibal films are created equal. It is, these days at least, accepted that Deodato’s masterpiece, Cannibal Holocaust, is the pick of the bunch, it has everything that you expect from the genre, lashings of gore, sickening violence and, unfortunately,
redo an almost perfect film? I have no idea. Given the choice which version would you pick? I bet almost every one of you was saying Hitchcock’s.
O
k, there are some stories that will stand countless adaptations, (told you we get there quickly) Dracula, Todd Browning’s film was great, but so was Coppola’s. The Mummy has been made as everything from a straight-ahead horror to a cheesy action flick. So why do these films work where Dawn and Pyscho didn’t? The key is in the first sentence. Note I said ADAPTATION, not REMAKE. If you have something new to add to the story or you can take it in a different direction then go
HAUNTED MAGAZINE’S
AFTER DARK 8
21