Talk to any horror fan and one sure fire way to get them going is by discussing remakes.  Inevitably, the person will begin to attack Hollywood for its lack of creativity and for neglecting new material.  In this article, I would like to challenge two commonly held beliefs.  First, I would like to address the assertion that this is a new phenomena.  Second, I will discuss the notion that Hollywood is somehow at fault.

If we were to chart the different eras of horror, many feel that right now would be labeled as the “Age of the Remake”.  Is this accurate, or have we simply become more informed because of DVD, the internet, and a shrinking world?  For instance, film makers have long been remaking foreign films for play in the US market.  The big difference is that people were generally not aware that they were watching a remake.  In 1960 how many people knew ‘The Magnificent Seven’ was a remake of Japan’s ‘Seven Samurai’?  In 1972, How many people realized they were watching a remake of Sweden’s The ‘Virgin Spring’ while watching ‘Last House on the Left’?  When ‘The Hand’ (1981) was made by Oliver Stone, did the general public know it was an adaption of the 1946 film ‘The Beast with Five fingers’?

When all those remakes were released, the general public did not have easy access to early films or international films.  In the 1970’s, many popular American sitcoms were remakes from British TV, and even went so far as to simply re-use the same scripts from the British shows.  No one outside the industry knew, or really cared.

To go beyond the direct and obvious remakes, many of the slashers from the 80’s were essentially remakes of other films with ever so slight variations and different titles.  How many masked slashers appeared after Halloween was a smash hit?  How many camp slashers were there after Friday the 13th? How many holiday themed slashers were made after the success of both those films?  Also, many of the sequels to slashers were essentially remakes of the previous films.  Could one not make the case that Friday the 13th part 3 is not a re-imagining of part 2?  Or that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, is not a remake of the original?  In the case of TCM3, Jeff Burr pretty much acknowledges it was a remake in the audio commentary for the film.  Are sequels and ripoffs that serve the same purpose as a remake somehow better than a remake?

Although the exact start of the “Remake Era” could certainly be debated, I point to two films released in 2002 and 2003, the remake of “The Ring” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”.  Both films were smash hits and respectively proved the viability of remaking both foreign and older American films under the original (or translated) title.  We had finally seen the effect of the information age, in that, for the first time, people now anticipate the release of films based on the title alone.

For the first time, the title alone had real, tangible value.  The studios could justify buying those older titles for use.  Low budget films based on crazed families and featuring a chainsaw had been made many times since the release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974, but none really made much money.  Is it a coincidence that the two most successful films of that horror sub-genre not only carry the same title, but have inflation adjusted grosses that are nearly identical?  Of course not, and the studios know this.  Following that success, almost every horror film with a famous title was greenlit for a remake.

This brings me to the second point of this article.  Should we be blaming Hollywood?  Aren’t people telling Hollywood what to make with their wallets? Does anyone really expect a movie studio to dump $10 million into a new, innovative project that is only gonna make $8 million back?  Or should they put that same money into remaking a film that people will be clamoring to see and make a huge profit?  What would you do?

The movie industry exists to make money.  They will do what the public demands.  What some tend to miss is that dollars speak loudly, while petitions and e-mail campaigns basically say that you were willing to perform a mouse click or two in order to join the crowd.

Last week, people crowded into Comic Con in order to see a teaser for the new Friday the 13th.  Horror websites have been spreading around all sorts of bootleg information on this film.  It is the environment that assures the studio financial success.  This sort of hype would not surrond the same script, made by the same people, with a different title.  This movie was a financial success from the moment it was greenlit.  How many non-remakes in the genre have we seen generate that sort of buzz?

The next time you hear someone bitching about a remake, instead of pondering why Hollywood is making so many, the question should be why we are pushing them that way.