Why is every other horror film a remake?


It seems that in the last three or four years, the majority of horror films have been remakes. This trend of remaking horror films doesn't seelike it will be ending any time soon, rather it seems like it will only escalate. From 2002 - 2005, there have been needless remakes of such films as: The Ring, The Ring 2, The Grudge, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead, The Amityville Horror, House of Wax, and The Fog to name a few. Most of these films fail when compared to the original, with the exception of The Amityville Horror. In the case of The Amityville Horror, the remake could only improve upon the exceedingly boring, occasionally hilarious original.
Mainly because the remake was more or less a rehash of The Shining, which in any form is vastly superior to The Amityville Horror.





Other remakes have not been so successful, mainly because they more or less try to hard to appeal to a more contemporary audience. The dreadful update of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, made two major mistakes. The first being that it tried explained the origin of Leatherface. In the remake, it is revealed that Leatherface has a skin disease and was constantly ridiculed as the child. The film tries to make the character some what sympathetic, taking away the mystery that made him so chilling in the original film. Secondly, it decides to throw in a good, old fashioned child in danger sub-plot. In the film, Leatherface's family has in their midst an innocent toddler, who's family was slaughtered by Leatherface. Therefore, the heroine (Jessica Biel) decides to risk her life to save the toddler from the vile clutches of the Leatherface clan. The original film unnerved you from start to finish, the remake tries to hard (and fails) to make you sympathize with the unlikeable characters.


House of Wax remake owes more to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, than it does to 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum, and the 1953 film starring Vincent Price. The characters get lost in the back woods and run into a town made of wax that is run by a group of half crazed, red necks looking to avenge their mom's death. It is truly a dreadful film, only made watchable thanks to the delightful scene in which Paris Hilton gets impaled by a sharp object, thus providing a cathartic moment for 95% of all Americans. The other redeeming quality is that is stars Elisha Cuthbert, who is gorgeous, though she is covered in blood for most of the films running time.





As I mentioned before this trend of remaking horror films doesn't seem like it's going to end any time soon; it has been announced that in 2006 a remake of The Evil Dead is going to hit cinemas across the country. If IMDB is to believed it is going to star the one and only Ashton Kutcher, thus turning yet another uncompromising classic into poster boy dribble for the teeny bopper audiences.