Whether you love or hate them, remakes have been around for a long time, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon. An update on The Crow is set to arrive this summer, with Hollywood’s version of Speak No Evil not far behind, just as two upcoming examples.
While not all remakes can hold a candle to the original, there’s been no shortage of fantastic movies that reworked genre favorites in thrilling new ways. Some of which even managed to eclipse the original classics, like 1986’s The Fly or 1982’s The Thing.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to horror remakes that set themselves apart from the source material, either through expanded storytelling or heightened, visceral horror.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
The Blob – Tubi
Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont’s remake of...
While not all remakes can hold a candle to the original, there’s been no shortage of fantastic movies that reworked genre favorites in thrilling new ways. Some of which even managed to eclipse the original classics, like 1986’s The Fly or 1982’s The Thing.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to horror remakes that set themselves apart from the source material, either through expanded storytelling or heightened, visceral horror.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
The Blob – Tubi
Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont’s remake of...
- 3/25/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
This sequel to "The Blair Witch Project" boldly eschews nearly everything that made the original film a phenomenon. None of the original characters returns -- which makes sense because the first movie assumes their demise -- the no-budget, faux documentary conceit is completely dropped, and an entirely new story is created. In other words, "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" is a conventional horror flick.
It's better made than the original, and its writing contains subtlety and wit the original film lacked. However, these pluses may be minuses for "Blair Witch" fans. After all, what they liked about original film was its rule-breaking approach and crude production technique. This sequel seems almost perversely designed to be liked by those who hated the original.
"Shadows" is destined to win terrific opening-weekend numbers. But a movie that looks like a traditional horror film might well act like one at the boxoffice, with a sizable drop-off in the second week. Artisan will do fine once all the numbers are in from ancillary business, but "Blair Witch" fans might feel disappointment that an anticipated confrontation with the Witch never takes place.
One curiosity is that the film marks the feature directorial debut of documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, whose "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" tells the true story of teenage boys in a small Southern town accused of gruesome ritualistic murders.
The movie begins with an amusing mini-documentary about the first film and the impact it has had on the mythical small town of Burkittsville, Md. The story then picks up five characters who are obsessed with the first movie.
Jeff (Jeff Donovan), newly released from a mental institute (but of course), has turned "The Blair Witch Project" into a business. He sells memorabilia on the Internet and takes adventurers on a tour of the Witch's Black Hills sites.
His clients include grad students Tristen (Tristen Skyler), fretting over her unwanted pregnancy, and her anal boyfriend Stephen Stephen Barker Turner). The two are writing a book about the Witch but can't agree on a theme. Others include Erica (Erica Leerhsen), a practicing witch, and Kim Kim Director), a goth aficionado with psychic abilities.
The quintet is afflicted with a time-honored horror-movie disease, rampant stupidity. Spooky signs fail to dissuade them from camping for the night at one of the Witch's more sinister sites and, worse, getting loaded on pot and beer.
They wake up to the realization they cannot account for five hours during the night. All of their camera equipment has been trashed, but Kim the psychic immediately finds the tapes buried nearby. After a quick trip to the hospital so Tristen can take care of her miscarriage, they retreat to Jeff's home in an abandoned warehouse. Here they replay the tapes to recapture what happened.
Soon, the little group unravels. They are plagued by weird skin rashes, strange visions of bloodshed and images of the Witch herself. Vicious fights break out. Then the tapes reveal them to have participated in orgiastic rites. When the police discover that another group of Blair Witch tourists was gruesomely slaughtered in the woods, the quintet are immediate suspects.
Berlinger, working from his and Dick Beebe's well-structured script, turns the story into a nifty essay on mass hysteria.
The film is not without its stylish flourishes as Berlinger mixes in bits of digital video, Hi-8 video and computer graphics. In fact, without revealing too much, one can say that the key to the plot and its resolution revolves around the difference between video and film.
BOOK OF SHADOWS:
BLAIR WITCH 2
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
and Haxan Entertainment
Producer: Bill Carraro
Director: Joe Berlinger
Screenwriters: Dick Beebe, Joe Berlinger
Executive producers: Daniel Myrick,
Eduardo Sanchez
Director of photography: Nancy Schreiber
Production designer: Vince Peranio
Music: Carter Burwell
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Editor: Sarah Flack
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: Jeff Donovan
Tristen: Tristen Skyler
Stephen: Stephen Barker Turner
Erica: Erica Leerhsen
Kim: Kim Director
Sheriff Cravens: Lanny Flaherty
Running time - 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
It's better made than the original, and its writing contains subtlety and wit the original film lacked. However, these pluses may be minuses for "Blair Witch" fans. After all, what they liked about original film was its rule-breaking approach and crude production technique. This sequel seems almost perversely designed to be liked by those who hated the original.
"Shadows" is destined to win terrific opening-weekend numbers. But a movie that looks like a traditional horror film might well act like one at the boxoffice, with a sizable drop-off in the second week. Artisan will do fine once all the numbers are in from ancillary business, but "Blair Witch" fans might feel disappointment that an anticipated confrontation with the Witch never takes place.
One curiosity is that the film marks the feature directorial debut of documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, whose "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" tells the true story of teenage boys in a small Southern town accused of gruesome ritualistic murders.
The movie begins with an amusing mini-documentary about the first film and the impact it has had on the mythical small town of Burkittsville, Md. The story then picks up five characters who are obsessed with the first movie.
Jeff (Jeff Donovan), newly released from a mental institute (but of course), has turned "The Blair Witch Project" into a business. He sells memorabilia on the Internet and takes adventurers on a tour of the Witch's Black Hills sites.
His clients include grad students Tristen (Tristen Skyler), fretting over her unwanted pregnancy, and her anal boyfriend Stephen Stephen Barker Turner). The two are writing a book about the Witch but can't agree on a theme. Others include Erica (Erica Leerhsen), a practicing witch, and Kim Kim Director), a goth aficionado with psychic abilities.
The quintet is afflicted with a time-honored horror-movie disease, rampant stupidity. Spooky signs fail to dissuade them from camping for the night at one of the Witch's more sinister sites and, worse, getting loaded on pot and beer.
They wake up to the realization they cannot account for five hours during the night. All of their camera equipment has been trashed, but Kim the psychic immediately finds the tapes buried nearby. After a quick trip to the hospital so Tristen can take care of her miscarriage, they retreat to Jeff's home in an abandoned warehouse. Here they replay the tapes to recapture what happened.
Soon, the little group unravels. They are plagued by weird skin rashes, strange visions of bloodshed and images of the Witch herself. Vicious fights break out. Then the tapes reveal them to have participated in orgiastic rites. When the police discover that another group of Blair Witch tourists was gruesomely slaughtered in the woods, the quintet are immediate suspects.
Berlinger, working from his and Dick Beebe's well-structured script, turns the story into a nifty essay on mass hysteria.
The film is not without its stylish flourishes as Berlinger mixes in bits of digital video, Hi-8 video and computer graphics. In fact, without revealing too much, one can say that the key to the plot and its resolution revolves around the difference between video and film.
BOOK OF SHADOWS:
BLAIR WITCH 2
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
and Haxan Entertainment
Producer: Bill Carraro
Director: Joe Berlinger
Screenwriters: Dick Beebe, Joe Berlinger
Executive producers: Daniel Myrick,
Eduardo Sanchez
Director of photography: Nancy Schreiber
Production designer: Vince Peranio
Music: Carter Burwell
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Editor: Sarah Flack
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: Jeff Donovan
Tristen: Tristen Skyler
Stephen: Stephen Barker Turner
Erica: Erica Leerhsen
Kim: Kim Director
Sheriff Cravens: Lanny Flaherty
Running time - 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/25/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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