Ross Hughes wrote the Friday Feature a couple of weeks ago about how cinema is currently flooded with remakes of classic films that shouldn’t have been remade, such as Conan, Fright Night, The Wicker Man, Halloween and Friday the 13th. The problem with these remakes, besides rehashing the same old story, is that they didn’t improve on the original – they actually made a version worse than the original. With most original films too, they are so perfect the way they were made first time round that a second dose is pointless. Last week there were news about a remake of Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break in the pipeline and we already know about the upcoming Thing prequel-that’s-actually-a-remake and a remake of Evil Dead.
Now, it’s not like we are short of stories. Sit back and think about how many books there are in the world that tell a story. We have a mass of material yet the studios pump out the same old tripe. Let me tell you – we are brassed off and bored with the pathetic way cinema has turned. We want originality, a fresh face at the cinema – not a remoulded version of a has-been.
Every week we are contacted by spunky, exciting new filmmakers who are eager to spread the word about their short films. We are happy to oblige as we not only support independent filmmakers and rising stars of cinema, but we actually think they do as good a job, if not better, than many films that are featured on the big screen. Name dropping a few people here but David Guglielmo, Davide Melini and Gerard Lough are just a few of the directors we’ve featured on the site that have produced solid work that can contend with the big boys. Independent but more established names are also given the cold shoulder by cinemas, such as Paul Campion, who’s fortunately had a DVD release so we manage to see his work. Not to mention the foreign language films that hardly get a foot through the door of major cinema chains but are given a welcoming hug by art houses.
All the directors I’ve mentioned above and many I have not mentioned deserve to be seen by the masses. The only thing that differentiates these guys from the major players is PR and marketing. Not being disrespectful to the general public but we are fed advertisements each and every day: on the radio, on the tv, as you drive past billboards, on the telephone boxes as we make a call and in the bus shelters as we sit waiting to catch a bus. If we are told something is ‘brilliant’ and ‘a must-see’, then chances are we will see it! Most people want to see a good flick at the cinema. They aren’t too bothered who’s in it or who directed it but of course big reputable names and eye candy are a bonus. Insidious bucked the trend and was an original horror film contending with a tired series sequel in the form of Scre4m. If I remember correctly, it was Insidious that was promoted and talked about much more than Scre4m and this was seen in the box office ratings. Insidious was filmed on a low budget of $1.5 million and came out on top globally. The director and writer may have been behind the successful SAW series, but they were still the fresh faces of the film world compared to Wes Craven of Scre4m. This goes to show that with the right PR you can sell a cheaper film to audiences and they will have as much enjoyment, if not more, than a film which is riding on the good fortune of it’s predecessors.
I suggest studios should prick up their ears and listen to the complaints of the film fan. We want original films again, we want to feel the rush that films like The Exorcist and Alien gave us. There are hundreds of ideas brewing in the minds of independent filmmakers and there’s lots of talent out there waiting to be plucked. The short films are a good way to showcase the talents of our future and they should be nurtured to perform just as well for feature length films. If studios took these original stories and visions on board and ditched the countless remakes, cinema would boom again. As long as the producers back these fresh films with blanket promotion, then the general public will come. We as human beings need to be told what to like and what not to and it does not matter to us whether the guy directing is a 60yr old professional with 40yrs of filmmaking under his belt, or a 24 year old with a passion to create. What matters is that the film quality is up to scratch and the story being told is worthwhile, because at the moment all I see is a mass of drivel with a few gems poking out from the surface.
So I hope, for the sake of cinema, that these young, independent and foreign language filmmakers are picked up by studios and given a chance to have their work screened in cinemas nationally and globally, for these are the talent that will save cinema.
Thrill us again, oh big screen. Hear my screams, watch me weep and listen to me chuckle on the back row seat.
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