Lost in Translation: Are Foreign-Language Film Remakes Pointless?

In 2010, critics were impressed by low-budget Spanish horror The Silent House, a spooky story based around the high concept of being filmed in a single complete take.

An English-language remake of the film, which is due to start production this year, has already been criticised as pointless and unfair to the original film-makers, who will be fighting for an audience against the Hollywood version.

International Business Times UK takes a look at some other films that have been remade to cater to some cinema-goers' fear of subtitles and asks: Was it worth it?

Before production has even begun, a remake of Spanish single-take horror The Silent House has already been criticised as unnecessary and catering to a lazy American audience. The box office takings will be telling.

Released so soon after the original as to confuse many cinema-goers, the English-language version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo initially seemed unnecessary. It was not made in haste, however, with director David Fincher turning out a powerful film.
Ratings aside, the strength of the original trilogy raises concern whether audiences will hold on for sequels.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 86%
Remake - 87%

Martin Scorsese took all of the plot and action beats of the hugely successful Chinese hit series Infernal Affairs and translated it to the Boston criminal underground.
Showcasing a spectacular performance from Jack Nicholson, Scorsese made a remake of such quality that fans could easily enjoy it alongside the original.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 95%
Remake - 93%

Found footage zombie film [Rec] was at the forefront of a resurgence in Spanish horror in 2007, accumulating a huge popularity. Despite the vast majority of dialogue being made up of screams of panic, an American remake was commissioned.
Re-titled as Quarantine, the remake was practically a direct copy of the original, yet critics found the true horror and quality were lost in translation.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 96%
Remake - 59%

An American remake of the hit French comedy of manners seemed like a simple proposition. In the film a man tries to impress his work peers at a dinner where each person must bring an 'idiot' as a guest. Somehow what seemed breezy and harmless in the French version carried an unexpected mean streak in the US effort.
The original film was a very 'French' hit, something the remake was unable to capture.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 73%
Remake - 43%

Director Michael Haneke remade his own film after a nine-year gap. The story of two men who torture a family with their own brand of 'funny games' was always more artistic experiment than traditional film. Both films are near identical, toying with convention and questioning an audience's complicity in the notion of screen violence.
A brave experiment, but not one that needed to be carried out twice.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 63%
Remake - 51%

The German 1987 film Wings of Desire is viewed by many critics as one of the best films ever made.
The critical pedigree was not enough to save it from a Hollywood reboot, which saw a perfectly measured story of love, longing and mortality translated into a saccharine Nicholas Cage vehicle that had audiences reaching for the sick bags.

Rotten Tomatoes ratings: Original - 98%
Remake - 59%

The highest grossing Japanese film of all time, Ringu continues to inspire horror films throughout Asia to this day.
With success on that scale a remake was inevitable. The Naomi Watts-headed Hollywood version was a box office success despite sacrificing the majority of the original's style and atmosphere for cheap scares. A classic example of a decline in quality contrasted against a boost in revenue.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 97%
Remake - 72%

In many film fans' eyes, The Vanishing represents everything that is wrong with the Hollywood remake. The critically derided American version of the spectacular psychological classic stripped out all of the quality and style before the final insult - tacking on a happy ending.

Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 100%
Remake - 47%