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.Open Road Films
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.Open Road FilmsReleased 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%Sony / Music Box FilmsMartin 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%Warner Bros / MiramaxFound footage zombie film [Rec] was at the forefront of a resurgence in Spanish horror in 2007, acquiring huge popularity. Despite most of the dialogue consisting of people screaming in panic, an American remake was commissioned. Renamed Quarantine, the remake was practically a direct copy of the original, yet critics found the true horror and quality of the film were lost in translation. Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 96% Remake - 59%Screen Gems / Odeon sky FilmwoAn American remake of the hit French comedy of manners seemed like a simple proposition. In the film, a man tries to impress his colleagues at a dinner where each person must bring an 'idiot' as a guest. Somehow what appeared as breezy and harmless in the French version carried an unexpected mean streak in its US counterpart. The original film was a very 'French' hit, something the remake was unable to capture. Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 73% Remake - 43%Lions Gate FilmsDirector Michael Haneke remade his own film nine years later. 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 practically 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%Warner Bros / Attitude FilmsThe 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 their sick bags. Rotten Tomatoes ratings: Original - 98% Remake - 59%Warner Bros / Basis - Film - VThe 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 coupled with a boost in revenue. Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 97% Remake - 72%Dreamworks / Toho CompanyIn 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 of the original before the final insult - tacking on a happy ending. Rotten Tomatoes rating: Original - 100% Remake - 47%20th Century Fox
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?
