# Worst remakes ever!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 28, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949 "2009-05-28T17:53:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/1 "2009-05-28T17:53:15Z")
Inspired by this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=519113), what are the worst remakes (any medium).
I’ll start: [Rear Window](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/) remade as [Disturbia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486822/).
Excruciatingly bad.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/2 "2009-05-28T17:59:59Z")
**Planet of the Apes.**
Remade a bad science fiction movie into an _awful_ science fiction movie.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/3 "2009-05-28T18:24:31Z")
Remakes are awful and unnecessary as a rule; good ones are the rare exception.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/4 "2009-05-28T18:27:33Z")
**Wicker Man.** They took a beautiful, understated creeper and turned it into a Nick Cage movie.
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### Author:  [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/5 "2009-05-28T18:34:30Z")
_Casablanca_ was remade as the Pamela Anderson vehicle _Barb Wire_. Nuff said.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/6 "2009-05-28T18:40:25Z")
_The Longest Yard
Death Race 2000_ (remade as _Death Race_)
_Rollerball_
All favorite movies from my childhood, all turned into shit within the last few years. It’s only a mater of time until they rape _Soylent Green_.
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### Author:  [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/7 "2009-05-28T18:41:06Z")
If we qualify “worst” as the biggest drop-off in quality from original to remake, then the hands-down winner has to be the gawdawful CG crapfest that was the remake of _The Haunting._
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### Author:  [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/8 "2009-05-28T19:06:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> I’ll start: Rear Window remade as Disturbia.
Also, “Rear Window” remade as “Rear Window.”
> [@spooje](#):
>
> Planet of the Apes.
> Remade a bad science fiction movie into an awful science fiction movie.
Yeah, but Helena Bonham Carter was a really cute monkey.
My submissions:
“The Shining.” Yeah, the remake was closer to the book, and yeah, Stephen King liked it. The problem is, Steve, that it was a pretty crummy book that Kubrick vastly improved by throwing half of it away. Maybe this doesn’t count, though, since it was a TV movie.
“Great Expectations.” There are several remakes of this, and the only other version I’ve ever seen is David Lean’s. But the Ethan Hawke/Gwyneth Paltrow one is an utter disaster.
Speaking of Dickens, any remake of “A Christmas Carol” that doesn’t have either Alastair Sim or Reginald Owen. George C. Scott did a reasonable reimagining of Patton as Scrooge for people who really need color. But other than that, in the name of all that’s holy or otherwise, stop remaking this thing.
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### Author:  [@Heropsychodreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heropsychodreamer)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/9 "2009-05-28T19:19:08Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Inspired by this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=519113), what are the worst remakes (any medium).
>
> I’ll start: [Rear Window](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/) remade as [Disturbia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486822/).
> Excruciatingly bad.
I never saw the originial, but Disturbia was really fun, at least the first 2/3rds of it. The last 1/3rd lost something. Still a flick worth watching, IMO.
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/10 "2009-05-28T19:48:10Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#):
>
> If we qualify “worst” as the biggest drop-off in quality from original to remake, then the hands-down winner has to be the gawdawful CG crapfest that was the remake of _The Haunting._
Except for the unintentional hilarity. I bought the DVD just so I could see the portrait of old Hugh Crane that hangs over the stairs over and over and over. Comedy gold.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/11 "2009-05-28T20:01:35Z")
> [@kelly5078](#):
>
> Speaking of Dickens, any remake of “A Christmas Carol” that doesn’t have either Alastair Sim or Reginald Owen. George C. Scott did a reasonable reimagining of Patton as Scrooge for people who really need color. But other than that, in the name of all that’s holy or otherwise, stop remaking this thing.
**A Muppet Christmas Carol** was a very good remake, though.
Some bad ones that come to mind:
**The Heartbreak Kid**
The Bing Crosby **Anything Goes**
Marlon Brando’s **Mutiny on the Bounty**
Mussolini’s version of **[Quo Vadis?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015253/)**
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/12 "2009-05-28T20:04:29Z")
Take a Hitchcock classic, remake it shot-for-shot, and you get crap.
Why mess with **Psycho**? Why presume that Vince Vaughn could hold Anthony Perkins’ freakin’ jock? Why destroy it with color? Why have one of the minor changes to the original be adding masturbating sounds while Norman watches Lila through the peephole? Why, why why, why?
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/13 "2009-05-28T20:12:58Z")
> [@Morbo](#):
>
> Take a Hitchcock classic, remake it shot-for-shot, and you get crap.
>
> Why mess with **Psycho**? Why presume that Vince Vaughn could hold Anthony Perkins’ freakin’ jock? Why destroy it with color? Why have one of the minor changes to the original be adding masturbating sounds while Norman watches Lila through the peephole? Why, why why, why?
Yeah, especially after seeing Vince Vaughn do all those comedy roles the past few years, it makes it impossible to watch it without cracking up.
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### Author:  [@ProfessorX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProfessorX)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/14 "2009-05-28T20:33:31Z")
> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> Yeah, especially after seeing Vince Vaughn do all those comedy roles the past few years, it makes it impossible to watch it without cracking up.
Yeah, the casting definitely left you wondering. Vince Vaughn trying to kill Anne Heche. 😃
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/15 "2009-05-28T21:00:44Z")
“War of the Worlds” was remade badly. The original was great ,with high quality actors and cutting edge effects of the time. They mishandled the ending in the remakes.
The "Thing "was a scary grabber in the early 60s. It lost a lot when it became a shapeshifter.
The original “Invasion of the body Snatchers” was a tense and exciting movie. The new ones were not as good.
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### Author:  [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/16 "2009-05-28T21:04:02Z")
> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> \
> The "Thing "was a scary grabber in the early 60s. It lost a lot when it became a shapeshifter.
> \
I have to disagree with that assessment. The remake **was** scarier **and** more faithful to the original story. It is an improvement.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/17 "2009-05-28T21:12:03Z")
> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> The original “Invasion of the body Snatchers” was a tense and exciting movie. The new ones were not as good.
Disagree on that point. I think the 1978 version has a fair amount of chills and also works as a pitch black satire of the New Age movement.
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### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/18 "2009-05-28T21:25:14Z")
> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> The original “Invasion of the body Snatchers” was a tense and exciting movie. The new ones were not as good.
I’m probably in the minority, but I think two of the remakes of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” are pretty good because both bring something new to the material. The original 1956 version was perfect for the Cold War fearing audiences of its time. The 1978 version was an appropriate update and comment on the dangers of conformity. The 1993 version asks how would you know people were being taken over, if the ones being taken over were well-disciplined soldiers who are trained to normally act like pod people? (Plus this one has Gabrielle Anwar nudity.)
I haven’t seen the most recent version but I’ve heard it sucks.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/19 "2009-05-28T21:50:23Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> All favorite movies from my childhood, all turned into shit within the last few years. It’s only a mater of time until they rape _Soylent Green_.
About [three years time](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334614/) roughly.
An oldie, but I thought that the '78 remake of _King Kong_ was generally stinky. The Peter Jackson version was OK, but still didn’t outdo the original.
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### Author:  [@Neatness\_Counts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neatness_Counts)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-remakes-ever/497949/20 "2009-05-28T21:55:46Z")
> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> “War of the Worlds” was remade badly. The original was great ,with high quality actors and cutting edge effects of the time. They mishandled the ending in the remakes.
How were the endings mishandled in the remakes? The ending of neither the book, radio play nor two major movies deviates much, if at all.
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