Did the 50's Sci-fi monster movies needed to be remade?

[Greg Cox]

Normally, I enjoy old-fashioned SFX quite a bit, but, unfortunately, Attack Of The 50-Foot Woman is an exception. In that one, the low quality of the effects are pretty distracting.

It's not just that the effects are primitive by modern standard; they were primitive by 1950's standards. And, more importantly, the low budget kept the 50 Foot Woman offstage for most of the movie. Despite the title and the posters, she doesn't actually go on a rampage until the last ten or fifteen minutes of the movie. It's a textbook case of a movie writing a check its SFX budget couldn't cash.

Basically, when it comes to this subgenre the pecking order is:

The Incredible Shrinking Man: a genuine science fiction classic and prestige picture.

The Amazing Colossal Man: an enjoyable B-Movie.

Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman: a laughable turkey only one cut about an Ed Wood flick . . . .

Not all 50s movies are equal, let alone classics.

 

[Goliath]

So. I received a couple of DVDs in the mail today.

I opened the first. It was The Proposition. Good, good.

Then I opened the second, and to my surprise, it was Them! I must have ordered it after reading this thread, and then forgotten.

That is a seriously lurid cover. I think I may order the poster for my apartment or office.

 

[RAMA]

...The Thing from Another World was a good movie on it's own but a poor adaptation of the novel ...John Carpenter adored the original since his childhood as he wanted to go back to the original novella for the film. His remake was truly faithful to Campbell's vision and also paid a bit of homage to Howard Hawk's version.

The 82 remake got universally bad reviews and was compared unfavorably with the Hawk's version....

My recollection is that it good decent reviews but didn't do well at the box office because it came out the same weekend (or weekend after) E.T. It's rated 8.2/10 at IMDB and and 80% at Rotten Tomatoes.

I will say that, when the movie was first released, I think the downbeat ending soured a fair number of moviegoers (and possibly critics) who were expecting something more akin to the ending of the original or the more recent "Alien" (which in many ways is also a remake of Hawks' film, only set in space). As with some other movies, as time goes on, I think people came to appreciate the Carptenter version more fully.

Yeah, over the years people have watched it and its gotten a higher rating, in the 80s it would probably have been a 5.5. That's what I meant about improving its standing with viewers. Trust me, reviewers and fans toasted it when it came out.

RAMA

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Carpenter's The Thing doesn't come across as a remake of the 50s version, but more of a closer adaptation of the short story premise. But whatever you call it, I think it is epic and one of my favorite movies, along with Alien, Aliens and Die Hard, all films with great characters, memorable, unique (for the time) threats, sweet SFX and perfect atmosphere. That transition from 70s to 80s had so many awesome films.

Throw The Empire Strikes Back in there, too. And the remake of that is definitely not as good as the original.

I'd like to see Harryhausen flicks remade with modern casts, but using similar techniques, supplemented with limited CGI. I enjoyed the new Clash of the Titans, but I missed the sweet sweet stop-motion work.

 

[RAMA]

Carpenter's The Thing doesn't come across as a remake of the 50s version, but more of a closer adaptation of the short story premise. But whatever you call it, I think it is epic and one of my favorite movies, along with Alien, Aliens and Die Hard, all films with great characters, memorable, unique (for the time) threats, sweet SFX and perfect atmosphere. That transition from 70s to 80s had so many awesome films.

Throw The Empire Strikes Back in there, too. And the remake of that is definitely not as good as the original.

I'd like to see Harryhausen flicks remade with modern casts, but using similar techniques, supplemented with limited CGI. I enjoyed the new Clash of the Titans, but I missed the sweet sweet stop-motion work.

I wouldn't call it epic, it was made pretty cheaply and on a small scale...pretty cramped really which did make for a claustrophobic feel. I also don't think the characters were all that terrific. Still, while I think the 50s version is better, I have warmed up a bit to the 82 version.

 

[RAMA]

I think THEM was a terrific B-movie and wouldn't mind seeing a remake.

Any of the Quatermass movies, which were some of the best SF movies bar none of the 50s would be interesting on the big screen.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050873/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049646/

RAMA

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

RAMA: I don't mean epic as in Lord of the Rings save the world epic from teh evilz. I mean epic as in awesome, lets get er done, Beowulf-style. And how can you not like MacReady? Or Blair or ThingBlair? Garry? Nauls? Palmer? Childs? Bennings? You found none of them interesting at all? OK.

They all came across as real people to me, just like the characters in the other films I mentioned did, as opposed to simply being archetypres or job descriptions or author mouthpieces. I enjoy the movies because I can watch them and think, "maybe not what I would do, buy yeah, I can see that happening, that seems reasonable."

 

[Goliath]

So. I received a couple of DVDs in the mail today.

I opened the first. It was The Proposition. Good, good.

Then I opened the second, and to my surprise, it was Them! I must have ordered it after reading this thread, and then forgotten.

That is a seriously lurid cover. I think I may order the poster for my apartment or office.

So, it turns out I did not order this movie, and then forget about it.

The seller sent me wrong movie.

I had actually ordered this movie instead.

But that's okay. Giant ants ftw.

 

[Vonstadt]

You know I just watched John Carpenter host TMC tonight and loved his choices of old movies, he chose The Orinigal The Thing from Another World, It the Terror from Beyond Space , Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein and finally the epic Western Rio Bravo!

The love he had for the 50's Thing was incredible and he still says he loves it more than his even though he thinks his Thing was his best work!

I loved how he said there are still good movies today as there was in his day as a kid.

I always wondered how he felt about the old film, which is a favorite of mine.

As for Them it sorta was remade...that was 1986's Aliens...so many of the same imagry of the marines hunting and fighting off the insect like aliens was drawn from it.

But Them if done right would be incredible...if handled badly we so might end up with a Empire of the Ants with Joan Collins

I agree with John though, if you are going to remake a film you need to modernize it yes, but keep the elements that made the classic film a classic...otherwise you get the mess that the Daythe Earth Stood Still remake was.

I personaly would love to see the Creature from the Black Lagoon remade, as long as they captured the sprirt of the seige the creature lays on the ship when he traps it in his lagoon...

Just my two cents

Vons

 

[Lonemagpie]

I personaly would love to see the Creature from the Black Lagoon remade, as long as they captured the sprirt of the seige the creature lays on the ship when he traps it in his lagoon...

That was originally going to be Stephen Sommers' follow-up to The Mummy, with Rick and Evey heading to South America to get away from Mummies, and running into a completely different Universal Monster.

But we got The Mummy Returns instead, followed by Van Helsing. Meh.

 

[stj]

Second the nomination of Monolith Monsters.

Teenagers from Outer Space would have to keep the boy loses girl plot, and it's hard to imagine that flying with modern teens. It would come across as gay.

I propose the perfect alien robot monster movie of the Fifties, James Blish's VOR. True, it doesn't technically qualify as a remake having never been made into a movie the first time, but that's a trivial detail.

 

[Myasishchev]

I could remake Teenagers From Outer Space. All I need is some tinfoil and the lobster tank at my supermarket.