Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Analog Scott (A) on April 15, 2004 at 12:19:00

In Reply to: I agree with LesF posted by ephemere on April 14, 2004 at 23:46:03:

"The original had a story that made sense,"

The stories made sense in both movies they were just quite different. the ifrst was your typical Scifi B movie monster chases group of good guys plot. Very linear and very predictable. The second story was set up to create a sense of paranoia, both for the characters and the audience. Ity worked very well for me. What one prefers is personal choice.

" populated by real characters."

I didn't find the characters particularly real in the first one. In fact I found them painfully cliche of that genre. OTOH I thought the characters in the second were much richer and three dimensional. I also thought their reactions to what they faced to both more organic and more interesting and entertaining. I found myslef relating to them much much more than the original.

"In contrast, the remake was just a monochromatic romp."

I'd say the first one was much more so both literally and figuritively. The second one was far more chaotic (a good thing) and the turns were far less predictable. The plot lines of the characters were woven together quite nicely. There was nothing to weave in the original. It was a very linear singular plot line that bore a painful resemblence to about twenty other movies of it's ilk.

" As entertaining as the remake might be, I find it hard to call it an improvement over the original in any area other than the special effects."

Fair enough. We have very different opinions on these movies.