Where's The Creativity?

As everyone knows by now, I'm a huge horror movie buff.  I'm so good at horror trivia that Ghostface from Scream would have to kill me just out of sheer boredem.  I'm so confident in my knowledge that I could bet my house on what kind of underwear Robert Englund wore on the set of the first Nightmare On Elm Street movie.

But now, as we enter into 2010, the remakes are beginning to surface, yet again.  Is there no creativity left in the movie making business?  Are we just suppose to accept that the days of decent, ORIGINAL Hollywood movies are behind us?  I don't think so.

To me (and any other unpublished writer reading this) this presents the perfect oppotunity to put forward some new ideas. 

Take the horror genre for starters.  In the late 70's and all through the 80's horror established the ultimate villains.  Michael Myers scared audiences on Halloween, Jason Voorhees made it impossible to send your children to camp and as for Freddy Krueger, well, the coffee makers were happy when children wouldn't go to sleep.  The big villain was a huge success.  Even Leatherface had his devoted followers. 

In the 90's both a deranged Fisherman and a man in a Ghostface costume made waves, yet while they were successful and generated money, they couldn't hold a candle to what had come before them.  Ghostface was champion of the 90's; 3 movies, a total of 30 plus bodies and an ORIGINAL idea.  That's why he was so successful.  As for I Know What You Did Last Summer, it contained a great cast (let's face it, who was hotter in the late 90's then Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Phillippe and Freddy Prinze Jr) but the storyline was . . . meh.  Don't get me wrong, I was 12 when it came out and Muse Watson scared the shit out of me.  Come to think of it, he still does.  He killed both Ryan and Sarah's characters which didn't install me with a lot of confidence.  Both Ryan and Sarah could have easily kicked the shit out of him but ended up dying.  As a martial artist, I was left wondering if I would have survived his wrath.  As for the weapon of choice, a large hook, it had already been done, thanks to Candyman, 6 years earlier.  It wasn't the greatest film, the storyline was lackluster and don't get me started on the sequels.

The thing that really annoys me is directors and producers, who shouldn't be allowed to operate anywhere near a movie set, think that by re-releasing a movie (eg. Halloween) that they'll develop new fans which will earn more money.  I don't believe this is the case.  Reality is if you want to redevelop the franchise, pump out another sequel.  Sequels 9 times out of 10 have made more money then remakes, plus they increase their audience as well as their profit margin.  Plus they keep their core audience of die hard fans that have kept the series going for 20 plus years.

My point is, forget about remaking movies.  Leave the classics alone.  As I placed on my Twitter page earlier today, when will it end?  It starts with horror, followed by musicals.  Even television shows such as V, Beverly Hills 90120 and Melrose Place have been remade.  What's next?  The Towering Inferno, 2011?  Hollywood, I beg you, as a consumer of your products, stop it.  You're slowly killing off the classics in hopes of making them better.  Classics don't need to be redone.  That's why they're called Classics.  Get some new ideas, find some decent writers and go for gold.  Channel your inner child and create a new masterpiece that doesn't involve distroying something that's already been done before.  Get some new creativity, pronto!   

The Cowboy

A cowboy appeared before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. 'Have you ever done anything of particular merit?' St. Peter asked.
'Well, I can think of one thing,' the cowboy offered. 'On a trip to the Black Hills out in South Dakota , I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So, I approached the largest and most tattooed biker and smacked him in the face ... kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground. I yelled, 'Now, back off or I'll kick the s--- out of all of you!'
St. Peter was impressed. 'When did this happen?'
'Couple of minutes ago.'

Some Advice To Follow

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;



Forgive them anyway.


If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;


Be kind anyway.


If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies;


Succeed anyway.


If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;


Be honest and frank anyway.


What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;


Build anyway.


If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;


Be happy anyway.


The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;


Do good anyway.


Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;


Give the world the best you've got anyway.


You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;


It was never between you and them anyway.


Mother Theresa