Death, Taxes and terrible Hollywood Remakes & Sequels

I found myself at one of many holiday parties this season, engaging in the usual small talk:

“How’s work?”
“Good.”
“I still can’t believe you make money selling comic books.”
“Yeah, it’s a crazy business.”
“You must love The Big Bang Theory.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“You’ve never seen it?”
“I have not.”
“Oh, you’d love it.”

But that’s beside the point. At one of these parties, I was involved in a conversation about movies and was asked, “When has a sequel or remake been better than the original?” The typical answers came up: The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II. Personally, I think The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers surpass their originals.

This led to an interesting question: Why are we so excited and obsessed with new films when the originals are classics? I fall prey to this as well. I was over the moon when I heard they were remaking Salem’s Lot, which is my favorite book and movie of all time. I counted down the days until its release. I made a big deal out of it, gathering my whole family—even my aunt and uncle, who were visiting from Japan for my wedding.

And I don’t say this lightly: it was the biggest disappointment of my life. I didn’t expect it to be amazing, but I thought, “Hey, this is going to be okay.” It wasn’t even worth watching.

Yet, here we are again, with remakes of Nosferatu and The Wolfman on the horizon. Here’s a hint for everyone: watch the originals!