There’s a remake of Carrie coming out soon.  Nothing fills me with more dread.  Why remake this brilliant 70’s Brian DePalma / Stephen King movie???  It was one of the best horror movies I recall when first getting into the genre in my teens, and nobody will replace the great Sissy Spacek … least of all the go-to girl of the moment Chloe Grace Moretz… yes that girl from Kick Ass who was perfect in Kick Ass, as this Hollywood cutie went totally against type to play a ruthlessly violent assassin, her cuteness being part of the gag.  But it certainly did not work in the poorly advised remake of Swedish vampire chiller Let The Right One In, namely Let Me In.  Chloe Moretz is just too pretty to play a freaky vampire, and she’s too pretty to fill Sissy Spacek’s shoes.  The trailer below just doesn’t bode well…

Now lets take a quick look at some of the remakes we’ve had forced upon us.  They tried to reboot the Friday the 13th series the other year with one of the worst horror movies I have ever witnessed.  No dread, terrible acting and no imagination – considering they had over ten movies to inspire them!!  Grr.  Then of course we have A Nightmare On Elm Street, that despite a relatively good turn from Jackie Earl Hayley, was hideously let down by terrible teen casting and copy-cat murders that were not as well done as the original movie.    I’ve ranted before about my dislike of Hollywood remakes here, most notably the remake of the Japanese classic Ring, replacing suspense and true scariness with CGI and a pissed off twelve-year-old girl (oh, the terror!).  Now I hear they are remaking The Evil Dead … erm, didn’t Sam Raimi already do this with his brilliant sequel Evil Dead 2???  Unnecessary, pointless and more often than not, a poor imitation of the original… and that isn’t rose-tinted specs talking!!

But I will give credit where it’s due.  Last year’s rather decent The Thing prequel had enough going for it not to insult the John Carpenter original, and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was actually rather good, as was its prequel follow-up.  So sometimes it can be done, if placed in the right hands and with enough new ideas.  Sadly though it’s rarely the case, and the more they make movies based on old classics, the more I feel let down by the movie industry that I love.  Come on Hollywood – you’re better than this!!