Friday, December 14, 2007

I Hate You, Hollywood.

Why do you keep taking scary movies from Asian countries and remaking them with white people? I thought this fad had passed with the horrible Sarah Michelle Gellar "The Grudge" and the terrible Jennifer Connelly "Dark Water." The original "Ju-On," while perhaps slightly plotless was perhaps one of the scariest movies I've ever seen (seriously, the lady-ghost slithering down the stairs...total heebie-jeebies), and the original "Dark Water" had such a sad ending, I wept. The remakes were terrible, terrible films, and one would think you would stop. But no, you had to fuck around with "The Eye."

Here is the original trailer for "The Eye," or more accurately, "Gin Gwai."



Fucking scary. The scene where the protagonist is stuck in the elevator...eesh. Just rent it, okay?

Here is the new version
, starring Jessica Alba, in what appears to be a scene-for-scene remake. Just starring white people. Also, they give away the ending in the trailer, which annoys me.

Is this racism? Am I reading too much into it? I mean, Hollywood is perfectly willing to market foreign horror films to wide audiences when they're from countries where white people live (see also this), or if they speak english. And I think that's unfair, and that Hollywood is vastly underestimating American audiences.

We are capable of identifying with non-white characters. We are capable of reading subtitles. And we are capable of understanding a non-shitty script.

Well, most of us are, anyway. Stop catering to the lowest common denominator and underestimating your audience, Hollywood. Please.

5 comments:

CrackerLilo said...

You know, I really wouldn't mind seeing Asians in Asia on screen. My only problem would be subtitles--I find it so hard to read and watch at the same time. But a *truly* good horror movie isn't about dialogue anyway, is it? :-)

Vanessa said...

See, I've never had a problem with subtitles. But I'd even take a dubbed version over a Sarah Michelle Gellar sucky version.

And it's true, a really scary movie works in any language.

ummyeahguy said...

Vanessa we saw this movie together at that short lived indie movie place.

ummyeahguy said...

We saw this movie together at that short lived indie movie place remember?

Vanessa said...

Yeah, I remember. Too bad it closed!