It seems every year that a remake, a re-imagining or a re-boot hits our cinema screens, dividing the public’s opinion. Sometimes the general reaction is positive, but most of the time people are left asking ‘why?’

I will be looking at 3 movie remakes and discussing how well they did and why they were made.

I will begin with ‘War of the Worlds’.

War of the Worlds started life as an 1898 novel written by H.G Wells, split into two volumes. Taking place in England, it tells the story of unnamed character and his brother looking for his wife after an alien invasion. The book was immensely popular, having never gone out of publication to this date, and various adaptations were made. A 1938 radio broadcast, narrated by Orson Welles, was very famous as it was read as a news bulletin which fooled many listeners into thinking that it was real. Due to the book’s and radio programme’s success; a theatrical movie was released by Paramount Pictures in 1953, directed by Byron Haskin.

The film’s plot was slightly different from the book. Set in America, it tells the story of a scientist who tries to find out how to defeat the aliens.

Dr. Clayton Forrester witnesses a large meteorite crashing into the town of Linda Rosa. Before he gets the chance to examine it an alien escapes and immediately kills 3 people before knocking out the town’s power. As other meteorites crash land around the world, the Marines step in, looking for peace with the alien soldiers. The aliens attack, killing many so the Marines flee. Forrester and his friend Sylvia escape in a small military plane. They hide in an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by several unsuspecting Martians. Forrester wounds one with an axe and takes a sample of its blood. The scientist discovers the alien’s weaknesses from the sample. The military drop 3 atomic bombs on the Martians that prove unsuccessful. It is estimated that the Aliens will take over Earth in just 6 days. When all hope is lost, and people begin to accept their fate, it is revealed that the Martians have no biological defences against the bacteria and virus’ in the Earth and suddenly die.

The film was well received with the public and critics. It was officially the most successful Sci-Fi of the year, earning a $2 million profit in the box office. It was also nominated for 3 Academy Awards, winning 1, picking up the Oscar for Best Special Effects.

Stephen Spielberg, after working with Tom Cruise on the 2002 film, Minority Report, declared that he’d love to work with him on another film. A meeting took place where the director explained to Cruise that he had 3 possible films that he would like to make. They both agreed on a remake of War of the Worlds.

The film’s plot differs from the original, but does bear small similarities with the book. It follows the story of Ray Ferrier, (Cruise) an estranged single father who operates container cranes in New Jersey. His kids, 10 year old Rachel and 17 year old Robbie, come to stay over for the weekend as their Mum is visiting her

parents in Boston. A day later, a huge lightning storm hits the town. When it ends, he and his bewildered neighbours venture outside. A huge machine with three long legs, known as a Tripod, steps up from underneath the ground and begins killing many people. Ray just about escapes the carnage and drives away with Rachel and Robbie to his ex-wife’s house where they stay the night. They awake to find half the house has been destroyed, and the street looking like a war zone. Ray decides to take the kids to their Mother in Boston. Robbie has decided that he wants to join the armed forces in their mission to defeat the aliens. Ray leaves Rachel by a tree to try and bring Robbie back, but as he has hold of him he notices and couple trying to take away Rachel, thinking they are saving her. Ray makes the decision to go back to Rachel, leaving Robbie who runs off. It looks like Robbie has been killed seconds later though when the Tripod’s let off an explosion which presumably kills everyone. Ray and Rachel are taken in by a man named Harlan who is plotting revenge on the aliens as they killed his family. The next morning one of the aliens makes its way into Harlan’s house, so the three of them hide. The alien leaves after a tense few minutes, but Harlan is losing his mind, screaming and shouting so Ray makes the tough choice of killing him so to protect Rachel and himself. Rachel has run outside and is captured by the Tripod. Ray finds some of Harlan’s grenades so sets some off in order for him to be captured too. He is selected by the aliens for harvesting but all of the other prisoners grab hold of Ray, saving him. As he was half way up into the Tripod, he lets off a grenade inside, and as he is pulled away, the Tripod blows up, freeing all of the captives. Ray and Rachel finally arrive in Boston, where they find Robbie at his grandparents’ house with Mum. Ray notices that plants are dying due to bacteria. Suddenly the Tripod’s collapse and die, as it is revealed that they have no biological defences against natural bacteria.

Although made on a huge budget, $132 million to be precise, the film was a massive commercial success, earning over half a billion dollars at a cool $591 million. The film was also successful with the critics too, with the most praise aimed toward the special effects and the fresh storyline related to a film that had already been adapted for film, TV, radio and stage. Cruise’s acting was also commended, although the ending to the film was slightly criticised as it was seen as quite flat. That didn’t deter the film when it came to the Academy Awards though, earning three nominations in the Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Visual Effects categories.

The second film I will be looking at is REC.

REC is a Spanish horror movie released in 2007, featuring English subtitles for the UK and USA audience where it gained a cult following. Directed and written by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, it follows the story of a TV presenter who is at a fire station filming a documentary when the fire fighters are called out to an apartment block after a woman has locked herself into her room. While there though, they realise that the situation is a lot worse than first anticipated.

Balagueró and Plaza had previously worked together before, directing the documentary OT, The Movie back in 2002. Both fans of the horror genre, they decided to create a horror movie of their own. Little did they know that their little movie, on a slim budget, would find itself ranked alongside the true horror classics.

Going back to their documentary making days, the pair decided to have the film played out in a handheld fashion, giving the impression that the film wasn’t a work of fiction at all. Abandoning music and dramatic Hollywood-style stunts, the movie achieved what it always wanted to do; sometimes shifting aside an understandable plot for the sole purpose to terrify. And terrify it does.

Casting real life TV presenter Manuela Velasco in the lead role as a reporter made the film even more feasible, making people believe that what they are watching is a documentary. This was more apparent in Spain, where Velasco is a household name.

The film begins with Velasco’s character, Angela Vidal, attempting to film a documentary at a local fire station. After a short while of interviews and capturing the firemen’s routines, the department receive a call about an elderly lady trapped in her apartment. They allow Angela and her camera-man, known only as Pablo, to accompany them on what they believe to be a rather small incident. When they arrive, the police are already there and they smash down the woman’s door. The military soon arrive and seal off the building, leaving the terrified residents to gather in the entrance hall. Meanwhile upstairs, the woman has become incredibly violent, biting one of the policemen. She is shot and killed by the police. They head for downstairs to find they cannot leave. Angela and Pablo decide to carry on filming, and begin to interview the residents of the apartment block. A little girl named Jennifer reveals that she isn’t feeling very well, and her dog is currently at the vets. A health inspector, wearing a protective suit, arrives to take care of the sick. They suddenly try to attack him, despite their conditions. He explains that people with different blood types react differently to the mystery condition, before revealing that a dog brought to the vets earlier in the day had gone crazy and attacked the other animals. Jennifer then vomits blood and runs upstairs. Jennifer’s mother is handcuffed to the stairs by the policeman and heads upstairs with Manu, the lead fire-fighter. After finding Jennifer, the policeman attempts to inject a syringe into her, but she bites him. Manu and Pablo see that there are now many more people infected and are attempting to smash through a door for their ‘food’. They have no choice but to leave Jennifer’s mother to be slaughtered in order to save themselves. The number of people infected is increasing, so Angela, Manu and Pablo are forced to fight them off. They learn that there is a key leading to an exit, but they must make their way up to the third floor to retrieve it. After Angela and Pablo find the key, Manu is bitten, leaving those two to be the only people in the apartment block to not be infected or dead. They are forced even further upstairs by the crowd of infected, meaning they cannot make their way to the exit on the ground floor. They stumble into the upstairs penthouse, finding some incriminating evidence as to

how the virus started. It is revealed that the former owner of the apartment block was an agent of the Vatican, who captured a girl to try to stop the virus from spreading. He abandons town and locks her away to starve her and the virus to death. Angela and Pablo make their way into the attic, but a boy jumps up and smashes the light off of Pablo’s camera. They are now in pitch black. Pablo switches on the night vision on his camera which means he can only see through his camera and Angela cannot see at all. The girl who was left to die by the Vatican agent is actually in the attic, and she is looking for Angela and Pablo. As they try to escape, Pablo trips and is killed by the girl with a hammer. Angela finds the camera and tries to run away, but also trips and drops the camera. As she frantically searches for it, the infected girl comes out of nowhere, dragging Angela into the darkness, leaving her fate unknown.

The movie was widely acclaimed by the majority of critics, the most praise attached to the hand-held style and the originality. The movie was nominated and won many awards in Spain as well as being described as the best ‘shaky-cam’ movie ever made. Two sequels were released; REC 2 and REC 3: Genesis in 2009 and 2012 respectively.

Quarantine, the American remake released in 2008, isn’t your average remake. Hitting the cinema screens only a year after REC did, there were many factors as to why a movie described as a ‘carbon-copy of REC’ was created.

Created on a larger budget, as is to be expected with Hollywood remakes, Quarantine wasn’t as well-received as the original Spanish version, earning poor-to-mixed reviews from critics. The reason this film was made was down to the sheer success of the original, and the slightly greedy American companies wanting to join the ride, which explains the reason as to why Quarantine was made and released so soon after REC. REC was still carrying a buzz around the world, so the makers of Quarantine thought their movie would be a success because many people enjoyed the original.

Although the critical response was largely poor, the Americans were proved right as they enjoyed a decent return at the Box Office, earning over $40 million compared to the $12 million budget. This was largely helped by the intrigue and curiosity of moviegoers who wanted to see the American interpretation of a modern classic. The fact that REC was being sold on DVD at the same time that Quarantine was being shown in the cinemas also helped too. Quarantine’s box office returns earned them a sequel, Quarantine 2: Terminal in 2010 – where the plot was completely different to the REC sequels.