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Universal Explores A New World Of Gods And Monsters, Pushes Forward With BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN Remake!
Beaks here...
James Whale's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is the crown jewel in Universal's Classic Monsters library. It is the one movie you aren't allowed to fuck up. Just ask Franc Roddam. If you can find him*.
The problem with remaking James Whale's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is you're tethered to that title for marketing purposes. If you simply decided to embellish the companion-creating element of Shelley's story under a different title, you might be able to avoid comparisons to Whale's classic. But when you invoke that title, there's the memory of a beautifully written, surprisingly funny, and bravely subversive (particularly in terms of its homosexual subtext) masterpiece that cannot be surpassed. Probably. Unless you're supremely fucking talented.
I like Neil Burger (the writer-director of INTERVIEW WITH THE ASSASSIN, THE ILLUSIONIST and the seriously underrated THE LUCKY ONES), but "supremely fucking talented"? Show me.
It looks like he's going to get his chance under the aegis of Universal and Imagine. Both companies have been trying to get a BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN remake off the ground for years now, stretching back to 2004, when AMERICAN SPLENDOR's Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini were hired to the contemporize the material. Whereas Berman and Pulcini wanted to make a movie about a young woman being "unnaturally" resurrected, Burger is apparently going in another direction with his take. I sincerely hopes this means he isn't going period, because that would be a huge mistake. That said, I also hope he isn't trying to goof around with the cloning issue, because that's old hat anymore. And I don't know how you work in Pretorious without directly referencing Whale's movie.
Most of all, I just don't know "Why?".
Burger is obviously talented, but I wish he had more of a genre background, as John Carpenter did when he tackled the already-great THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. For all of my misgivings, there is a way forward here. It's just going to take a brilliant filmmaker with a unique vision to blaze that trail. Anyone care to make the case for Burger being that guy?
For more on Universal's Neil Burger experiment, check out Steven Zeitchik's story at The Hollywood Reporter.
*And I realize that was a Columbia Pictures production. Doesn't change the fact that he called his movie THE BRIDE. Should've stuck to the story about the monster and his little buddy; the Sting/Beals business was dreadful.
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I was going to write something about how pointless a remake of BRIDE is without the context of the first story. You want to come at this kind of story, why not adapt Peter Ackroyd's THE CASEBOOK OF VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN?
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Why remake a classic. Why not remake a movie that had a good premise but failed to deliver. Like Last Action Hero, or Howard the Duck.
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a Citizen Kane remake in a few years. Also I see no reason to remake Last Action Hero. I love it as is.
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It needs a new brain, like Frankenstein's Monster/Demon.
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Why not just remaster and re-release the original movie? Why would anyone want to go near this - it would be like trying to remake Citizen Kane.
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sorry Aitrus233 I hadn't seen your post.
Maybe Universal is getting high on the rushes from The Wolfman and have become emboldened to slaughter their sacred calf. -
A calamity is looming on the horizon.
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Wouldn't that make more sense?
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I'm confused.
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hmm?
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I think so.
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They're very good questions
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is actually pretty boring. "Bride" is in a totally different league. One of the few times in movie history when the 2nd part was far better than the original one.
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....into credible human beings!
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What a surprise! They're doing a remake of a classic movie. Well blow me down with a feather, who'd have thought it! What a brilliant idea to take a flawless movie and imagine you can do it better. How big are these guys egos?
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Jun 17, 2009 7:03:14 AM CDT
I Actually Really Liked The Bride When I First Saw It
by kevinwillis.net
In 1986, or thereabouts. Senior year of high school or the summer before. Not sure what I would think of it now. Been a long time . . .
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Beaks needs more rest. AICN is working him too hard.
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Fuck this movie in the ear. Stick with the classic version and if the absolutely must, have the filmmakers do something original. I know that's asking a lot these days, but...
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Wonder if they'll ressurect The Mummy (it's been ten years) Dracula (it's been 17) or any of their other signature monsters (and hell to the no! I don't count Van Helsing in this at all)
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Jun 17, 2009 7:37:09 AM CDT
Have you noticed that the movies making good money this year.
by hallmitchell
Are newish films.
UP, Hangover, Paul B. Mall Cop, Grand torino as compared to T4, Watchmen, Wolverine etc. -
Or earlier. Oh, and The Bride isn't that bad. Clancy Brown's monster is the best thing about it. Sting is crap in it tho.
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I'm getting old. Dracula's gotta be on the remake cards, surely. And wasn't Alex Proyas supposed to be making Dracula: Year Zero at some stage?
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val helsing...they had all kinds of plans for movies, theme parks, cartoon etc etc. but when that film tanked, they dropped all those plans...looks like they are getting itchy to go forward again
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I was just sitting in bed with with my best girl when I said to her "you know bitch, why aren't there any remakes being made?" It's about time, I am sick of new ideas being tried. Remake everything!
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He can't make a genre film because he has no gnre background?! There has to be a first one right? Are all filmmakers supposed to stick to one type of film their whole lives? Should Spielberg not have been allowed to make Color Purple because he hadn't made a film like it before? Should Cameron not have been allowed to make Titanic because it wasn't sci-fi and didn't have Arnold? Should Rob Reiner not have been allowed to make Stand By Me because it wasn't a comedy? Should Demme not have been allowed to make Silence Of The Lambs? I could go on like this forever!
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Why remake (and probably f**k up) a classic? I liked 'The Illusionist', but come on :P Though strangely enough, am dying to see the Wolfman remake ;) The worst thing about remakes is that if they're godawful, then it taints the original. Hollywood really needs to find some original material!!
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How time flies...:P
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Is a masterpiece. This might actually work.
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No one is going to see this shit set in modern times. Fuck that.
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Megan Fox for the bride!
"Henry you fool! You used toes instead of thumbs!" -
...Follow the money Beaks....
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Screw it! Remake everything!"The Exorcist" is over 30 years old! Get cracking! Abigail Breslin as Regan! You know you want to see it! Johnny Depp in old age make-up as Father Merrin! GAAAAHHHHHHH!
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Really Beaks? The last thing I want to see is Chris Pine as Victor Frankenstein in a college lab using his i phone to resurrect his girlfriend that got hit by a car and then call it, "The Bride Of Frankenstein." That's about how completely asinine it would be. **shakes head and wonders, why?**
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First Chris Columbus was going to direct it, then Jim Cameron, then John Carpenter, then Guillermo Del Toro. Where does the film stand right now? Will it ever happen?
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Vanessa Hudgens as the Bride, Zac Efron as Doctor Frankenstein and Miley Cyrus as Frankensteins Creature
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They'd have to be a lot more creative with selecting the people involved to move the needle with this sort of thing.
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nothing like any adaptation of it. It was much better.
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There are some movies that should have the equivalent of preservation orders slapped on them, and Bride of Frankenstein is a prime example. Hope it turns out to be a load of old wank.
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You don't need a genre background to make a great fucking movie.
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Take a great concept, give it a good director, good writers, and WAY better make-up than the original. You got yourself a damned good movie.
To answer the question, "why?". Because the bride looked really stupid in the original, and her silliness really distracts from the coolness of the movie. -
Wasn't Alphaville, the production company behind the GOOD Mummy films, going to make this about 10 years ago?
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Talented fucking director!
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Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein adaptation. The whole concept of a mate for the creature was beautifully executed into what is already a very haunting, faithful, and wonderful adpatation of the novel.
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Breck Eisner was attached to the CREATURE remake for a year or so, but he recently left the project. The script by Gary Ross is good enough to go into production; they just need to find another director (hopefully one a little bit better than Eisner).I think Neil Burger is a talented filmmaker. I'm just being tough on him because this, to me, is like remaking THE GODFATHER. Whale's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is iconic. And if you're going to take it on, you'd better have something interesting to say. This is why I believe you should stay the fuck away from period: setting this in the same era would immediately feel like you're copying-and-pasting the original. Obviously, I'm not hoping for Zac Efron "rebooting" his dead sweetheart with an iPhone or whatever someone suggested above - and I doubt Brian Grazer would force such changes on Burger. I just think that anything you can do to get away from the iconography of Whale's movie would be incredibly helpful. Finally, the weird thing about remaking BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is that it's basically a riff on unused elements from Shelley's story. So Burger will be doing a riff on riff. It's just weird. But I wish him the best of luck.
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... announcements I see on this site compared to original properties. I swear it must be over 50%.
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starting with Bride??? Huh???
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Greatest movie ever made.
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..it was called "Weird Science"..shes alive!!..
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Mike_D is right. Kinda need to put Frankenstein back out there before going into the whole Bride thing. Speaking of "The Bride", Jennifer Beals was hot....
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Is if instead of a remake, it just utilizes the title is set in modern times, and even references the original movie as an inspiration for some Reanimator type activities in some dudes garage.
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Set it in San Francisco. Or Iowa. Cast Sean Penn and Danny Glover. Your choice who is who. Or Anderson Cooper and Keith Olbermann. Make sure Olbermann is the monster's bride, though.
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Jun 17, 2009 2:39:05 PM CDT
Hurry, while you still have Cloris Leachman to play the old lady
by cookylamoo
And Helena Bonham Carter to play the Bride, reprising her role in Terminator-Salvation.
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Cast Ellen Degeneres as the Bride. Have you ever seen that mug in HD? Yikes! Plus, when the monster is presented with his Bride, she could say "no thanks, I don't drive stick", to which the monster would reply "ARRGG,Dyke bad!"
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I don't usually diss films this early in the the process but this just feels wrong...
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will be watching BRIDE OF REANIMATOR (unrated, of course) instead
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They remake the greatest American horror film ever made, and I will fucking kill a baby.
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After all, what was Edward Scissorhands but a retelling of Frankenstein?
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because of the gay F**cking twilight club.
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With i pods and apple phones and crap. omg lol
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Instead of remaking BRIDE, how about an all-new monster to join the ranks of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, Dracula, the Mummy, etc.? Some anthropomorphic, shambling creature with a signature "look," and PG-13 scariness? Done in the tradition of Universal Studios horror films? That would be a lot more fun and imaginative, rather than a pointless remake that everybody will have their knives out for.
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And Barack Obama as Blackula. He'll charm you with his pretty words and then suck your wallet and your kids' financial futures dry in order to give their life's blood to deadbeats. Now THAT'S a horror film!
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Indeed, a comedy classic. "Hold That Ghost" is pretty damn good too.
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instead
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I'm so tired of that shit anyway.
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