This time we have two remakes. The original film from 1933 was brought back to life in a 1953 version “House of Wax.” The film is about a psychotic sculptor who turns subjects into actual wax statues that scared the bejeebers out of everyone back then. Of course, that wasn’t enough and in 2005, they decided to do it all over again.
The remade film got a teen slasher (waxer?) facelift that relied purely on cheap scares. It was also the film that gave Paris Hilton the opportunity to show off her… incredible… acting chops.
Fame (2009)
Overly polished and dumbed down, the remake of "Fame" took a gritty and raw film about art school students in the 80s and trashed it. The energy completely vanished in this film.
As critic Roger Egbert said it perfectly. "The new 'Fame' is a sad reflection of the new Hollywood, where the material is sanitized and dumbed down for a hypothetical teen market that is way too sophisticated for it."
Poseidon (2006)
The 1972 film "The Poseidon Adventure" was a classic American disaster film that dazzled viewers in the 70s. The highly imaginative film brought was brought back to "life" in a noisy and overbearing 2006 remake.
The storyline of angry family members plastered against unimpressive CGI effects was not worth it. Not to mention the casting of Fergie. Why?
The Wolfman (2010)
Universal Studios was so obsessed with recreating one of their treasured box office hits that they didn't seem to care what direction it was going in. As long as it had the name and some vague connection to its 1941 classic, that seemed to be enough for them.
The movie ended up being an unrecognizable eye-sore of a film that even Anthony Hopkins couldn't fix.
Arthur (2011)
It was torturous enough watching Russell Brand play another obnoxious role. We also had to watch the beloved Dudley Moore classic get turned into a corny modern joke of a film.
How Helen Mirren got on board with this one, we will never know. At least it's where Greta Gerwig got her mainstream start so we can't hate that movie too much!