The Ring was the only one of those that I've seen that doesn't take a dump on the original. Haven't seen Mirrors yet though.
The Ring, because it didn't suck. Hehe. But really, that film was great, and the rest...were...different.
I have to go with the Grudge - it perfected the best parts og the Japanese ones and made the characters more distinguishable (I had trouble telling the characters apart in the Japanese big screen version). The remake of The Ring misses the ominous ambience of the original badly, and the remake of Dark Water felt really tired.
These remakes need to stop, or shall I say, remakes that are truly unnecessary. It is clearly an embarrassment to us Americans, as it is to Hollywood (which is already an embarrassment to begin with), when we need to remake Psycho and The Omen for Christ's sake! Japan can truly point the finger and laugh at us, as we are remaking practically their entire horror library, and remaking it poorly I might add. I am sure there are great, original ideas being pitched around Tinseltown, but executives are just too fuckin' stupid to know it and or, just unwilling to give that No Name a chance. Thank God for independent films. When Hollywood overhears about a great original Japanese horror film doing great biz in Japan with a cult following here in the States, they say "Okay, let's rewrite it with a happier ending and throw Jessica Alba or Sarah Michelle Gellar in it and tone it down to a PG-13 so we can get the teenagers' $10.50 as well. Money in the bank." FUCKIN' BULLSHIT!!! They need to end this remake madness, it's becoming a joke. As far as the poll: of what's listed, I've only seen The Ring, Pulse and Dark Water. I guess my vote would go to The Ring, because at least it's somewhat well-produced, entertaining and nicely acted. I'd like my vote to go to Mirrors, because I think Alexandre Aja is a gift to horror cinema of late...but I have yet to see it, and won't vote till I do. -UJ
Trick R Treat is a great example of this. Ridiculous that this hasn't been released when so much other crap has.
I actually second that. I didn't think any of those flicks were really bad -- but The Grudge 2 had a really confusing multi-narrative story... and how did Kayako get into the Chicago apartment complex? I did like the fact that The Grudge 2 actually went with an original story as opposed to remaking the original sequel. (The Japanese sequel had a story revolving around a news crew who visits the haunted house.)
