So… this is actually happening and let’s just say my skin is crawling (and NOT from fear). Granted, the cast seems solid and veteran TV director Angiezka Holland is an excellent choice (her work on AMC’s The Killing, HBO’s The Wire and other shows shows she’s a master at her craft), but the original film is so (and still) perfect at what it does that even the best intended reworking will fall short by comparison. I may catch this when it runs, but why the hell is it playing on Mother’s Day? Yeah, I get the inherent humor here, but ha-ha, I know some people won’t like the idea of this being a way to end an otherwise fine holiday. Eh, my mom will probably watch it just because she was around to see the Polanski classic and I think she liked it a lot.
(Yeah, it LOOKS creepy… but sadly, by network standards ONLY)
The mini-series format and network not cable airing bugs me as well, but given that network TV has been approaching mild levels of cable-like content for a while now, I’m sure that this will deliver where it counts. That said, I definitely don’t like some saying this isn’t a remake because of the Parisian setting and whatever else has been changed from the book and original film. Zoe Saldana’s got a similarly skinny frame and has a variation on the haircut Mia Farrow had, it’s still the same plot (despite a few changes here and there) and if they show the baby in this one, it’ll destroy the ending of the film because it ruins the mystery completely of what the spawn of the devil would look like. That and you can’t top the dream sequence from Polanski’s classic one bit.
As noted in the title, I’ll try to keep an open mind, but there are a few strikes against this one already for me. Hopefully, the cast and director can save this one enough that even the more ardent fans will want to check it out. I’d imagine though, if it DOES do well, we’ll either see NBC trot it out yearly (eek) or get a sequel fast-tracked for next year (double eek). That idea didn’t do well for the original film at ALL, by the way…
I’d only heard of this horror anthology film a few years back thanks to a friend who saw the restored final third and raved about it. Of course, I never got the chance to check that, nor the rest of this film out until recently when the movie popped up on TCM and after a sluggish first segment, had me glued to the couch taking in the assorted sights and sounds.
I remember about ten or so years back attending a dinner party where I walked into a conversation about violence in video games affecting society in a few negative ways. Asking around, I found that no one in the group had any actual current video game experience (this was before mobile and tablet gaming became the nickel and dime juggernaut it is now), so it was interesting watching the debate flop and flail around like a fresh fish that’s landed in a boat with the hook still in its mouth. I also remember shutting the conversation down entirely by asking if anyone in the vicinity was a contact spots fan and reminded them that more REAL people have been injured and died from participating (and spectating) in all sports than from playing video games, PERIOD.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 