Universal are apparently keen to cash in on the great Hollywood trend of remaking older films, although at least this time the films they are most interested in reworking aren’t new versions of fairly recent flicks but venerable classics from the studio’s own history, their iconic 30s horror movies. According to The Hollywood Reporter Universal are talking to Neil Burger (co-writer and director of the Illusionist) about writing and directing a new version of the classic Bride of Frankenstein. The original by James Whale starred Elsa Lanchester as the Bride (with that astonishing hairdo that inspired Marge Simpson’s do) and the great Boris Karloff (in his now iconic Jack Pierce make-up) as The Monster and is one of those rare examples of a follow-up to a hit movie turning out to be even better than the first film.
(Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein, (c) Universal)
I’m normally not that mad on classic films being remade, especially as Hollywood seems to be obsessed with doing that at the moment at the expense of original ideas, and I love those 30s Universal horrors (Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf-Man – the latter now being turned into a new movie by Benicio Del Toro no less), they’re a serious part of horror movie history. But I thought Burger’s Illusionist was a gorgeous film – fascinating story, beautifully shot – so I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, assuming the studio lets him make it his way.
Thu, Jun 18, 2009
Film, TV and radio