12 Awful Hollywood Remakes of Foreign Films We Wish They Never Made
If, like us, you enjoy watching foreign movies, you’ll appreciate how creative, unusual and thought-provoking they can be by broadening our experience of cinema and exposing us to new film making styles and genres. You’ll also understand how nerve-wracking and infuriating it can be to see your favourite foreign movies to get the dreaded ‘Hollywood treatment’. From blatant plagiarizing of the source material to losing the spirit of the original and making silly changes to the plot and characters, Hollywood has a checkered history when it comes to reimagining classic films from around the world. So here are 12 of their worst attempts!
1. The Vanishing (1993)
The Original: Spoorloos (1988)
Probably the biggest boo-boo the remake made was that it did away with the original’s hauntingly grim ending in favour of a much less memorable, happily ever after final act.
The Original: Abre los ojos (1997) A critically divisive movie, Vanilla Sky has been as acclaimed for its lofty ambitions and individual performances as it’s been reviled for its pretence and baffling plot. Most people can agree though, that it’s not a patch on the audacious Spanish original. 5. Vanilla Sky (2001)