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: Travolti da un'Insolito Destino Nell'azzurro Mare d'Agosto (1974) When Lina Wertmüller, director of the original film, saw Guy Ritchie and Madonna’s 2002 version he allegedly left the theatre at the end crying, "What did they do to my movie? Why did they do this?" Enough said. 9. Swept Away (2002)