Trollhunter, Audition, and The Orphanage

Whenever an English-language remake of a well-received foreign film is announced, the reaction from film fans is usually, “What’s the point?” The Oldboy remake, the Martyrs remake, and Downhill (the remake of Force Majeure) all received a lackluster response from critics and audiences alike.



Related: 7 Horror Remakes Based On Foreign Films

However, in a best-case scenario, an English-language remake of a foreign film can find a unique perspective on the subject, inspire a new interpretation from the actors, or remove scenes and subplots that did not work in the original. The Departed, Let Me In, and The Ring are all examples of American remakes that many filmgoers enjoyed as much as the originals.

10 Remake The Orphanage (El Orfanato) In The American Northeast

This 2007 ghost story from J.A. Bayona, director of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, terrified audiences when it was released over a decade ago. While the coastal setting of Llanes, with its picturesque caves, beaches, and cliffs, is a unique feature of the Spanish film, the idea of a child in a sackcloth mask trapping someone in a bathroom is terrifying in any country. An English remake could move the setting from Spain to a remote part of New England. Putting the haunted orphanage in the dark woodlands of Maine would terrify even the most jaded horror fans.


9 Get Fortnite Fans On Board With A New Battle Royale (Batoro Rowaiaru)

While some might argue that The Hunger Games is already an American remake of this 2000 classic from Japan, the violence in Hunger Games is tame in comparison to the brutality and heartbreak in Battle Royale.

Related: Squid Game: 5 Ways It’s Like Battle Royale (& 5 Ways It’s Completely Different)

The premise of Battle Royale, teenagers trapped on a remote island and told to fight until only one of them is left alive, is so clever in its simplicity that it inspired an entire subgenre of popular, lucrative multiplayer games. Changing the location to America could provide a different perspective on the idea, and the title alone would certainly attract the attention of Fortnite players.


8 One Cut of the Dead (Kamera O Tomeru Na!) Is Funny In Any Language

This 2017 Japanese horror-comedy is Noises Off! meets The Evil Dead. It’s a farce about a small film crew attempting to make a zombie movie in one take. To say much more would be to give away some of the film’s best surprises, but suffice to say it’s a clever concept that can be pulled off with a small budget. Putting the English version in the hands of a director like Kitao Sakurai (Bad Trip) or Michel Gondry (Be Kind, Rewind) could make for a new film that’s similar to the original while still being a great new comedy in its own right.


7 Trollhunter (Trolljegeren) Is A Title Too Good Not To Reuse

Trollhunter (2010) is a Norwegian found-footage film about a documentary crew that gets mixed up in the misadventures of a strange hermit who tracks and kills monstrous trolls. While not a straight comedy, the movie never takes itself too seriously, and its special effects are closer to Ray Harryhausen than Godzilla vs. Kong. An English version following a troll hunter in a similar setting, such as the Yukon, could be a great showcase for a VFX studio. The Mill, the Oscar-nominated studio behind the creatures of 2020’s Love and Monsters, would be an ideal pick.


6 Persona Has Two Dream Roles For Up-And-Coming Actors

A 1966 psychological drama from the lauded Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Persona tells the surreal story of an actress who has stopped speaking and the nurse sent to care for her at a remote cottage. One of Roger Ebert’s 300 “great movies,” Persona is highly regarded among film critics. To remake a work as singular as Persona might be taken as heresy by fans, but the story is an opportunity to put two brilliant actresses together. As Luca Guadagnino showed with his 2018 remake of Suspiria, remaking a classic film is an opportunity for a director to explore surreal ideas of their own.


5 An American The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Jo-eun Nom Nappeun Nom Isanghan Nom) Could Get Even Weirder

A South Korean take on the American Western from I Saw the Devil director Kim Jee-woon, The Good, the Bad, the Weird is already something of a retelling of the classic spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. What makes it unique is its fast pace and cartoonish action sequences, often verging on slapstick.

Related: The 10 Best Spaghetti Westerns, Ranked

A South Korean version of an American Western (that was itself filmed in Italy), The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a unique blending of cultural images. Passing the story back to an English-speaking country, like an international game of telephone, might make for something even wilder.


4 Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes) Could Be The Next Inception

A 2007 Spanish thriller, Timecrimes is a twist-filled time-travel story that fans of Christopher Nolan’s films would do well to seek out. Hector, an ordinary middle-aged man, stumbles upon a murder and is then chased by a killer whose face is covered by bandages. While on the run, Hector meets a scientist who can send him back in time exactly one hour. Doing so creates complications for Hector that could lead to the death of his wife. A remake could explore even more complications in Hector’s time loop while removing some of the more unsavory scenes of violence against women that are unfortunately present in the original.


3 Fish Story (Fisshū Sutōrī) Deserves More Attention

The 2009 Japanese film Fish Story is difficult to classify, as it has elements of comedy, drama, sci-fi, and musical biopic. The film is a collection of stories, all set between 1975 and 2009, the first of which is the recording of a punk song: “Fish Story.” Screenwriter Tamio Hayashi (adapting a novel by Kotaro Isaka) keeps the viewer in the dark about what exactly connects these stories, with the only clue being that “Fish Story” will one day save the world. The movie shares some similarities with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, so maybe he could take on directorial duties for a remake.


2 Audition (Ōdishon) Could Shock Audiences All Over Again

Horror fans may balk at the suggestion of remaking this gruesome 1999 Japanese thriller, but enough time has passed since its release that its twists could surprise a new generation of filmgoers.

Related: 10 Movie Remakes No One Asked For

Based on a novel by Ryu Murakami, Auditiontells the story of a wealthy widower, Aoyama, who holds an audition in hopes of meeting a new wife. He becomes obsessed with a mysterious young woman named Asami, and they become intimate, but Asami’s sinister secrets twist Aoyama’s romantic dreams into nightmares. Casting an English-speaking actor to play the new version of Asami would be a fun exercise, as the role requires someone who is equal parts alluring and terrifying.


1 The Santa Claus Of Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Would Be A Hit With American Filmgoers

Both a heartwarming holiday film and an offbeat horror movie, Rare Exports (2010) is a uniquely Finnish take on the murderous Santa Claus subgenre. Here, Santa Claus is unearthed from an ancient burial mound by a research team in Lapland, and he terrorizes a young boy and his father, who owns a reindeer slaughterhouse. If the financial success of Krampus in 2015 is anything to go by, American audiences are game for scary versions of Saint Nick, and a new version of Rare Exports that leans more heavily into comedy could prove to be a hit.

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Posted by Kane on August 11, 2022 1:26 am NEWS JUNKIES —…