Free Post: "Remakes" of Classics (Spoiler Alert)

In class, we've been watching Frankenstein movies lately. Before we watched the original film, Luke forewarned us that it was made for a different audience, and that we would have to make our judgements with this in mind. That got me thinking about how Frankenstein would be presented if it were remade today. Conveniently enough, an ideal example of just such an instance exists today, in the classic horror flick The Wolf Man.

Released in 1941, this film was the start of the modern movie legend of the werewolf. In this film, the titular character, portrayed by Lon Chaney, Jr., is Larry Talbot, a successful businessman returning to his home in Wales after the death of his brother, who reconciles with his estranged father. Larry becomes romantically interested in a local girl named Gwen as he grows closer to his hometown. However, after a night visiting local gypsies, Gwen's friend is mauled by a wolf and dies. Larry kills the wolf, but is bitten first. Returning to the gypsy camp, he learns that the wolf was a gypsy named Bela, whose body was found in place of the wolf's, and he is suspected of murder. An old gypsy woman warns Larry that he will become a werewolf (which he does) when next the moon is full. In the end, after forty minutes of lycanthropic mischief, Larry (as the Wolf Man) is bludgeoned to death with a silver cane by his father. This classic was remade in 2010, and retitled The Wolfman. The title is the first of many changes in the movie to make it appealing to a modern audience. In this version of the film, Larry Talbot, played by Benicio del Toro, is returning home after the death of his brother, but that's where most of the similarities stop. In this version, Larry's brother was torn to death by an unknown animal, which Larry proceeds to hunt (and is bitten by). Gwen is his brother's widow, and the two become romantically involved. Larry's father, as opposed to being a kindhearted old gentleman, is a sadistic sociopath (later revealed to be the werewolf who killed Larry's brother and mother). Not surprisingly, Anthony Hopkins was chosen to play this role. Larry transforms, is accused of murder (rightly so), and is taken to a mental hospital in London, where he transforms and massacres a room full of doctors and slaughters quite a few civilians. Larry returns home, kills his father in a werewolf fight while their manor burns, and chases Gwen through the forest, where he temporarily regains control of himself before Gwen shoots him with a silver bullet.

The differences between the two versions of the film are astonishing. In the original, none of the characters are truly evil, and most of them try to help each other out. Larry's father and neighbors do all that they can to help him through what they see as a time of illness. The special effects, for the time, were cutting-edge, and even today, they don't look half-bad. Lon Chaney, Jr. portrays the madness of the beast extraordinarily. Benicio del Toro, on the other hand, lends a bloodthirsty, savage malice to the character, who spends less time tromping through the forest with a bemused expression on his face and more time ripping out throats and tearing off heads. In addition, whereas Chaney's transformation is quick and painless, del Toro's Talbot has to suffer through a full minute of agony and pain while he transforms. The reason for this, in addition to some of the other ways the remake is changed, is the fact that the werewolf legend has evolved since The Wolf Man. Today's werewolves are more animalistic, more violent, and more destructive than Chaney's wolf man, all three of which are traits of del Toro's werewolf, which spends half its screen time roaring at its next victim, blood dripping from its maw. Also, as in other werewolf movies from more recent times, del Toro's monster is able to temporarily recall snippets from his human life, like familiar faces and those he loves. Chaney's creature, more of a madman than a beast, lacks this capacity entirely.

How would Frankenstein be different if it were made today? Well, I think that the monster's torment at Fritz/Igor's hands would have been much longer and much more graphic. I don't doubt that we would have gotten more than one scene of Frankenstein and his flunky hacking up dead bodies for their experiments. The monster's accidental murder of the little girl probably would be much more graphic, and quite possibly would involve some other character. In all honesty, Fritz/Igor's death would have been much bloodier and much rougher, and the doctor probably would have fought for quite some time before he succumbed. And, as with The Wolf Man and its remake, the relationships between the characters, as well as their own personal traits, would likely be very different from the original's. Especially the monster.

If you're not convinced, here's a trailer for the original film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsrFMBWRC1M
And here's a trailer for the 2010 remake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPieOzIA7NM