Most genre work isn’t exactly known for its originality, so when fans of a movie get totally up in arms about a current release being a rip-off…er, reused concept, then the similarities have to be pretty damn close.
Now I’m not talking about Asylum Films who have their own cottage industry of purposely releasing films with titles and concepts curiously similar to megabudget new releases. They are gleefully on this side of piracy and are doing their own unique thing. I’m talking about when you see a trailer, synopsis, or actual movie and think to yourself, “That was just like …”
So let’s check out some flicks that obviously decided another movie was just too kick ass not to copy. Some of them are decent in their own right, most aren’t, but to a pick they certainly weren’t worried about comparisons. Make sure to share your favs by spitting bullets, too!
READ PART 1 OF THIS LIST HERE
WARNING – CURIOUSLY SIMILAR IDEAS BELOW!
5. PIRAHNA (Jaws)
Jaws might be the baddest mofo in the ocean, but can’t we terrorize some people in rivers and lakes too? Hells yeah! Unleash a swarm of tiny cow de-boners on a group of bikini clad and seriously surprised summer sun seekers (piranhas in the U.S.? WTF?). Kinda lends a certain appropriateness to the upcoming remake, which we can only hope will be as much fun as the original.
4. DOOMSDAY (Road Warrior, Escape From New York, etc.)
As my man Walkuski said, this pic actually is a mish mash of about 5 different films, but as he also pointed out, it’s a damn good time regardless. If you get a little chub anytime you hear “post-apocalyptic”, or “dystopian” then you’ll most likely grin largely as you take another journey from the incomparable Neil Marshall.
3. RED DRAGON (Manhunter)
A truly odd scenario here. A book that has already been made into a movie gets re-done because another book in the series was a huge hit, with a different cast. And since the villain in the new film was considered one of the best in movie history, his role was pumped way up in the new adaptation of the book in order to make him the sellable point of it. That of course was to try and recover from the poorly received original sequel to the second film. Got all that? Anyway, whether you like Ratner or Mann, Petersen or Norton, Cox or Hopkins, this ends up being a middle of the road flick that had way more firepower behind it than it deserved.
2. JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (The Hidden)
Props to JimmyO for this idea, that quite frankly I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I mean the body jumping slug that the producers of F13 decided to turn Jason into is so similar to what you get in THE HIDDEN that they should have called Kyle MacLachlan in for a cameo. What’s particularly egregious here is that it takes a cool concept and makes it stupid, and takes a cool franchise, and you guessed it, makes it stupid. No wonder they sent that f*cker into space next.
1. REPO MEN (Repo! The Genetic Opera)
Buy the REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA DVD here
Well you knew it was coming to this didn’t you? I don’t really recall a time when the same concept was culled so specifically in such a short period of time. Fans of REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA have been crying foul since the project was announced, and it’s hard not to see their point given that REPO MEN is based on a novel called Repossession Mambo that was written well after the stage play that RTGO sprang from was produced. If you want to get into the full debate you can do a simple search to see what all is going on, or you can just vote with your wallet.
READ PART 1 OF THIS LIST HERE
Got a Top 10 idea? Hit me up at mattwithers@joblo.com