It used to be several decades before someone even considered remaking an old film.
But today, such is the apparent lack of film ideas out there, about twenty years seems to be an acceptable period of time to wait before film producers steal a older film's idea and give it the once over.
I suppose they do say that we should redecorate our homes every twenty years or so (at the very least). So, maybe we should look at it this way - that a film remake is exactly this, a makeover bringing it up to date with current trends and fashions giving it a fresh lick of paint and some new furniture.
This week sees a remake of the 1980s chiller / thriller 'The Hitcher' arriving at our local cinema with the new film running with the tagline 'never pick up strangers'.
'The Hitcher' (2007) features a young college couple Grace (Sophia Bush) and Jim (Zachary Knighton) who are on a road trip across Texas on their way to Spring break.
While driving through the night through heavy rain (it's always raining in these type of situations isn't it) Jim nearly runs over a man hitching a lift.
Initially, the young couple drive on but when the 'hitcher' John Ryder (played by Sean Bean) catches up with them at a gas station and asks for a lift to the nearest motel they foolishly agree.
No sooner is this stranger in the car but he produces a knife and holds it to Grace's face. Noticing 'the hitcher' isn't wearing his belt Jim hits the brakes, causing Ryder to smash his head off the window. The pair then manage to get him out of the car and drive away.
But if they think this is the last they will see of him they are tragically mistaken.
The next morning the couple see him in the back of a family's station wagon. While trying to warn the family who they have in the back Jim crashes his car and moments later they discover the family slaughtered at the side of the road with no sign of the hitcher.
As Jim and Grace try to attend to the family the hitcher appears again in a tow-truck trying to ram them off the road (like something out of 'Duel').
For the rest of the picture anyone who gets between 'the hitcher' and the young couple (mostly police officers it has to be said) get brutally murdered, and you start to wonder is this guy ever going to leave them alone - or indeed how long can they survive. One thing is for sure - nowhere is safe.
'The Hitcher' is, quite obviously, not going to get any marks for originality as it has been done before. But it does score points elsewhere. For a start, there are more, sudden, 'jump out of your seat' moments packed into this film's short one and a half hours than many other much longer films.
And although the film starts with a racy soundtrack music is not used for suspense here, which is quite refreshing in such films. Sean Bean is, undoubtedly, the talent here and the film's one and only big name. But he somehow isn't as menacing or as scary as he should be. In fact, the performance of the film comes from Sophia Bush's 'Grace', a pretty young actress who, no doubt, we will be hearing much more from in the future.
'The Hitcher' comes from producer Michael Bay (who also remade 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre') and like in that film pretty young college students are on the receiving end of some bloody violence here. 'The Hitcher' is violent in parts but its fair to say it is more bloody than violent with plenty of tomato ketchup spread around the place. There is probably a strong argument that says 'The Hitcher' is stupid but it is actually quite an enjoyable romp. You would never think there were so many empty highways in America but, apparently there are and this film goes down many of them as Ryder first implicates Grace and Jim in murder and then chases them relentlessly towards a grisly conclusion.
