Lets talk about scary and/or slasher movies!

[RJDiogenes]

One good thing about True Bloodthirst was that the guy who played Mad Hatter in the Alice miniseries was in it. He's pretty good.

So there's a wolfman in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant? That's incentive to watch. Also, I like Vampire Diaries and Never Cry Werewolf (except for the ending), so if it's like those I'll probably enjoy it.

[PhoenixHope]

So there's a wolfman in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant?

Yeah, and while he's not one of the main characters he does get a fair amount of screen time. However, (not to talk you out of watching, but) it's not a wolfman so much as merely an over-large wolf basically (with maybe some human intelligence, the movie never really lets you know for sure). Though my fav (of the freaks) is actually the snake boy who's actually a boy but is green and scaley like a snake, though the monkey girl isn't bad either I just wish she'd have come off as more of freak.

Mostly when I say this is like The Vampire Diaries and Never Cry Werewolf that is true just with obviously a different story, and also the main character being a dude instead of a lady. There's also a small element of bro-mance, which could be Supernatural in tone, though obviously that's the only real way it's comparable with Supernnatural, because this movie is more like The Vampire Diaries in the fact that not all monsters are evil (and possibly the only "freaks" that are evil are the Jawa-looking dudes - they are clearly spying for a dude that certainly seems evil, and they never stop trying to bite people).

And on the rewatch I realized I was not entirely correct because there is a small sliver of a romance, there's a couple of flirty scenes and the main character does kiss a girl in the end, so the movie is not totally without romance (and I think you'd like the girl in question cause she's not a glam!girl). Also, there's the bearded lady who's kinda sorta involved with the main characters mentor (though in the scene's without her beard she's clearly more glam!girl then girl-next-door), but again neither of those are heavy threads, which is good cause I think overt romance would've detracted from the storyline.

Anyway, back to amusing B-movies because there are a few I forgot to mention, which almost makes sense since I watched them about two weeks (though probably more like a week and half) before watching the others I mentioned.

First up was Haunted High, and it's totally understandable that I forgot about this one, because I don't even know why I decided to watch it in the first place. However, I must admit it wasn't a completely awful movie just more that everything about this movie you could clearly see coming from miles away. Plus more cheese then not, but at least this movie didn't have any delusions of granduer, clearly it knew it was a B-Movie and didn't brother trying to pretend there was more to it then that.

Next is one that I still honestly can't remember, but I know it was a ghost movie, but that's all I can remember about it at the moment. Seriously I even tried google on this one, but all I can remember is that there was at least one ghost in this movie and with google I need slightly more help then that. *sigh* But I honestly don't remember anything else. This is probably one of those that I'll only remember if I manage to come across it again.

Then we come to one I do remember - Fire Serpent which I'll freely admit upfront that I only watched because of Nicholas Brendon (aka Xander Harris) and Robert Beltran (aka Chakotay). However, it wasn't all bad and the special effects wasn't near as cheesy as the last movie I watched with Nicholas Brendon (the one with Harry Kim - sorry, I really don't know that actors name - it was the one with a giant clay monster chasing/killing a bunch of kids on an island - it was mostly all cheese is what I'm saying) that's not however to say the effects in Fire Serpent weren't cheesy, cause there was a bit of cheese in them, but by the same token some of the effects was also pretty good. Anyway, I totally know why I kinda forgot about it, because it wasn't a great movie, nor was it a bad movie. Though it did have a mildly interesting storyline, but as usual with these kinds of movies the writing coulda been a little better.

The next one I'm not honestly sure why I forgot about it, because it was actually a decent movie - 100 Feet, not an instant classic or anything, but was certainly more engaging then Fire Serpent and Haunted High, though admittedly that's not saying much. And again I only watched this movie because it starred Famke Janssen - I don't know exactly why, but I love her.

I think mostly this one might've merged with Halloween in my head, because the ghost villain here was clearly an homage to Micheal Myers - this isn't totally obvious at first, but the first time the ghost is actually seen it's obvious the movie was going for a Micheal Myers look and the characters name was Mike. However, that not what keeps this one (IMHO) from escaping B-Movie status mostly it's the somewhat cheesy effects (though I've seen worse) and the fact that so much of what happened in this movie was easily seen coming from the beginning.

So, while none of the above are horrible (even the one I don't remember, because if it had been horrible I would've at least remembered it) they are most certainly all B-Movies, though 100 Feet (as I said) does almost escape B-Movie land, but just never quite manages a full escape.

[RJDiogenes]

I saw Haunted High! That was the one with Mr Friendly from Lost. It was a totally over-the-top B-Movie cheese fest. Totally entertaining. I liked that one.

I'm not familiar with Fire Serpent or the one with the clay monster and Harry Kim. Those sound like something I would like, though.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant is sounding more interesting. I like stories about sideshows and freaks (the classic, of course, is Freaks from the 1930s). I'm on vacation this week, so I'll see if I can get it on Pay-Per-View.

[PhoenixHope]

Well, despite the fact that the movie I can't remember is driving me crazy - seriously, I know I watched one, because while my girlfriend doesn't remember the movie (she slept through it) she does remember me watching one, but as I said she's no help with identifying it.

Anyway, I kindly went and looked up the title of the clay!monster movie for you - Pinata: Survival Island.

[RJDiogenes]

Never heard of it, but it sounds goodly bad. I will try to find it. Looks like Nicholas Brendon produced it, as well as starred in it.

[PhoenixHope]

I forgot to mention, but really should before you go looking up the movie Fire Serpent. You remember how you said one of your big problems with True Bloothirst was because "everyone" seemed to feel like they was making a summer blockbuster.

Weeeeeeeeeell, there's shades of that with Fire Serpent, because honestly there's only one actor over the course of the whole movie that seems to understand what kind of movie Fire Serpent is (Robert Beltran) the rest of the cast (more often then not) tend to act like they're making a totally seriously non-cheesy movie.

Of course, to be fair Brendon always acts that way, but since casting Brendon in a movie seems to always mean cheese (seriously, writers and producer people I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that - you cast Brendon in your movie you need to just accept that the cheese is masturbating all over your movie) I like to think Brendon is always aware of the type of movie he's making and just runs around playing it straight (as a type of straight man) on purpose.

Anyway, just thought I might ought to warn you about that since as I said I remember you saying that was one of the things that kinda ruined True Bloodthirst for you. Though granted it's not as "bad" here it is still noticable especially with certain characters and really the overall writing.

PS - About Cirque du Freak I should point out that not all the freaks are based in realism (and, yes, I realize how that sounds, but hopefully you get the idea), that might could go without saying, and also while the Cirque does play a big part in the movie this movie is really not about them, if you get what I mean. Just didn't want you to go into this expecting a "proper" freak-show movie.

[RJDiogenes]

That's okay. There seems to be plenty that I would like about it. At this point, I'm planning to watch it tomorrow, unless the winds of arbitrariness blow me in another direction. As for Fire Serpent, I guess I'll think it over, but I think I like both Chakotay and Xander enough to give it a look (if I can find it).

[PhoenixHope]

Weeeeeeell, did you watch it?

Did you watch it?

Well, have you watched it yet?

On a somewhat related side-note, I did some digging and while this was clearly meant to be a series of movies that's unlikely to happen, because the first movie almost managed (but not quite) to break even, but since it didn't quite even break even (meaning it lost at least a bit of money) it's unlikely there will ever be any more movies in the "series" made. So, perhaps I'll use my increase in pay to buy the books.

[RJDiogenes]

I did watch it, yes, and I enjoyed it. The story universe and the characters were interesting and appealing, it set up a good and believable conflict between the main character and his best friend, the mentor vampire character was cool, the freaks were cool (and I sensed an homage to the movie Freaks that I mentioned, but I'd have to rewatch to be sure) and that was a pretty cool Wolfman. The conflict between the humane vampires and the old-school vampires has become cliche, but it was probably new when the book was written and it was cool that it was the mentor vampire that started it.

I could tell that it was the first of a series and, unfortunately, I could see why it didn't work out. The story had a somewhat non-traditional structure for this type of movie and was a bit too low-key to be a blockbuster, the female lead was not a traditional-style babe like Hermione is Harry Potter (although to my taste, she was adorable) and, while it set up an interesting situation, there was no specific plot, cliffhanger or mystery to entice people. The contemporary audience seems to need that stuff. I was fine with it and would definitely have watched sequels had they been made. It was a mistake, in my opinion, to not make sequels-- a low-budget franchise would have created more interest in the original and created a wider world to draw people in.

[PhoenixHope]

The story had a somewhat non-traditional structure for this type of movie and was a bit too low-key to be a blockbuster, the female lead was not a traditional-style babe like Hermione is Harry Potter (although to my taste, she was adorable) and, while it set up an interesting situation, there was no specific plot, cliffhanger or mystery to entice people.

That's part of what I meant when I said (awhile back in this thread) Cirque du Freak should have probably been made into a TV series instead of trying to come to life as a movie series. But also a TV series would've had time to "wander" that movies don't generally have time for. Movies tend not to have time to focus on anything not related to the overall plot, and even then sometimes some of that has to be stream-lined like crazy. And a TV series would've allowed for more time to explore the Cirque characters, as well as more time to explore/explain the vampires and their conflict, not to mention giving loads more time to Mister Tiny, who basically won me over before I ever knew who/what his character was to this movie, but opening said movie with him eating popcorn at a funeral... I don't know why, but that basically made his character for me.

However, from what I've read (and no I still haven't read/ordered books - for one a can't find them all, except in a set for over eighty dollars, and I suspect if I could find the books separately I'd spend slightly less then 80 bucks buying them all) the movie did stay fairly close to the books themselves (though from what I understand the movie basically covers the first three books), which is always a plus for me. But I still think overall this series might've found more success had it tried to come to life as a TV series instead of a movie franchise, because I think a TV series would've been able to give it a life and a depth that a movie was never going to be able to. Though to be fair the movie did okay on that score.

[RJDiogenes]

I agree, it would have been better as a series. Even a short-seasoned cable series would have given them more elbow room. It's too bad, because it's a more interesting concept than a lot of stuff that does make it on the air.

[PhoenixHope]

So, moving on from the not-scary movie back to some scary movies... Or not.

A couple days ago I finally got around to watching The Mist - Why did it take me so long to see this? Well, to be honest, I thought I'd all ready watched it, but apparently not.

Don't get me wrong, though, this movie is not terribly scary, though it does try and is slightly more scary (and a touch more gory) then Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. More then that though somehow despite this movie being populated with rank idiots (not as bad as The Toolbox Murders - or whatever that one was called, but...) I actually liked this movie and even some of the characters.

Weird, I know, because early on I was seriously pissed that they kept not shooting this one crazy bitch in the head, because it was totally obvious where this shit was gonna go if they didn't, and on my island there ain't no room for no damn Gilligan is all I'm saying. Anyway, towards the end they finally got around to that, but it was too little too late, because her crazy had done seriously affected things, but oh well. Another stupid bit was these idiots taking damn near twenty minutes to figure out that bugs are attracted to light. *sigh* Yes, I know the bugs here were big "scary" alternate universe bugs, but they was still bugs. And towards the end the timing doesn't make a lot of sense - if the military was finally killing the "monsters" and saving people it seems like the five people in the car would've encounted them before they did, but that's mostly a small thing compared to other things in this movie.

However, that's probably what saved this movie for me. First I really liked the fact that the one woman who had to leave safety because her kids was alone (though it was totally understandable why no one wanted to go with her) was there on the safety transport at the end AFTER the dude had just shot everyone in the car including his own son (five people, four bullets - I coulda killed all five, just saying) seemingly literally seconds before rescue arrived. Probably I liked this because those in the car was only slightly smarter then the ones left behind, because I mean seriously in a situation like that, yes, I might be willing to off myself before the critters get me, but I sure as hell ain't gonna do it before I see the whites of their motherfuckin' eyes is all I'm saying.

Then comes a movie that I damn near slept through - Fertile Ground, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting this artsy fartsy bore fest that's for damn sure. Okay, to be fair, it wasn't ALL bad, but this movie clearly had ideas above its station. Granted the ideas weren't all bad - was the woman actually seeing ghosts or was she just insane? The movie never answers that, and that wouldn't be a problem if the movie hadn't handled all these questions in the most boring ways possible.

And despite Fertile Ground almost putting me to sleep I decided to go ahead and watch the next one Thir13en Ghosts. What? I was almost asleep and totally comfortable, and didn't want to have to get up and turn things off to go to bed. Of course, this movie actually roused me from my almost sleep, because it actually did manage to live up to scary movie status. Now don't get me wrong it's not a total scare fest (and some of the ghost effects are a little cheesy), but I'd argue that it was the best of the recent crop on that score. And it doesn't hurt that there was a few good surprise twists here, though there was one surprise twist I kept expecting that never actually happened. For a moment, or two... Well, there was this bloody girl ghost, and for awhile I kept thinking we might be looking at a Sixth Sense kind of deal, because at one point I was almost positive the bloody girl ghost was the ghost of the live teen girl, who maybe only thought she was still alive at that point.

So, while I wouldn't call Thir13en Ghosts a perfect movie, I do think it was the best of the three, though honestly with just a few tweeks The Mist could've been just as good.

[RJDiogenes]

Interesting. I didn't bother with Thirt3en Ghosts, because it looked pretty bad. Maybe I'll give it a try.

The Mist is based on a novelette by Stephen King that was published in Kirby McCauley's anthology Dark Forces back in the early 80s. It is possibly my favorite Stephen King story. I thought they did a very good job of adapting it-- except for the ending, which they changed quite a bit. The real ending is much more ambiguous-- no military and no suicides. The movie is also by Frank Darabont of Walking Dead fame, and has some Walking Dead cast members in it. The DVD has both a color and B&W version; I watched the B&W.

[PhoenixHope]

Well, I think you'd probably like (not necessarily love) Thir13en Ghosts, because I believe you like movies that have a little cheese and don't take themselves to seriously, and that's Thir13en Ghosts in a nutshell.

Yes, Thir13en Ghosts also has a few "scares" and one rather gory scene, but otherwise it's just a fun little movie. Though, to be fair, you might find one or two other scene's kinda gory, but it was really only the one that "got" me.

As for The Mist I'm not sure I'll ever love that movie, because I literally spent the first half yelling at the people on screen because more often then not I found most of them too stupid to live, but as I said there was just something about this movie that kept me from being able to outright hate it despite stupid characters.

Another movie I watched yesterday that you might like (or may have all ready seen) is The Dunwitch Horror. It wasn't a bad movie, but admittedly I found it more then a little boring in a few places, though certainly not as boring as Fertile Ground. Again though The Dunwitch Horror isn't exactly what I'd call a scary movie, though in places it clearly tried to be.

[RJDiogenes]

I like Lovecraft when they get it right. Is that the old movie with the guy from Quantum Leap, or is there another one?

[PhoenixHope]

So, I didn't watch much Quantum Leap (maybe three/four episodes from the entire series) so I had to do some looking up, but yes one of the Doctor dudes in The Dunwitch Horror was in Quantum Leap.

That's like when you mentioned someone from Lost... Well, I've never watched ANY Lost so I had to research that one too. Basically, what I'm saying STOP GIVING ME HOMEWORK! LOL

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Sorry.

Actually, I did some homework, too. I discovered that Dean Stockwell was in both the 1970 version (which is the one I was thinking of) and the 2009 version (which I haven't seen and which is probably the one you were thinking of).

[PhoenixHope]

,/"Mega Madness - Super Badness,/"

So, last night I had the place to myself, and saw that The Hub was airing Gremlins (and Gremlins 2) so I decided to watch them. You see, I haven't watched Gremlins since I was about 7/8 years old, and while I admit I didn't find those movies terrifying even back then I'm sure it was a bit scarier to me back then than it was last night. In fact Gremlins might have been the first scary movie I ever watched in my life. Of course, I had guessed that I wouldn't find them scary even before I rewatched, but what these movies did do was take me back - Ah, the good ol' days. Well, that and also proved to me once again that my decision to remain childless is a wise one, because at moments during the movie I kept thinking "wow, baby!me thought that was scary - I should go back in time and force baby!me to watch the Saw movies," which would've no doubt tramatized baby!me for life, so bad Hope no scaring baby!Hope!

Anyway, some backstory here is that baby!me watched Gremlins and liked it so much that a few years later when I got a puppy - who had the darker circle of hair around his eye like the gremlin in the movie... Well, you can guess what I named that dog, can't you? Well, if not I named that dog Gizmo. That's how I'm sure those movies didn't scare the crap out of baby!me, because if they had I'd have never named a dog after them. Just saying I never had a dog named Freddy, because those movies would get me so bad that my parents would always tell me I wouldn't be allowed to watch another, but then they'd forget... Well, until they didn't, I think after the third or forth one they actually remembered, because to this day I don't remember watching the latter Freddy movies...

The main thing I noticed though is that characters in these movies have gotten dumber over the years, which was something I hadn't realized, because I guess I'd always just assumed characters in these movies pretty much stand there with a "please kill me" sign. But no in Gremlins (at least the first one) while there are a few dumbass characters there are also quite a few characters who don't just stand around screaming - they actually get a weapon and kicked some ass.

I also watched American Horror House last night, and I'm still not sure if I think it was a good movie or not. But it was certainly a scarier movie than Gremlins and it was a slash-fest (as in killing not hot man on man love), and it didn't seem to take itself too seriously and the story wasn't impossible (well probably impossible in real life, but not in movie universe), but I just came away feeling like I didn't like it, but then everytime I think that I'll also think that it wasn't that bad, so...

Tonight it'll be The Messengers unless I decide to go ahead and watch Grimm and Once Upon A Time.
(Why am I watching Grimm so late? Well, my local NBC network aired a local ballgame Friday, so I didn't get Grimm until last night and I was busy watching movies.)

[RJDiogenes]

I missed American Horror House. I set my VCR but forgot to change the channel. I was told that it wasn't so good.

Do you watch Walking Dead? If so, you probably know that it's Halloween month, so there's probably going to be some good stuff on. I haven't checked the schedule yet, though. Also, if you're not watching Walking Dead, it's definitely worth checking out.

[PhoenixHope]

Re: American Horror House...

First, what kind of VCR do you have dude, because every VCR I've ever owned (except maybe the very first one - I don't remember anything about that one except it had a remote, but also had a cord which made it not really all that great since the cord wasn't actually that long) would allow you to set something to record and you wouldn't have to actually watch as you recorded.

But anyway, no, American Horror House wasn't a great movie, but I don't think it was the worst movie to ever movie either.

Re: The Walking Dead:

Do you watch Walking Dead?

I actually do not. And right now I couldn't even if I wanted to because I have DISH and AMC isn't airing on DISH at present.

However, the main reason I didn't start watching in season one (and I did think about it) is that I wanted to start watching from the beginning and every time they reshowed the pilot (at least before I just stopped paying attention) there always seemed to be a scheduling conflict. And after a certain point I just gave up, though at some point I'll probably go and watch the whole series on DVD.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Yeah, get the DVDs. You'll love it.

As for my VCR, I don't have to actually be watching it, but the channel is determined by the cable box, so it has to be set right, otherwise I'm outta luck. One of these days I'll get DVR.

[PhoenixHope]

So this is another post I'm moving here that started in another thread, but finally decided to move here to keep the other thread mostly on topic.

Well, I probably won't be watching this one again soon, so I thought I'd come back and comment about a few things. Reason I'm not watching it again soon? Well, yesterday when me and mine went to eat out at a very fancy place from which I was given a gift card for Christmas we also went to Big Lots and then shopping for me a new mattress (my old one was either poking me with springs one way or had a big sink hole in the middle the other way) and because we stopped at Big Lots I found a bin with $3.00 movies and so I purchased a couple of "scary" ones which I shall be watching over the next few days instead of rewatching an episode of a show I've all ready watched once.

What DVDs did you get?

The Number 23, which I'd watched before (years ago), but enjoyed watching again, and found that I had at least forgotten some things. Mostly everytime I think about it I feel this movie shouldn't be called a scary movie, but every time I watch it just creeps me the hell out - every time! So I guess that makes it a scary movie.

Rest Stop Dead Ahead, which... Well, I hate to be mean, because this movie had some interesting concepts, but it was pretty boring for the most part. This girl is being stalked by a serial killer, and yet for most of the first day she just wanders around not really being stalked or scared at all. So, probably the first half hour/forty five minutes is kinda boring, but once it gets past that it does become fairly interesting if still just not really all that good.

The Revenge of Frankenstein, which I tried to start last last night, but about fifteen minutes in got bored and decided to watch something else. And it was at that time I discovered some idiot (most likely me) deleted the recent episode of Lost Girl so I guess I won't be rewatching it.

And then...

Quickly now:

So, last night I actually managed to watch The Revenge of Frankenstein, and it's in fact not a boring movie, so I'm going with the thought that I was just sick when I tried to watch the first time (still sick in fact, but not as bad now as then). However, I'm not sure why anyone would think this is a scary movie. Frankenstein as a scary movie I get, but I don't get why this one would be considered scary by anyone even people from a hundred years ago when dinos roamed the earth. *grin* Okay, fine, the idea of a creepy doctor killing/maiming patients for his own demented purposes is kinda scary, but this movie almost played down that aspect, and aside from that this one is mostly a science fiction (gone weird) kind of movie.

As for Rest Stop Dead Ahead, which I did not watch again, I thought I'd come back and say the biggest problem with it (aside from the fact that it totally fails to build almost ANY tension) is that the movie (or people behind it) couldn't decide if they was making a slasher movie or a psychological thriller, and because they couldn't decide they failed at both. Of course, they was destined to fail at making a slasher at any rate because the movie started with two characters, meaning it's gonna be damn hard for this movie to have a body count. Though I will give them a few points for bringing a new character in right in the middle just to add to the body count, but then with this new character they take him out (not dead, but basically out of the action) too quickly to again count as slasher. Mostly this movie had things that should've been exciting, but the writing/acting/directing seemed to think some other stage would add the excitement in later or something.
(Well that and this movie also at times felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a somewhat realistic thing or a full on supernatural thang. So it sorta felt like two different movies in that aspect, as well. Basically, I think the folks behind this movie had several good ideas but mistakenly packed them all into one movie which made the whole thing a bit of a mess.)

I also forgot to mention that I also got The Mummy as well. Now I think this is one I tried and failed to watch back in the day, because to be honest this movie is called The Mummy not The Search for the Mummy, and yet this movie spends the first half without the mummy, and even then they aren't searching for a mummy but a book. Anyway, there is FINALLY a mummy in this movie, but I suspect back in the day I just didn't have the patience to wait forever for the mummy to make an appearance. However, this is again not a bad movie, but honestly they could've cut this movie in half by getting to the mummy part sooner.

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, Rest Stop Dead Ahead doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

Are Revenge of Frankenstein and The Mummy the Hammer movies? If so, I agree that they are not scary. I like them just for the style and panache.

I've never heard of Number 23. What's it about?

[PhoenixHope]

Are Revenge of Frankenstein and The Mummy the Hammer movies?

So I was just gonna shrug and say I don't know re: Frankenstein, but it was the one starring the delightfully naughty Peter Cushing. But since I have the DVD I went and looked at the case, and yeah it's a Hammer (1958).

As for The Mummy the one I watched may be a remake of a Hammer movie, but the one I watched was released in 1999 (I think) so I doubt it's a Hammer film. It starred Brendan Fraser. *shrug* And the case doesn't say it's a remake, but that doesn't mean it isn't.

I've never heard of Number 23. What's it about?

Well, for one it's a Jim Carrey movie. HEY! WAIT! Come back! Seriously, Jim Carrey is the star, but it's not a comedy. In the interest of not SPOILING you entirely here's a brief description:

Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey) becomes obsessed with a novel in which the number 23 takes on a powerful cosmic significance. The "once-sane" man gradually becomes obsessed believing that the he's the main character in the book as more and more similarities arise between what he knows about his past and what's in the book. Directed by Joel Schumacher
^
If you've ever heard/seen me call Buffy a/the suicide blond I got that from this movie.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That actually sounds pretty good. I don't dislike Jim Carrey, as long as he comes in small doses.

So I was just gonna shrug and say I don't know re: Frankenstein, but it was the one starring the delightfully naughty Peter Cushing. But since I have the DVD I went and looked at the case, and yeah it's a Hammer (1958).

Yeah, that's a good one.

As for The Mummy the one I watched may be a remake of a Hammer movie, but the one I watched was released in 1999 (I think) so I doubt it's a Hammer film. It starred Brendan Fraser. *shrug* And the case doesn't say it's a remake, but that doesn't mean it isn't.

Oh, yeah, the Indiana Jones-style remake. Completely different from the other two, but pretty good. I've got the DVD (and the sequel).