Remake Theater: My Boyfriends Back

 Earlier this year Lisa Frakenstein debuted in theaters. I enjoyed the movie and its campy 80s quirks,  although it did not do well during it's release,  moviegoers who saw it during that time enjoyed it, now that it has been streaming for a few months. More people have learned what a gem it is, I truly believe it is on the path to becoming a cult classic. Watching it reminded of a quirky comedy from the 90's My Boyfriends Back. If you've read previous blogs of mine, you're aware I am a advocate of Hollywood remaking films that had potential but just weren't successful for whatever reason, and starting over. My Boyfriends Back fit's perfectly into that category.

My Boyfriends Back is a 1993 film starring Andrew Lowrey (Andy the goofy friend of Buffy's boyfriend in Buffy The Vampire Slayer film) and Traci Lind. Then unknown actors Matthew Mcconaughey (almost unrecognizable), Matthew Fox, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman appear in the film as well. Lowrey's character Johnny has a crush on Lind's character Missy, the prettiest girl in the school. He concocts a plan to save Missy from a fake robbery win her heart and her hand as her prom date, but what a ill-conceived plan that is. Andrew dies, but returns from the grave to win her heart. Causing mass hysteria in their small town, and learn what young love is all about.

The film is a horror comedy covering a young zombie. There's no real gore in the film and most of the film is played for laughs. I mean at it's core it is a film about teenage love so that is understandable. It also plays into the lore of zombies, which has gained a huge interest from the pop culture world after the success of The Walking Dead series. A remake would not survive in today's theater landscape, but it is a prime streaming candidate.

Light-hearted fare, young teenage love, a guy doing crazy things to win his crushes affection, zombies. It has all the making's to be entertaining material for a new generation with some slight updates to fit the 21st century. The original was distributed by Touchstone Pictures, which is a Disney subsidiary, so Disney could make it a Hulu original film or sell the rights for a remake. Peacock could use material like this for original content. 

It's been 31 years since the original debuted and it had a lot more potential than it was given credit for. Time for someone to sort through the crates, find this hidden gem and start crafting a remake.

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B's Remake Series: Universal Soldier

 Hollywood is the king of recycling. Every year there are movies and TV series in development, that are remakes, sequels, or spiritual continuations of successful properties.

This often done to invoke nostalgia, connect a property to a new generation. Or the biggest reasons, money and Hollywood is out of fresh ideas. When films are remade it's often to bring famous films to a new generation. Update a film that had a good plot and just failed in execution, or the technology wasnt there to fully flesh out the film. I will be providing a series of films, I believe are ripe for a remake in my "B's Remake Series". 

Starting off is 1992's "Universal Soldier"  starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. At the time Jean was becoming one of Hollywood's reliable action stars, while Dolph was not a bankable action star but had the size, menace, and enough acting to be a bad ass foe when one is needed. The poster featuring the two with machine guns in their hand, and their target head sets (dont know the actual term for them) and the trailer was all they needed to draw audiences in.

The film follows the two as reanimated soldiers amongst a team used for a secret military program. Both go rogue in their own way against the program, and against one another. The film put Jean Claudes martial arts skills against Dolph's brute force. There is some serviceable action scenes in the film, including the opening hostage scene, and a motel shootout. The Hoover Dam scene still holds up today with the introduction of the soldiers, the scene of them repealing down the Hoover Dam face first is a cool ass visual to this day. 

Where I think the film is ready for a remake almost thirty years later, is the technology behind reviving the characters  of Jean and Dolph. DNA engineering, stem cell use, and cybernetics are even more prevalent and has supporters and opponets more today than back in 1992. Even watching the movie when I was younger, I was intrigued by the idea of the 'Unisol" program as it's called in the movie. On the DVD there is a deleted scene where Jeans character meets the doctor who oversaw the program, it does provide some context but I believe was left out for pacing purposes. As such the movie leaves just enough information to let viewers know, theres way more to the story of that program. How their chosen, how their controlled, exactly what was done to these soldiers. It's a whole mythology behind it that should be explored further.

The film could also touch on the experiences of soldiers when their in war and the mental effects of it. The effects of PTSD is hinted at in the original, but I think there just wasnt enough known about it back then to elaborate on it in the film. That could be a subplot in a remake and play a role in the soldiers going rogue. 

There was a direct sequel released in 1999, that other then starring Van Damme didnt really connect with the original. Hell it left more questions then answers, if you're trying to make sense of the connection between the two. There's also been some straight to cable and DVD interations, that dont meet the standard the first film set. With Hollywood looking for old properties to revive, now is the perfect time for Universal Soldier. 

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