I would be less cynical about this if there weren't even more TV remakes/reboots of old films that are on the way or in development.
Now, I have serious issues with Robert Rodriguez's pulp horror film. I can put all those aside, however, to tackle the overall reasons why this show is a bad idea.
For starters, the movie told one complete story. Spoiler alert - there are two survivors at the end, and we don't need to learn what happened to them next. The antagonists are all dead, so it's hard to think of a need to develop this further into a general "there's vampires in Mexico" ongoing concept.
I guess one could make something of the final shot in FDTD, where there seems to be an Aztec temple behind the bar, along with a vast graveyard of refuse left over from past victims. I guess it could be done... But I don't know that it provides much meat for continuing stories.
At the least, one would require a lot of creativity to make it good or interesting. Yet I do not anticipate such powerful creativity from the people who decided to make a From Dusk Til Dawn TV show in the first place.
I know I seem very negative about this, but you must remember that the original picture came out in 1997! It's been close to 20 years, and now the time seems ripe to work on this? Few things raise my inner critical hackles like a seriously overdue sequel, at least in film and television.
Added on to all these other objections, you have the fact that the source material was very sexual and graphically violent. I understand that Hannibal and The Walking Dead open the door for this sort of thing to actually work, but all the permissive censorship boards and technical ability in the world don't necessarily make this a good idea.
I saw the original FDTD when it first came out(even own the DVD) and totally agree that it was a completed story that needed no follow-ups.
ReplyDeleteThat didn't stop anyone from making a couple of direct to video sequels(one of which was a prequel) and now this show,which I can't see due to not having the channel that it's on included in my cable network. This whole meta-cannibalizing of material with movies being turned into Broadway shows and now TV series is getting seriously disconcerting-are producers and studios that bankrupt in original concepts and talented writers that this is truly necessary?
The poster is kinda of cool,btw.
Haha, yes, the poster isn't bad at all. This may be one of the few times I've barely critiqued the art work for an ad.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it is a little less skeevy for Rodriguez to play off his own film to make a Spanish-language series... And, yeah, vampire shows are quite popular... But, yes i want to are more original "properties" - and I hate having to use that word. It demonstrates the problem in a way...