MovieChat Forums > Shocker (1989) Discussion > If You Had the Chance to Remake This....

If You Had the Chance to Remake This....

posted 14 years ago by DorkKnight1987
21 replies | jump to latest

If you had the chance to remake this movie, what elements would you want to keep and what elements would you want to get rid of entirely?

I would do the following:

- Make Horace Pinker a bit less obvious of a killer beforehand. What I mean to say is make him seem slightly trustworthy to get into these peoples homes but once he's inside he becomes a raging killer.
- Eliminate the dream sequences, instead just have Jonathan be there when Pinker kills his family and have Pinker escape, targeting Jonathan as a victim.
- Make it clearer if Jonathan is Pinker's son.
- A little less camp and a bit more evil after Pinker's execution and subsequent supernatural reign.

[–] BrianMatrix 14 years ago

I'd just re-release it. Shocker kicks ass.

The Expendables- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6RU5y2fU6s

[–] laeyisoracle 13 years ago

I love Shocker, but if I'd remake it, the changes I'd make are:

1. Instead of having a limp(which is silly, considering he still limps after he's jumped into other bodies with able legs), I'd rewrite the backstory where little Jonathan, instead of shooting his dad in the knee, stabs him in the eye. So, Pinker has a glass eye(with a lighting bolt pupil). When he appears as his undead electric self, the lighting bolt glows.

2. Downplay the body hopping bit. Pinker won't be jumping into as much people as he did in the original(maybe just a couple).

3. Horace won't be killed in a public execution. It's going to be a revenge killing where the guards on death row are in on it with Lt. Parker, and they beat Pinker up and hold their own personal execution in the electric chair(how Pinker's execution happened so fast in the original was funny).

4. Pinker will uses technology more to his advantage as a "ghost in the machine". Think the chair scene in the original. Pinker will kill through other electrical products, like computers and telephones. I'm seeing a scene kinda like Dan's death in NOES5, where instead of motorcycle, someone's on their computer and the wires form the keyboard start to push themselves through the person's hands, then Pinker comes out of the computer screen and kills them.

[–] DorkKnight1987 13 years ago

Technology would definitely play a big part especially in this age when everyone has cell phones and laptops with technology right at their fingertips.

[–] legacyofknow 13 years ago

Shocker is vastly ahead of it's time and would work much better now. You would have to trim the fat a great deal to remake this. I love the film more for it's imperfections than it's perfections. I saw what could have been left on the floor or in the back of Wes' head. There are certain ideas that are brilliant but haven't been fleshed out enough to communicate them fully. While others are mundane and tired but he dwells on them entirely too much.

I think change in tone would be appropriate. If you're going to call a film Shocker you need to shock people. An element of raw intensity and grit should be introduced. No torture porn, mind you, but an earnest approach to the material. Instead of bloating the story up with unnecessary details, keep it lean and mean, sticking to the core of the characters and their struggle.

The film is split in half. They hunt down Pinker. They execute him. Then he's pissed and goes on a rampage. Extend the cat and mouse game with pinker. Show the various way he enjoys choosing his victims, give him a second life on the internet, a twitter account, a facebook, all of that. Watch him browse family profiles, learning all there is to know about them, using it to his advantage. Build him up to such a horrific degree of malice and rage that when he dies you want him to burn, you need it to happen. So when the time comes and he lives on through electricity it's that much more devastating. When he is jumping from body to body make it all about the chase and the revenge he is seeking. The last 30 minutes should be absolute chaos.

Elaborate a bit more on Pinker's religion, his worshiping of technology. Find a way to explain his ability to live on through technology early so the seed is planted. There is no need for long exposition, just little facts sprinkled here and there.

Keep the stuff with Johnathan and his girlfriend but lose the melodrama. Cut the all out ghost stuff. Perhaps be more subtle and sparing with the idea of her after life influence.

Keep the idea of Horace being his father but hold it back until some crucial moment. Hint to it and then unleash it during some final show down. In Johnathan's most desperate hour he's given another blow by the knowledge that Pinker is his father. Sounds a little Empire Strikes back but it can work, especially if he rises above it and takes him down anyway.

Exploit the limitless ways mankind has found to connect to each other via electronic devices. Explore the possibility of him living on through wifi as well as cell phones.

The film should make you a little uneasy the way a roller-coaster does. You still feel safe but are nervous. Then as the speed increases parts of your cart star flying off into all different directions until finally it's a free for all and you don't know what to expect.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] IMDB-is-for-nerds 13 years ago

Nah I think the remake should keep the campy tone of the original. Its the only way to make such a hokey story work.
Make the undead Pinker like a living bolt of electricity, sort of like that "electric gremlin" from Gremlins 2. Maybe make it that he takes up his human form for the final face-off, but save it until then.
Make it that he can travel through any electrical device- I have an image of a Drag Me To Hell-esq scene where his image appears on the screen of a moblie phone before he comes out and zaps the victim.
Make the violence and gore as over-the-top and cartoonish as you can. Give it a real knowing, tongue in cheek sense of humour contrasted with some genuine scares and jumps. Like a live- action cartoon, but with tonnes of gore and blood.
Also I agree he should be less obvious as a killer at the start. He's a TV repairman, so make it that he uses this to gain his victims trust, and to plan escape routes from their homes. And yeah, strip back all of the extra filler. The ghost of his girlfriend, the psychic dreams, etc. All of that was pointless. And only bring up that fact that Pinker is his father if you actually plan of doing something with it, instead of just metioning it once and then forgetting all about it.
Overall, I love the original Shocker for its sheer entertaiment value, but I do feel that its one of the few 80s slashers that could actually benefit from a remake, given how reliant on technology we are these days- even more so that when Shocker was first released.

Exactly. Boo.

[–] laeyisoracle 13 years ago

I actually liked the "dream" aspect of the movie. It's one of those "Craven" things that he has the knack of including in some of his movies. People think it's only something he did with NOES, but he's included similar dreams in some of his other movies(Deadly Friend, Serpent and the Rainbow). It's the classic prophecy-type "bad omen" thing that most of these dreams represent. Like in the original NOES when they comment how Tina having a bad dream might mean there was going to be an earthquake soon(which is actually played upon in New Nightmare). Jonathan's dreams showed his connection to his father. I liked that. I just didn't like that his powers were awakened because he ran head-long into a goal post(LOL!). I would've made it that Jonathan was somehow born with those abilities, which he never really realized what they were for the most part, and wrote them off as being just simple nightmares. Until he dreams about his family's murder, and then gets the phone call that they we REALLY murdered. Maybe deal with a bit of Jonathan going crazy over this, and not knowing what to believe, which would add to the sub-plot later on in the movie of the police suspect HIM of the murders.

Though, I wouldn't leave in the whole "power of love/magical necklace" thing. It was kinda stupid. Why did it have powers, anyway? Because Alison made it powerful with her love? LOL! I would've defeated Pinker differently. Maybe, since they make it a point that when he's entered the television/electronic world, he's bound by it's rules, do something where Pinker gets trapped in a room with television sets that are all looped to each other, after he enters(from an outside power source, Jonathan's friends close the loop and Jonathan has to break all the tv screens. Pinker comes out of one of the sets and tries to stop Jonathan, but with each set that's broken, Pinker looses power, until they're left with the last one, which Jonathan breaks, defeating Pinker. Of course, a sequel could happen, if that set ever gets repaired.

[–] Doc110894 13 years ago

Have a better, more charismatic actor for Jonathan Parker.

Tone down the comedy and cheese.

Have some of the characters acting more freaked-out.

Go further with some of the ideas.

[–] CannibalCraig 12 years ago

Well, this all depends on what you are looking for if it is remade. Do you want it to be faithful to the original? Or do you want it to be a remake with only some details from the original? Let's say it was remade to be as faithful to the original as possible. The movie would be hilarious, insane, and most people probably wouldn't get it, much like the original. If they remade the film to have a much more serious undertone, cut out all the cheese, and really focused on making Pinker to be a "real" sociopath (unlike his cartoonish portrayal by Pileggi), I believe the film would possibly fair somewhat well but would be criticized by fans of the original. I loved the film for being what it was. I don't know how you would define the original since it seemed like 4 or 5 plots going on all at once.

I'm just a guy that likes horror flicks.

[–] mickeymsb 12 years ago

WTF with all the remake *beep* Come on dude why not write "Come up with something original" The movie is great. To many great movies are being remade by rich money hungry corporations who don't care about the people who put their hard work into making any project get out there for the fans to view. The actors learning how to play their characters, the writers making sure the script is top notch, the directors making sure they bring that script to life, and so on. Think about the hard work they went through to make an original for real fans before you say "Oh how would you remake this."

[–] Horror_Metal 12 years ago

I would make the story a lot simpler, essentially just an executed killer's spirit seeking revenge on the one who got him arrested and eventually sent to the chair. I would get rid of the silly implied father/son relationship between the killer and the main character. I would also omit the ridiculous electric powers and TV traveling garbage. Also the bad acting and bad dialogue would be gone along with the atrocious ending which made no sense whatsoever. It was fine the way it started with a vengeful murderer's spirit possessing other people to go after his victims. Should have kept it at that basic formula without all that other crap. This movie had a great storyline but it was poorly executed. That said, this is still a fun cheesy 80's movie and I don't think it really needs a remake despite its flaws.

Horror_Metal

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Ethereal717 11 years ago

NO WAY NO HOW HELL NO THIS WILL NEVER GET RE MADE EVER

[–] joe_538 8 years ago

They've remade just about every other horror movie, I'd say it's only a matter of time.

[–] Duragizer 11 years ago

Remove the father/son aspect from Jonathan & Pinker's relationship, or have it revealed later on in the film.

Remove the whole self-electrocution bit with Pinker in his cell.

Reign in the campiness so it isn't so overbearing.

Give Heather Langenkamp a more prominent role.

Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for.

[–] skizzie72-1 10 years ago

it would be enough that media and technology has advanced so far that they wouldnt need to change ANYTHING in the film aside from the ways he can get you.

iamgine this dude falling out of your laptop while you sleep!!!

IM RUNNIN THIS MONKEY FARM NOW FRANKENSTEIN! AND I WANNA KNOW WHAT THE F#@$ UR DOIN WITH MY TIME!

[–] Dream_Demon 9 years ago

I wouldn't remake this. Instead, I would of released the old movie but have inserted an additional scene/shot (kind of like what George Lucas did with the original Star Wars trilogy) in Pinker's hideaway that has a newspapers/clippings/pictures which refers to several other cases related to both serial killers that are real and fictional, like the Springwood Slasher, Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, the Lake Shore Strangler, the murders at Camp Blood, the Texas chainsaw murders, etc. and items related to the occult, like a painting of the Dream Demons, a copy/picture of the Lament Configuration, a copy of the Necronomicon Exmortis, a copy of the Necronomicon as written by Abdul Alhazred, a picture of the ****** Twister/temple complex in Mexico, a picture of Hamunaptra the City of the Dead, etc.

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

[–] avpws1 8 years ago

That's what I was gonna say. What I would do is take out the ghost of the girlfriend and take out her necklace being some kind of weakness, cause those didn't work for me. I thought the basic idea was great, a ghost of electricity, but the ghost girlfriend, Jonathan's clairvoyance, and the necklace didn't make sense.

But yeah, I think this would be a great time to do a remake, our society is so reliant on technology he could definitely be a great threat, with internet, cellphones, he could be a Phantom Virus.