16 Comments
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charles222a203's avatar

Yknow what doesn't give Polanski royalty fees? A used dvd at goodwill :p

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

You right. I like to think most of my dollars went to the Criterion Collection all those years ago!

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charles222a203's avatar

Yeah, for sure. I wish profit sharing information was more publically available than it is just so you could make more of an informed decision about who your money is going to

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

That would be an amazing resource. I guess Polanski's already rich though. And that extra dollar or two won't make his life noticeably different at 91.

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charles222a203's avatar

Sure, there's more problems than just him though, lol

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

And arguably worse problems!

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James Francis's avatar

Another thing is how this film stands out from a sea of other devilsploitation films like Run From The Devil and The Devil's Rain. It would probably be even more elevated today, were it not for the satanic-panic masterpiece The Exorcist.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Yeah, The Exorcist and The Omen stole a bit of its thunder the following decade. Bigger set pieces and some memorable imagery. And then those films went on to be more successful franchises too!

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James Francis's avatar

The Omen, yeah. Let's not talk about The Exorcist sequels 🙊 No, I'm not even giving the third one a pass.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Saw the third film for the first time just a few months ago! I don't know if I'm an apologist for it just yet, but it goes much harder than I expected. Especially after the second film felt pretty lifeless.

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James Francis's avatar

Have you seen the clip of William Friedkin talking about the second movie?

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

I haven't! But that man was an incredible interview, so I have no doubt he went off. 😂

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Charlotte Simmons's avatar

The politics of sequels and remakes will never fail to fascinate me, and the question you pose here (“Will this film strengthen the original film’s legacy?”) is an excellent probe into that topic. What is that legacy owed, and can we even understand the value of that legacy in a context outside of the original film?

I think the Road House remake, for instance, muddled the overarching identity of Road House with the severity of its deviations; both the original and the remake are middling, but how can we even understand the best possible Road House movie when our two examples are so different? Back to the Future Part II, meanwhile, does less than no favours for the predecessor, but nevertheless stands on its own as brilliant and portentous piece of metatext. The Predator franchise would make a great case study for this topic; I just might write that. Great piece, Jeremy!

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Charlotte! You're too kind. I'm glad we share that fascination with recycled cinema.

Funnily enough, I watched the Road House remake today (on a plane, for what it's worth). You're right, they're so wildly different that I kinda wish the new one had been an "original" film that just borrowed from Road House (and the dozens of films Road House borrowed from).

Also, *please* write that Predator piece. I've been itching to rewatch that whole franchise since we've got two new ones coming soon! (I thought Prey was great.)

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"What have you done to his eyes?" "He has his father's eyes..."

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Just an all-timer ending!

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