People, I don’t mind admitting that I had no idea what to write in this update. That is, until my eyes flitted over a bit of the internet containing the title WarGames: The Dead Code, MGM’s direct-to-DVD sequel (I still say DTV for “direct to video”, because I’m old) to John Badham’s 1983 inaccurate-computer-hacking-depicting Matthew Broderick fest WarGames. While the movie-going public is still squawking about the seemingly endless succession of filmic remakes, they have taken their eyes off of the occasionally madcap world of sequels, and it’s about time that we stand up and take notice.

There’s not much info about WarGames: The Dead Code beyond its spectral IMDB profile and its Wikipedia entry, which actually seems to be full of information that has come from nowhere in particular, but which appears suspiciously genuine. This is my first link to Wikipedia writing this blog, and I really don’t intend to make a habit of it.

The new WarGames title is one of a number of DTV titles being brought to you by MGM and like many sequels it appears to share little with the original beyond a name and a basic concept -something which comes up again and again when you read the list of titles MGM is unleashing on an unsuspecting world:

Legally Blondes - the adventures of Elle Woods‘ British twin cousins
Species: The Awakening - the fourth in the series in which a clone of Natasha Henstridge’s character is played by someone who looks a bit like Natasha Henstridge
Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream - the second sequel to the 1992 ice skating/hockey rom-com

So more and more it looks like this might be the year I try to start enjoying going out to see films at the cinema again - something I’ve not enjoyed much for many years now, only really alleviated when seeing something incredibly good, like Son of Rambow, which I won’t waffle on about here other than to say it was marvellous, and manages to be relevant to this blog by being about the making of an unofficial sequel. Huzzah.

As for the MGM sequels above, at least they are official. It’s not so common now but there was a time, particularly in low budget European (mainly Italian) film circles, to find unrelated projects given cheeky titles in an attempt to sell them. One of my favourite examples of this is an Spanish alien sort-of-horror called Los Nuevos Extraterrestres (”The New Extraterrestrials”, also known to fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as Pod People) which, not content with having a big E and a big T on the poster also found itself occasionally saddled with (among others) the legally dubious title “The Return of E.T.”

For one more example, see also the irrepressible (and heavily pseudonymed) Joe D’Amato’s (as “David Hills”) Caligola: La storia mai raccontata which often finds itself titled Caligula II: The Untold Story in order to capitalise on the well known Tinto Brass epic Caligula, (especially in its alternate version, compiled by Playboy magazine’s Bob Guccione and featuring lots of hardcore sex scenes pasted into the finished product). D’Amato’s film, at least in certain prints, also contains much in the way of very, very naughty material. As a result, you’ll note a distinct reduction in links in this last couple of sentences!

All being said and done, though, it turns out that I actually quite like sequels, particularly of non-highbrow fare. I think people suspect that I’m being deliberately obtuse when extolling the virtues of Short Circuit 2, Shaft in Africa or Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, but I do genuinely enjoy them as much as, and in some cases more so, than the more highly regarded originals.

That Halloween film is the sixth in the series and is a real sticking point even for fans of the series (in its original and certainly its bootlegged “Producer’s Cut” form). And yet it’s probably the most interesting sequel outside of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (another fanbase divider with its own individual storyline unrelated to the other films).

If nothing else, it would seem to prove that the sequel audience doesn’t like surprises. The Saw movies (four films in as many years, the fifth in production, having been greenlit at the same time as the sixth) have learnt this and parts 2-4 (while nowhere near as good as the first) have so far retained a great consistency of tone and an incredibly coherent story arc. When these films finally finish you could probably watch them beginning to end and have it feel like a somewhat gory thriller whodunnit TV series with an amazing pilot episode.

If a sequel gets too interesting, as stated above, people walk away. Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is one of the weirdest mainstream films ever made, and its box office returns reflect this fact. This is a film that arguably could have done better business if the writers (Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, respectively the son of Richard Matheson and the son-in-law of John Cleese) had just concocted a more-of-the-same time travel romp instead of the heaven/hell, afterlife, robot doubles and robot doubles of the robot doubles, Martian scientist bothering, Grim Reaper toting fun bundle that the finished film is - but I for one am glad they didn’t.

What’s that? Rumoured DTV remake of Bill & Ted?

Well, hey - at least it isn’t a sequel!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 by Christopher Jerden-Cooke and is filed under Film Texpertise. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.