Horror History: Happy Birthday Now to King of the Remakes, Marcus Nispel
On this day in horror history, director Marcus Nispel was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Nispel is infamous around these parts for helming Plantinum Dunes’ two best horror remakes: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Friday the 13th (2009).
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He also helmed a version of Frankenstein (2004). Plus, Pathfinder (2007), Conan the Barbarian (2011) with Jason Momoa and Ron Perlman, and Exeter (2015).
Marcus Nispel is also an accomplished music video director. That’s actually, believe it or not, how the man started out. While he’s been behind the scenes of some classic video such as No Doubt “Spiderwebs”, he first came up on my radar back in middle school for helming the horrific and goddamn gorgeous video for Bush “Greedy Fly.”
The video is like Se7en meets Constantine – by way of David Cronenberg. It’s a horror classic most people don’t remember. I wish I could find an HD version of the video.
Oh, well.
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Marcus Nispel’s remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre centers on a group of young travelers, including Jessica Biel and Jonathan Tucker. They come across an isolated rural home while driving through Texas. Unfortunately for them, the decrepit house is the residence of a family of deranged backwoods killers, most notably a hulking masked brute known as Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski), who begins to hunt the stranded youths down. Will any of the friends survive the nightmarish ordeal?
Rated R for strong horror violence/gore, language, and drug content, the film sports a bullshit 37% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The erroneous Critics Consensus reads: An unnecessary remake that’s gorier and less scary than the original.
The film hit theaters on October 17, 2003, and grossed $107M. A prequel hit theaters in 2006, titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Marcus Nispel’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot started Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes.
Let us know what your favorite Marcus Nispel film is in the comments below or also on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also hit me up over on Twitter @MikeSpregg325.
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