WATCH: A mock trailer for a remake of 1979 gang movie The Warriors
The mock-up of an 1992 LA-set reboot was created by filmmaker Ram Bhat
A new trailer has appeared online for a reboot of The Warriors, set in LA circa 1992. (You can watch it below.) Before you start gnashing your teeth about how Hollywood has run out of new ideas and should stop molesting classic properties, relax – the movie isn't in production, and the trailer is merely a fan project created by filmmaker Ram Bhat (who has also mocked up some posters and VHS cover art, as sampled above).
Would a remake of this flavour be so bad though? Bhat clearly has his own style, which is highly distinct from the 1979 original (and even moreso from Walter Hill's director's cut, which drove home the film's comic book leanings with sledgehammer subtlety). Bhat's trailer, with its neon-soaked palette and lo-fi VHS flourishes, owes as much to the likes of Akira, Street Fighter and Streets of Rage as it does the source material, while the new setting and era successfully invoke the 1992 LA riots.
If anything, the trailer's most striking similarity is to the music video for 'Stress' by Justice (You can watch that below as well) – Bhat's violent imagery certainly mimics that created by Romain Gavras (himself referencing 1995 film La Haine), while the soundtrack bears a strong resemblance to the impending doom of the Justice track (itself an update of David Shire's 1977 'Night on Disco Mountain', which was in turn a retake on Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain).
The internet will no doubt provide a divided response – half appreciative of updated pop culture references, half protective of the original property – but as the above string of influences, samples and reworks shows, great art often (if not always) has its roots in great art. A strong artistic vision is all that's required to make a classic story worth revisiting.