John Carpenter’s 1988 film They Live was part sci-fi, part black comedy. Pro wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper played a down-on-his-luck construction worker who discovered a pair of special sunglasses which allowed him to see the world as it really is – a world run by aliens that are in charge of a massive campaign to keep humans subdued.

Famous for a gruelling five-and-a-half minute fight scene and the immortal line, “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum”, They Live was a commercial failure, only managing to reach a cult following once it was released on video. So how disheartened I am to learn that a remake is in the pipeline.

Why Hollywood feels the need to remake another classic is beyond me. Remakes of Dawn of The Dead, The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre amongst others have done nothing but make the original versions stand out as the good films that they are. No doubt They Live 2.0 will be re-written to accommodate today’s hot topics such as terrorism and the financial crash, and no doubt it will star a current Hollywood heartthrob. I for one am not building my hopes up.

But there is some (potentially) good movie news – Repo Chick!

The Malibu

The 1984 film Repo Man told the story of Otto, a newly hired repossession man who goes in search for a mysterious car carrying a high value package which was taken from a government lab and has strange effects on anyone who views it. Directed by Alex Cox and starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton, the low-budget Repo Man has gained a cult status among film-buffs, earning itself such accolades as the 8th best movie set in Los Angeles and the third most essential left-field movie hit since 1983.

News has filtered in that a sequel to Repo Man is now in the making. Produced by David Lynch, Repo Chick will “unfold against the background of the credit crunch and the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, where repossessions of homes, cars and other forms of property is at a new high. ‘The repo business has expanded to everything from boats, houses, aeroplanes, small nations…children”

Unlike the aforementioned They Live remake, a sequel such as Repo Chick is a lot easier to stomach, especially as the original director is involved in its creation. This is one film I will be eager to see.