David Lynch/Eraserhead
A big problem with remakes is that they often devolve into a step-by-step retreading of the original, rendering them totally useless in the grand scheme of things. Think of Gus Van Sant’s remake of Psycho; it’s essentially a shot-for-shot recreations of the original. Even if it was well received, there would be no reason to revisit it, as the original is just as handy.
It’s not like films deteriorate over a period of time and we have to replicate them for preservation purposes— wait, that came out wrong. We don’t need to reshoot movies in order to copy them. There we go.
The great thing about remaking a movie like Eraserhead, is that it’s such an abstract work, making it more malleable than a plot-driven film defined by narrative. Attempting to follow its footprints would be like hunting a ghost. Therefore, the remake would retain the tone and characters but would be fundamentally unique, in that you’re remaking a feeling rather than a story; and just like a feeling, Eraserhead can be recreated to a point of recognition, but never recreated absolutely.
Seeing as how Eraserhead is so unmistakably a David Lynch work, it would be hard to envision any other director handling it. A Twin Peaks TV series is currently in the works, with David Lynch attached, so he’s obviously not beyond revisiting older works. In fact, now that I think about it, Dune could use a remake as well.
Damn, I should have picked Dune.