Brow Beat

This Crowd-Sourced RoboCop Remake Is Better Than the One in Theaters

The RoboCop remake released today is heavy on the gun-fighting and ponderous meditation on man’s relationship to his machines—but tragically light on the dark humor and satire that animated the original. The new RoboCop never lets itself get silly enough to capture the joy and exuberance of rooting for a cop who is also a robot, except perhaps when using Focus’ classic prog-rock jam “Hocus Pocus” as the soundtrack to RoboCop’s first live-fire training.

Enter Our RoboCop Remake, a crowd-sourced fan film produced by David Seger, creator of a similarly conceived and executed remake of Footloose. Enlisting 50 filmmakers from New York and Los Angeles, the film is a scene by scene remake of the original, with each crew given completely free reign as to the style and interpretation of their scene. With surprisingly high production values, the result is an absurd frolic that embraces the 1987 RoboCop’s  campiest impulses, full of puppets, creepy animation, gratuitous exploding penises, and—in my favorite scene—Alex Murphy’s hilariously gruesome death at the hands of Kurtwood Smith interpreted as an expressive modern dance. Well worth a watch for fans of the original either gearing up for or coming down from the disappointing remake in theaters.

Previously
The Internet Swedes Star Wars
Why Verhoeven’s Classics Are Getting Remade Now