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The number of remakes, sequels, prequels, and television series based on existing feature films is increasing. This drought of original ideas seems to be something that viewers have already become accustomed to, and undoubtedly, it is a trend that will continue to grow. Making new versions of titles that have been successful at the box office is a safe bet to keep raising money and attracting new viewers. Apparently, of course. But what happens when these remakes are made by fans of those movies out of a simple love for cinema? The subgenre we could call "fan film" or new versions of films made by fans is a type of movie unknown to the general public but which, in some cases, can offer exciting experiences.
Usually associated with amateur cinema, fan films have existed since movies themselves. Someone with a camera copies in their own way the movie they admire and feel reverence for. There are cases like the one related to the "Star Wars" saga that has not stopped offering examples of remakes made by fans, as explained in the documentary "The People Versus George Lucas" (2010). Among the remakes of the saga created by George Lucas, the proposals promoted by Casey Pugh in 2009 stand out, encouraging fans to film small 15-second pieces. The madness broke out, and from fans' creativity emerged in 2012 "Star Wars Uncut," and more recently "The Empire Strikes Back Uncut" (2012).
But of all the fan films, one particularly surprising one for its fascinating story is a remake of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) that a group of kids started filming entitled "Raiders of the Lost Ark: the Adaptation" (1989-2015). Two eleven-year-old boys from a small town in Mississippi watch the film by Steven Spielberg and are impressed. They gather what little material they can find from the existing movie and basically from memory draw the storyboard with the images; they get a video camera and start filming the movie shot by shot. Another schoolmate joins them, someone who likes special effects, and with the help of siblings, classmates, and neighborhood friends, they dedicate themselves to filming during summer vacations, Christmas, and some holidays... this goes on for seven years. The exciting and moving documentary "Raiders! The Story of the Greates Fan Film Ever Made" (2015) tells the story of Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb, these three "filmmakers" who devoted their entire adolescence to making the best possible version of the adventure classic starring Harrison Ford.
The documentary has a very interesting starting point: at the end of filming in 1989, one sequence remained to be shot, that of the airplane explosion. Over twenty years later, the creators of the adaptation reunite, manage to get a budget of $20,000, some time off from their jobs, a technical team, build an airplane, and start filming. During the process, it rains, days go by, and time runs out. Will they manage to film the missing sequence? It's now or never. The documentary combines the filming of the last sequence and the protagonists' connection with their dreams with the story of the filming experience during their adolescence, which offers unforgettable moments and situations. A group of children whose parents are going through a divorce turn their home into a real set, recreate each and every one of the movie's scenarios in their way, and film sequences of real danger in which they constantly risk their health and, in some cases, their lives. Car chases, falls, fire, makeup that leads to actors being hospitalized... a host of recklessness led their parents to forbid them from continuing to film at times. The documentary shows magical moments like seeing the protagonist growing from sequence to sequence, the lead actor's first kiss while filming the bed scene between Indy and Marion, or the execution of action sequences, such as the iconic initial one in which Indy flees from the rolling boulder. At the end of filming in 1989, the boys premiered the movie in a cinema in their town, and their lives drifted apart until in 2003 filmmaker Eli Roth discovered the film and showcased it at a bizarre and oddities film festival. The attendees are amazed. The legend is reborn and, above all, it restores the creators' excitement for their work. Because cinema is driven by excitement.