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In Cold Blood (1996)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 4/15

InCold1996
4/15: I can't understand the need for most remakes and still don't.

Copying much of what happened in the book, In Cold Blood adds absolutely nothing new to what the original had already covered. To make matters worse, it's three fucking hours long! That's ridiculous.

Even more so is Anthony Edwards letting his lazy eye do the work for his character and Eric Roberts putting on his best Jim Varney impersonation while dragging his leg across the room as if it's made out of heavy oak wood. Scott Wilson and Robert Blake had turned in unforgettable performances of their careers as Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, respectively; hence, there's no need to redo them.

If there's an aspect that's unbeatable in the original over the remake, it's Conrad Hall's cinematography. It's, apart from the principal leads, the only thing that's constantly missing from the telefilm. Also, I love how the director made a rush job at the end, forgoing the case by heading straight to the hanging scene. Evidently, somebody told him that time's up.

Before seeing the remake, I knew of the key events that stuck out the most in the book, and one of them was Perry dropping a silver coin in Nancy's bedroom. When the moment came during the telefilm, my sole thought was: "How corny." There are many such scenes throughout; it has gotten obvious that the director wanted to include as much as he could from the book.

All in all, In Cold Blood is an unnecessary remake.