Six Entertaining Movie Rip-Offs

Including a Spanish Dracula, Dante's Piranha, Wong Kar-Wai's Debut

Sep 25, 2009

A list of films that borrow heavily from other sources but still manage to be highly watchable and occasionally surpass the films they are ripping off.

There is nothing worse than watching a film that is derivative or a pale imitation of an earlier successful movie. Think of all those Scream (Wes Craven 1996) knock-offs that appeared in the late 90’s, or the kung-fu movies starring Bruce Li and other ‘Little Dragon’ imitators. However some rip-offs become valid in their own right by being entertaining, weird, or just so out there they simply have to be seen.

Shot using the same sets and costumes as the Tod Browning version, director George Melford and his crew would move in and film their Dracula during the night. Leading man Carlos Villarias looks a little bit like Lugosi, but has none of his weirdness. However the Spanish Dracula is more innovative in terms of direction, camera movements and visual effects than Browning’s rather staid production.

Emmanuelle (Just Jaeckin 1972) was garbage. This lower budget rip-off series loses any pretensions of class for the comforts of the 70’s exploitation movie. Note how the producers cunningly drop an ‘m’ from the title to avert a lawsuit. Indonesian beauty Laura Gemser (though Sharon Lesley does a George Lazenby by taking over for Black Emanuelle 2) stars as an intrepid photo-journalist, though she makes a lousy fashion photographer given nobody is ever actually wearing clothes when she takes their picture.

The dubbing is hilarious, the content occasionally dubious and Laura Gemser is the best Bond girl there never was. The soundtracks are inspired, showing the kind of appreciation for combining images with music Quentin Tarantino would approve of. The series grew increasingly deranged even inventing the 70’s craze for cannibal movies with Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (Joe D’Amato 1977).

Joe Dante’s hilarious and black-hearted Jaws rip-off pleased Steven Spielberg so much he persuaded United Artists to drop a lawsuit against the movie. Scientists have genetically engineered a lethal batch of killer piranha for military purposes. Problems arise when they escape into a nearby river. Spielberg probably wouldn’t have his creature chow down on women and children in the swimming pool of a summer camp. Dante does.

By this time Bond was ripping off the competition. Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton 1973) was a Bond Blaxploitation movie while The Man with the Golden Gun (Guy Hamilton 1974) is heavily influenced by the 70’s craze for kung-fu movies. They can have no complaints about this inspired Bond rip-off from the Philippines starring the three feet tall martial arts expert Weng Weng as Agent 00.

Although sometimes considered a spoof, director Eddie Nicart takes the action seriously and For Your Height Only is superior to both Roger Moore’s next Bond film Octopussy (John Glen 1983) and Sean Connery’s unofficial return to 007 duty in Never Say Never Again (Irvin Kershner 1983).

Wong Kar-Wai’s debut movie is essentially Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973) relocated to Hong Kong. Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs) stars as the sensible Harvey Keitel type, while Jacky Cheung is the reckless hothead dragging them both down. Kar Wai doing a gangster movie may surprise those more used to his later artier movies, but his trademark motifs are already forming; neon lights, lovelorn protagonists and an effortless cool.

From The Asylum, the studio that likes to get their ripping-off in first, comes I Am Omega. Combining the title of I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence) with an earlier version of Richard Matheson’s novel The Omega Man (Boris Sagal), I Am Omega was on the shelves of Blockbusters before its hugely expensive rival even opened.

Martial arts expert Mark Dacascos takes the Will Smith role as the last human alive. I Am Omega is cheap and cheerful, but Dacascos is a charismatic lead and the fight scenes are pretty good. It also gets closer to Matheson’s source material than Lawrence’s movie.

The copyright of the article Six Entertaining Movie Rip-Offs in Classic Films is owned by Kevin Sturton. Permission to republish Six Entertaining Movie Rip-Offs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.