I'm much more concerned that HAMMER has a good comeback than devoting myself to the piety of the original version. If they can be an active and important production company again then there can more literate, classy horror movies that focus on cinematography, mood and acting and it can only be good for all genre fans.
Yeah, I'm hoping that a return of Hammer means good things for the horror genre. The #1 benefit being an interest in horror movie making that includes things like acting, art direction, and literate scripts. Hammer's old strength is that they were mostly making real movies. Granted, Hammer was never shy about the exploitation elements, but you can watch most of their output and appreciate the films' craftmanship as well. What's there to say about Saw or Paranormal Activity beyond whether it scared you or not?
The major studios have pretty much dropped the horror genre, so I think there's a niche to be filled by a studio that's interested in something slightly more ambitious than crummy remakes of 80s slasher movies and extremely cheap horror.
As for the remake thing, I think the history of film has shown that the classic original is never replaced. Sometimes there's another movie that will stand alongside it, but if a movie's good, it's good. Yojimbo wasn't replaced by A Fistful of Dollars. The Seven Samurai wasn't replaced by The Magnificent Seven. People still watch the Hawks Thing. Heck, Hammer's Dracula, Frankenstein, and Mummy movies exist right alongside Universal's. Arguably sometimes interest in the original is increased via remake as well.
Let the Right One In is a small, cult film, which generated slightly over $2 million in US ticket sales a couple of years ago. It's not going to be "discovered" in home video at this point. At least not without some sort of publicity like a remake drawing attention to the original.
