Making an Old Story Fresh

I was at work the other night when I noticed that they were showing a remake of The Bad Seed on Lifetime. If you haven't seen this movie, then you should. The original with Patty McCormick, which I saw when I was about twelve or thirteen. It scared the crap out of me. The Bad Seed is about an adorable little girl named Rhoda who just happens to be a murdering psychopath. Yes, when Rhoda doesn't get her own way, she gets rid of you.

This was fairly shocking back in the fifties. A murdering child? Get out of town. Remember this was before Columbine, FBI Profilers, John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy. The idea of a child killing, let alone a little girl must have been scandalous. Now of course, it's nothing new, we see it on the news, and on Jerry Springer all the time.

Then there's Single White Female phenomenon. You know the movie where creepy Jennifer Jason Leigh moves in with pretty and clueless Bridget Fonda and then tries to steal her life, or how about that Shannen Doherty movie they keep running on VH-1, Friends till the end where pretty and clueless Shannen befriends the creepy girl with no friends who tries to steal her boyfriend and her band.

Remember how shocking Single White Female was? I remember a friend telling me that she lived it. But now there have been so many movies and TV shows with that plot line, how do you make it fresh.

Well, how about making the pretty, well-adjusted girl the psycho and the creepy girl the one who is innocent? Who would suspect the pretty girl of stealing anyone's life, let alone creepy girl's? Wouldn't you believe creepy girl was the one murdering all the co-eds instead of the pretty cheerleader?

I think about this all the time when I feel like I'm writing a cliche. How do I turn this on it's head and not make it a cliche. How can I possibly make it fresh so that people don't groan when they read the scene.

Anyone else face this problem?