When it comes to scary movies, there are as many original ideas out there as survivors at the end of a slasher. It’s not uncommon for a cult classic to be remade by someone else decades later, and the horror genre has plenty of those which often eclipse the originals. Whether it’s a change in plot, an update to modernize elements of it, or a bigger budget for more gore, many of these remakes are vastly superior than the source material and are worth a watch.
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With Halloween on the horizon, there’s no better time than now to seek out these unholy cinematic delights for a dark and sinister movie night at home. There are plenty of frightening remakes out there, but here are five terrifying treats to get you started. Readers beware, you’re in for a scare… along with buckets of blood and a few unearthly creatures that you wouldn’t want curling up on the couch next to you.
5) Dawn of The Dead
Dawn of The Dead is the golden standard for how a horror remake should be done. That’s high praise considering what a classic the George A. Romero original from 1978 is, which many consider one of the greatest zombie movies ever filmed on celluloid. The 2004 version came to play with a pair of creators would be heavy hitters for years to come. This new version was Zack Snyder’s directorial debut, working with a script penned by James Gunn that upgraded the best elements of the original while adding something new and different to the expected formula.
Snyder’s version starts with high emotional stakes from the outset with a traumatized main character (played by Sarah Palley) forced to survive in a world she all she wants to do in that moment is grieve. Everything around her is chaos as a plague of undead take over Milwaukee, leading her to a group of survivors who must learn to co-exist with each other while figuring out where they fit in this brave new world. Unlike Romero’s original, the zombie hordes are bigger, the offal is abundant, and the existential dread is replaced with a constant state of apocalyptic terror where nothing ever truly feels safe – and that’s because it isn’t. Both versions of Dawn of the Dead are must-watch film for any horror buff, but the remake builds upon the creeping roots that Romero planted and explode out of the ground with that signature Snyder zest.
4) The Fly
David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of The Fly was on a completely different level. Unlike the 1958 original where tension is built by keeping the fly-human hybrid covered under a blanket for most of the film, this version never shies away from the grotesque transformation that occurs. Audiences still shudder to this day as Jeff Goldblum’s abomination becomes grosser and grosser, shedding fingernails, spewing acidic vomit and eventually mutating into something that barely resembles a human. It maintains a different kind of tension than its predecessor, one much more horrifying and visceral. By the end, it’s a blood and guts splattered nightmare that leaves viewers with the same message of the original, but in a far more nauseating manner.
Cronenberg never shies away from gore, and his version of The Fly is not for the faint of heart. The original cleverly hid their special effects shortcomings while keeping up with what was allowed to be shown in a movie in the 50’s. Cronenberg had no boundaries in his way, and used the repulsive moments to help tell his story of a person falling apart figuratively and literally due to their misguided plans. It might be tough to stomach at times, but this remake is an unforgettably gruesome film that horror lovers are still buzzing about.
3) Thirteen Ghosts
For 1960’s Thirteen Ghosts — a simple film about a group of people trying to survive the night in a haunted house in order to keep it as part of an inheritance — patrons were given 3-D glasses rebranded as Ghost Viewers to allow them to see the spooks in certain scenes when his “Illusion-O” gimmick occurred onscreen. This was one of many gimmicks that William Castle, grandfather of campy horror B-movies, employed to put butts in seats. Unfortunately, this bit of immersive fun did little to elevate an incredibly bland movie that stayed relevant purely because of its lameness.
Steve Beck understood the assignment when he directed his often overlooked 2001 remake, keeping a bit of camp and levity while making it much scarier experience. It was still panned by critics just as much as the original, but it’s become a cult classic over the years as audiences realized the film isn’t meant to be anything more than it is. Haunted house movies aren’t necessarily the most exciting unless there’s an element of comedy or a team of mystery solving teens and their talking dog involved. But with the right cast (including Tony Shalhoub, F. Murray Abraham, Shannon Elizabeth and Matthew Lillard), modernized ghost design and some much-needed self-awareness, this remake honored the source material while burying many of the parts that were better off left for dead. There was even a nod to the gimmicky 3-D glasses integrated into the film, only this time the audience didn’t need to wear them to experience the film.
2) The Thing
The Thing from Another World from 1951 came out five years after a certain otherworldly incident at Roswell occurred, beginning a period of extraterrestrial paranoia that Hollywood cashed in on. Howard Hawks’ sci-fi venture was filled with mystery, tension and a lumbering humanoid monster that could have appeared in any B-movie during its time. The remake from 1982, however, came hot off the heels of Steven Spielberg’s E.T the Extra-Terrestrial, which had arrived in theaters a month prior with a friendlier take on the alien menace. John Carpenter had nothing pleasant in mind when it came to his creature, and delivered a chilling remake that completely overshadowed the original.
Similar to The Fly remake, Carpenter held nothing back when his creature wreaked havoc in that isolated South Pole research station. It wasn’t just violence, it was an impressive type of body horror that hadn’t been seen in a movie before. Mutilated limbs aside, the film wasn’t just all about gore. It was as much suspenseful as it was shocking, wrapping the acts of inhumanity around a very natural storyline that harkened back to the initial paranoia from when people feared Little Green Men arriving from Mars to take over the world. The difference was it distilled it to a small sample of people placed in a remote location where solitude was the only sound for miles. And of course, you can’t talk about the success of this film without mentioning the performances of Kurt Russell, Keith David and Wilford Brimley.
Hawks’ version is undeniably an underrated classic, but Carpenter’s take was a trendsetter that raised the bar for the genre. Compared to the popular slasher films of the era, the body count wasn’t as important as the lurid ways the research crew were dispatched. If the plot of The Thing wasn’t as strong, it would have just been another exploitation film, but turned into a breakout moment for horror cinema. As the slogan for the film says, “Man is the warmest place to hide,” and who can you trust when nobody — or no thing — is safe?
1) It
Initially a two-part TV miniseries for ABC released in 1990, Stephen King’s It was later repackaged into one grand horror epic that features smalltown Losers grow from kids into adults to take down a clown-shaped multiversal entity. It took nearly three decades for someone else to try and bring this back to the screen, and its revival exceeded all expectations while also kickstarting a new franchise based around a forty year old book.
This remake did a stellar job showcasing how awful and unpredictable these moments could be, and passed that fear right down into its audience. Much like the book, the characters are in a constant sense of dread and anxiety with Pennywise lurking anywhere and seemingly everywhere. Even as adults, their greatest fears are always ready to strike and feed the Deadlights. Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise was the stuff of legends, and would be a very hard act to follow for anyone stepping in his oversized shoes. Bill Skarsgard took the mantle (and makeup) of the mad clown, bringing his personality and perverse sense of humor to give the timeless creature a fresh feeling. Try not to be creeped out when his unsettling rendition of Pennywise starts dancing in what has now become a beloved meme. The story of Pennywise and other generations of Losers continues in HBO’s Welcome to Derry, which proves the old saying to be true – Everybody loves a clown.
There are plenty more horror remakes that belong on a list like this, so just because you don’t see your favorite here doesn’t make it any less important. Which horror remakes do you recommend that outshine the originals? Let us know in the comments.
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