10 Horror Movie Reboots Even Better Than the Original

Horror movie reboots and remakes have garnered a toxic reputation over the years and not an entirely unwarranted one at that. Typically, these projects rehash horror films of yesteryear for a quick buck, all while draining the personality and interesting visuals out of what worked in the past. Motion pictures that once chilled people to the bone with their shockingly provocative imagery now shuffle into theaters to hit familiar beats and provide folks with nostalgia, not terror.

Even with this status quo, though, there have been a handful of horror movie reboots over the years that have beaten this curse. Not only have these horror movie reboots been good, they’ve even exceeded the quality of the original films that inspired them in some ways. It’s a feat as surprising as the most unnerving jump scare, but it is possible thanks to filmmakers taking risks and offering up something new rather than just leaning on what’s worked in the past. Grit your teeth, prepare your soul, and dive into ten horror reboots that outdid even their acclaimed predecessors.

Suspiria (2018)

How do you outdo Dario Argento’s classic Italian horror movie Suspiria? Director Luca Guadagnino embraced this challenge by delivering a remake with the same name that didn’t rigidly recreate Suspiria but rather blew up the movie’s scope. This saga of witches in Germany was now an expansive yarn stretching decades of trauma and multiple points of view. This Suspiria remake also delivered an awe-inspiring finale full of bloody chaos that immediately ensured nobody would ever accuse it of just being a hollow cash grab.

The Fly (1986)

Previously, the 1957 short story The Fly was adapted into a 1958 film featuring, among other actors, Vincent Price. Though reasonably well-liked in its day, there was certainly room to do even more with this preposterous premise. This is where writer/director David Cronenberg came into the picture. His The Fly delivered all kinds of gooey and unsettling body horror the original Fly could have never done in the Hays Code era of American cinema. Unforgettable makeup effects and deeply committed performances from Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis made it abundantly clear why The Fly needed a remake.

The Thing (1982)

Like The Fly, The Thing was a hard-R 1980s horror film adapted from a 1950s horror feature. In this case, 1951’s The Thing from Another World inspired John Carpenter’s sci-fi/horror classic (both being adaptations of the novella Who Goes There? by Joseph A. Campbell). Also like The Fly, The Thing justified its existence with groundbreaking visual effects work and all kinds of gory carnage that was impossible to realize three decades earlier. The Thing further cemented its own unique ambiance by dedicating every inch of the production to an unnerving bleak atmosphere drenched in paranoia and uncertainty. Today, that ambiance has made The Thing a motion picture many aren’t even aware is a remake.

Nosferatu (2024)

F.W. Murnau is one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live and Nosferatu director Robert Eggers would himself admit that his greatest works could never live up to Murnau’s most impressive accomplishments, like Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. However, Eggers did manage to impressively surpass Murnau simply when it came to bringing the Dracula-adjacent saga of Nosferatu to the silver screen. Murnau’s take on Count Orlok is still plenty chilling 100+ years later, but the Eggers Nosferatu has such grandiose maximalism (particularly in Willem Dafoe and Lily Rose-Depp’s performances) that it’s impossible to resist. Plus, the extra depth given to characters like Thomas Cutter makes this modern Nosferatu further emotionally immersive. In this one specific case, Eggers did beat out Murnau.

[RELATED: The Best Vampire Movies Ranked (Including Nosferatu)]

Fright Night (2011)

1985’s Fright Night has a cult following, but it’s also not a revered horror masterpiece in the vein of Halloween or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This meant that a remake had a significantly lighter pop culture legacy to reckon with. No wonder the 2011 Fright Night reboot has garnered its own notable fanbase thanks to its zippy tone and bursts of campy fun, not to mention an acclaimed supporting performance from David Tennant. When you’re not overburdened by the past, exciting doors of creativity open up.

Speak No Evil (2024)

Upon seeing Blumhouse’s English-language remake of Speak No Evil, some criticized the film for its lighter ending compared to the original 2022 feature. However, this James Watkins directorial effort largely scored very positive marks, including many who saw it as surpassing its source material. Chiefly, this new Speak No Evil’s willingness to take things slow and let tension simmer was especially praised by those expecting this to be a fast-paced retread of the original Speak No Evil.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Like the 2024 Nosferatu reboot, Bram Stoker’s Dracula revamps the Dracula lore with a stylized, maximalist touch. Lucious costumes abound in this Francis Ford Coppola directorial effort, as does a transfixing sense of lustfulness. Better yet, it’s all anchored by a murderer’s row of actors (including Gary Oldman as the titular vampire) that erase all memories of the stuffy 1931 Bela Lugosi Dracula feature from one’s mind.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers reboot already ensured it could stand on its own next to its 1956 predecessor thanks to its top-notch cast led by Donald Sutherland. What really made this revamp of a family horror title work, though, was leaning into the distinctly apocalyptic and paranoid air of the 1970s. This was a Body Snatchers made in a post-Watergate world, where nobody knew who to trust or who could be listening in on your conversations. A world tilted on its axis imbued this Invasion of the Body Snatchers reboot with real relevancy and weight.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

This Little Shop of Horrors reboot provided an inspired idea for how to make your horror movie remake unique: embracing singing and dancing. This Frank Oz directorial effort wasn’t just based on the 1960 Roger Corman film, it was also an adaptation of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s 1982 off-Broadway musical. This meant that the 1986 Little Shop was buoyed by iconic ditties like “Somewhere That’s Green” and “Feed Me (Git It).” Groundbreaking practical effects used to realize Audrey II further cemented 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors as the best possible version of this story of murderous plants.

The Mummy (1999)

So many Universal Monsters reboots have come and gone in the last three decades, many struggling to figure out how to make these characters work in a post-1940s context. The great exception to this is 1999’s The Mummy, which just took the basic concept of the titular undead creature and wrapped a delightful standalone adventure story around him. Rather than worrying about “grounding” this story in reality, The Mummy embraced charismatic stars like Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz as well as a spirited sense of fun. The result was the best Mummy movie of all time, not to mention a reboot putting all other subsequent Universal Monsters remakes to shame.