Nothing makes a horror fan’s eyes roll like the announcement of another remake. As a general rule, horror remakes are terrible. They’re usually cheap attempts by Hollywood to cash in on the past success of big name franchises. The problem is that they never seem to understand what it was that made those films great in the first place.
A prime example, of course, is the 2010 reboot of Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Although the film is technically a success at the box office, it holds a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The negative feedback made New Line scrap their plans to do a sequel to the film.
However, there are horror movie remakes out there that aren’t painful to watch. Believe it or not, there are some which are actually very good. So let’s take a look at five of the very best horror movie remakes.
David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986) – Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
5. The Fly (1986)
The classic 1958 horror film The Fly is based on a short story by George Langelaan. It tells the story of a deranged scientist who builds a transportation device. When a fly enters the machine at the same time as the scientist, their DNA splices together. This results in the man morphing into a hideous fly-man hybrid. It’s one of the most surreal films of the era.
In 1986, David Cronenberg would remake The Fly using Jeff Goldblum as the titular monster. Goldblum plays the scientist Seth Brundle, who’s creating a scientific breakthrough with his own “Telepods.” As in the original film, he enters the teleporter unaware that a housefly is also inside. Thus, their atoms are mixed, and Seth begins his transformation.
This time, however, the change is much more gradual. His new deformities develop over time, with FX so good it earned the film an Academy Award. Combined with top notch writing and superb directing by Cronenberg, The Fly is one of the best horror films of the 80s.
Evil Dead – Courtesy of TriStar Pictures
4. Evil Dead (2013)
Anyone who knows me can tell you how much I love the original Evil Dead movie trilogy from Sam Raimi. Bruce Campbell’s Ash is probably the all-time greatest protagonist in all of horror. His new series on Starz, “Ash vs. Evil Dead”, proves that he’s still got it, all these years later.
But in 2013, the plan to continue the Evil Dead franchise wasn’t to bring Ash back. Like many horror film series, it would receive the infamous reboot treatment. Horror reboots had a terrible track record by this point, so many horror fans probably groaned when first hearing about this. How could you possibly match the original film with no Ash?
To be fair, it’s not entirely clear if this film is a “remake”. Director Fede Alvarez says it’s possibly a continuation of the original films, taking place 30 years later. But as the storylines are so similar, some horror fans may not be able to accept that.
In any case, the film is so much better than any of us were expecting. Sure, it shaved off the dark humor in favor of genuine terror, among some other small differences. It’s visceral, gory, and an excellent experience to watch, proving that the Evil Dead story can be just as scary in a modern setting.
Maniac – Courtesy of IFC Midnight
3. Maniac (2012)
Maniac, the 1980 horror flick from William Lustig, is a terrifying classic. Co-writer Joe Spinell stars as Frank Zito, a deranged serial killer with a penchant for scalping. In the midst of losing his mind, Zito goes on a horrendous killing spree. After he murders women, he scalps them and staples the hair to the plastic heads of the mannequins he keeps at home. Then he envisions himself talking to them.
Yeah, it’s a pretty fucked up film.
Which, of course, means that it eventually had to be remade. This moment came in 2012 when an official remake of the movie was released. Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood headlines the flick as a modern version of Frank Zito. He’s not at all like Joe Spinell in the original version— but he’s arguably even more horrifying.
As in the original, Wood’s Frank Zito brutally murders women, stapling their scalps to the mannequins he keeps at home. He utilizes the modern setting of the film, such as searching for victims on dating sites. It’s so gory and dark that it’s truly haunting to watch. Wood’s portrayal of the character also feels much more real, and thus, more unsettling. Maniac is a very rare example of a horror remake actually besting the original.
Dawn of the Dead – Courtesy of Universal Pictures
2. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
George A. Romero will always be the king of zombie films. After all, he started the whole thing with his black-and-white directorial debut Night of the Living Dead. Creating “zombies” as we know them today, Romero would create several sequels to his undead classic. And that first sequel was 1978’s Dawn of the Dead.
I don’t need to tell you that Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. If you’ve seen it, you already know this. The mall setting takes a well written zombie story and makes it even more entertaining. In my humble opinion, it’s easily the best of Romero’s entire catalog of films.
You wouldn’t think a 2003 remake by Zack Snyder — who would go on to direct schlocky films like Batman v Superman — would be any good. In this case, you’d be pleasantly surprised. Snyder’s Dawn reboot is not only a very entertaining, quality horror film, it’s probably the best zombie flick of the new millennium.
There are no political messages hidden in the writing of the Dawn remake. It’s just a simple story of a zombie outbreak trapping survivors in a local shopping mall. Snyder’s Dawn also utilizes an entire separate set of characters in their own storyline — also a smart move. It basically takes the fun setting of the original and updates it, and most zombie movies since still haven’t been able to match it.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Courtesy of New Line Cinema
1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
I’ll go on the record now to admit that Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the scariest film of all time. Despite the low budget, the horror throughout feels so gritty and real. The acting is incredibly believable, as I consider Marilyn Burns playing Sally to be the best performance by any scream queen ever. It all just seems so realistic that at times it even seems more like a documentary or found footage, as opposed to a simple horror movie.
Fast forward years later past several sequels, including an absolutely abysmal fourth movie starring Matthew McConaughey. For all intents and purposes, the franchise seemed dead. Each entry in the film series was a huge step down from the one prior, and it looked like Leatherface had run into a dead end.
However, 2003 saw the release of the official remake of the original movie, which started the entire horror remake trend. I guess you can see why rebooting classic horrors became a fad, as this first one is actually fantastic. It abandons the silliness of the sequels and returns to its horror roots. It’s not perfect, but it’s surprisingly so much better than most fans were expecting.
Now, I’m not going to act like it’s better than the original. But, like I said, the first one is the most terrifying movie EVER. I don’t foresee any movie ever dethroning it from that status. But subsequent horror remakes have proven just how awful these things can be. And the TCM remake is still the second best entry in a horror series spanning seven movies long, which isn’t bad at all.