These horror movie remakes did things the originals couldn’t.
The Thing (1982)
Based on the 1951 sci-fi classic The Thing from Another World, Carpenter’s masterful remake takes the story in a more intense, horror-oriented direction. The film centers around a group of scientists at an Antarctic research station that becomes infected by a deadly, shape-shifting alien that can assume the appearance of the people it murders.
With its creepy, isolated atmosphere, paranoid overtones (when any of the men could be the alien, who is there to trust?) and gruesome, still-shocking make-up effects by Rob Bottin, The Thing is an undisputed genre masterpiece. Kurt Russell is an understated, unfussy lead — exactly what the film needs.
The Thing was not a huge success when it was first released, receiving negative reviews and so-so box office. It was also a victim of bad luck and bad timing, opening just a few weeks after a far friendlier alien movie, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Now.
But today the film is viewed as one of Carpenter’s finest achievements, and one of the best horror movie remakes — as well as one of the flat-out best horror movies, and sci-fi movies, of all.
The Fly (1986)
Horror auteur David Cronenberg transforms the premise behind the goofy 1958 Vincent Price B movie into a surprisingly tragic, intimate tale. Jeff Goldblum (in one of his best roles) stars as an eccentric, ambitious scientist who begins to transform into a man-fly hybrid after a teleportation experiment goes horribly wrong. What makes the movie work emotionally is the relationship between the steadily deteriorating scientist and an investigative journalist (Geena Davis).
With his remake of The Fly, Cronenberg created one of the most empathetic monster movies of all time; despite the unforgettable, Oscar-winning creature make-up effects by Chris Walas, it’s the heartbreakingly human love story at the movie’s core that makes The Fly so powerful.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Zack Snyder’s action-packed re-imagining of the 1978 George Romero classic is faster paced and scarier — and got in ahead of this century’s recent zombie craze.
Instead of creating a carbon copy of the first Dawn, screenwriter James Gunn — now the head of DC Films — plays with the basic premise of a group of human survivors finding refuge in a shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse.
Some critics feel that it lacks the witty satire of Romero’s work, but we think it holds its own, and its one of our favorite horror movies remakes. Also: Its zombies are a little scarier than the blue-tinged undead of the original Dawn of the Dead.
Also: The opening scene of this one is much more effective than the slow-burn newsroom panic of the original Dawn of the Dead.
Let Me In (2010)
While Dawn of the Dead takes many liberties with its source material, Let Me In is a nearly scene-for-scene remake of the excellent 2008 Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In. Yet, despite relying so heavily on the original, Let Me In is a powerful film in its own right.
The movie transports the setting from a snowy, rural Swedish suburb to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where a lonely, bullied 12-year-old boy (sensitively played by Kodi Smit-McPhee) befriends his new neighbor (Chloe Grace Moretz), an odd, pale girl around his age, who happens to be a vampire.
With a moving supporting performance from Richard Jenkins as the girl’s guardian, Let Me In proves to be a worthy, Americanized companion piece to the Swedish original. Much like The Fly, what makes the film one of the best horror movie remakes isn’t necessarily the expertly staged scare scenes, but the unique, strangely touching love story that lies at heart of the film.
Last House on the Left (1972)
While we think most great movies shouldn’t be remade, we make exceptions for American versions of great foreign films that bring their themes to a larger audience — and hopefully encourage people to watch the originals.
It’s sounds absurd that Last House on the Left, an ugly and punishing exploitation movie, is based on the 1960 Ingmar Bergman Swedish arthouse classic The Virgin Spring — winner of the Academy Award for best foreign-language film — but it is. And both are effective in their own way.
Bergman’s film is surgically precise, with stellar filmmaking throughout, while Craven’s American version has a frequently butcher-like quality that makes you feel like you’re watching snuff. Guess which one is scarier?
Last House on the Left is the rare remake that improves on the original… by making it worse. Last House on the Left will always have a place on our list of the Scariest Horror Movies of the 1970s.
A Sidenote
In 2009, director Dennis Iliadis made a more polished version of Craven’s Last House on the Left that was well-acted, shot, and in every ways technically superior to the original.
And yet… it wasn’t as scary.
Liked This List of Horror Movie Remakes?
You may also like this list of the Scariest Movies We’ve Ever Seen, or this list of Rad ’80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.
It doesn’t include any horror movie remakes, but it does include some movies begging to be remade.
Main image: Martha MacIsaac in the 2009 Last House on the Left.