Top 10 Horror Remakes

Top 10 Horror Remakes

What is it about horror movies that make them so ripe for remakes -- often baaad remakes? Word is still out on the upcoming redos of My Bloody Valentine (in 3-D!) and Friday the 13th, but there are some horror remakes that got it right, so for every Psycho, we’ve got Dawn of the Dead. Here are the 10 we liked best.

10. The Grudge (2004)

This English-language remake of the 2003 Japanese Ju-On is a keeper. The creepy Japanese setting, in which a young aid (Sarah Michelle Gellar) gets caught up in the mysteries of one seriously haunted house, scared the hell out of audiences. Helmed by the same director of the Japanese original, nothing is lost in the translation.

9. The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Wes Craven's down and dirty 1977 horror movie about desert mutants provided a framework that still thrilled audiences in 2006. Now, the mutants really look like mutants -- but they are just as nasty in the newest version as they are in Craven's indie original.
 
8. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

In this retake of the original 1974 cult classic, producer Michael Bay unleashes Leatherface on a bunch of sexy up-and-comers, led by hottie Jessica Biel. Graphically brutal (try to watch the fingernail scene without flinching), chainsaw murders prove to be timeless.


7. Halloween (2007)

Sure, Michael Meyers is a brutal killer, but how did he get that way? Director Rob Zombie gives us the answer in his redo of the 1978 scarefest. By exploring Mikey’s abusive childhood and his extended stint in a mental institution, Zombie opens a dialogue about American violence. Then he makes the six and half foot behemoth spill more blood than ever!
6. The Mummy (1999)

Turning the slowly stumbling carcass from the 1932 and 1959 originals into a super-powered CGI sorcerer of the ‘90s is a great idea. The action/adventure kicks ass, with hero Brendan Fraser and damsel Rachel Weisz in the lead, but still has plenty of creepy bugs and scary decomposed warriors to keep us on the edge of our seats. Too bad the sequels totally blow the momentum.


5. The Ring (2002)

This first remake of a classic 1998 Japanese horror flick stands as the best, marking the first time U.S. audiences witness a creepy kid ghost with flowing, wet hair. Naomi Watts’ terrified, moon-shaped face helps, too. We're safe from the videotaped killer now that everyone has switched to DVD.


4. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Francis Ford Coppola's lavish epic about the count from Transylvania totally outshines the 1931 original and 1979 follow up. With sexy, bare-chested intensity, Gary Oldman seduces audiences, more so than Bela Lugosi ever could (but maybe not as much as Frank Langella in the 1979 version), then slaughters anyone who tries to stop him. If only Keanu Reeves is good as Jonathan Harker.

3. Cape Fear (1991)

The subtleties of the 1962 original are gone in Martin Scorsese’s redo of this psychological thriller. What's scarier than crazy Robert Mitchum stalking your family? Crazy Robert De Niro stalking your family, that’s what. Just seeing his ripped, tattooed physique is terrifying. But when he bites off cheeks, breaks into homes and seduces teenage girls, we know we are in trouble.
 
2. The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg's remake teaches all the cheesy old horror movies on how to do it, a giant step up from the 1958 cult classic (“Help me!”). With detailed makeup effects, they really turn Jeff Goldblum into a man-sized bug. It's the quintessential Goldblum performance as the nutty scientist -- and much more effective than some dude with a fuzzy helmet on.


1. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

If you think Christmas shoppers are scary, try being mobbed by zombies at a mall. George Romero's 1978 original still holds up, and remains the best of his zombie films, but director Zack Snyder knows just how to modernized the story: The fast-running brain eaters in the remake are way intense.