8 Recent Horror Remakes That Don’t Actually Suck

We latterly send aboutthe few good sci - fi remakesout there . Now we ’re turn over our attending tohorror — the most remake genre , and the one with the most unsatisfying results . These eight remakes ( all from the last 20 long time ) do n’t best their originals , but at least most will make you shriek in panic rather than disgust .

1. The Ring (2002)

Hollywood ’s frantic obsession with remaking every Asian repulsion movie in the other 2000s began with this truly chilling redo , with Naomi Watts — who’d just had her breakout part in David Lynch ’s Mulholland Dr.—lending spectacular heftiness to the creepy supernatural secret . By now , you recognise the practice session ; see the cursed videotape and you ’ll die in seven days . Watts ’ diarist character , who ’s work under a ticking clock once she and her untested Word both watch the tape measure , head to an stray island off the coast of Seattle ( a gorgeously down in the mouth setting which director Gore Verbinski uses to great gist ) to fall upon more about the tape ’s malign origin .

The Japanese original — directed by Hideo Nakata , who went on to direct both the Japanese sequel and the American sequel , the latter of which brought back Watts — is still scary overall , but that shot where ghostly li’l Samara Morgan ( Daveigh Chase ) oozes out of the TV and into the real world with slaying on her intellect has sparked more than a few incubus over the years .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vF0bzWKAAo

2. The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Wes Craven produced Alexandre Aja ’s redo of his 1977 route - trip - gone - horribly - wrong B - movie classic ; it come out just a few years after the Gallic film director turned heads with the cinematic mindfuck High Tension . So there ’s a certain amount of supernumerary panache present in what ’s more or less a slicker restate of an inherently disturbing story

Two families — wholesome Midwestern types with an Airstream , and desert - brood cannibalistic mutant ( who are given a more expressed , atomic - testing extraction story in this version)—have a trigger-happy clash in the middle of nowhere , New Mexico . The underlying message , of course of action , is that even city folk can turn savage when pushed to the point of accumulation , which was barely original even in 1977 , though Aja ’s Hills wield to take Craven ’s imagination and push those limits even further — a necessary tactic to floor even jaded horror buff , who were then being bombarded by “ torture smut ” after the winner of films like power saw and Hostel .

3. Evil Dead (2013)

malign Dead withoutAsh Williams ? What fresh hell is this ? Many fans of the iconic series were prepared to absolutely execrate the remake from first - sentence feature article director Fede Alvarez — he later made Do n’t Breathe and another reboot , The Girl in the Spider ’s entanglement — but were agreeably surprised by a film that reshaped the story a bit while still render plenty of delightfully repugnant gore .

The cabin in the Natalie Wood , the Necronomicon , an ominous - purposely expressed incantation , and Sam Raimi ’s earmark tv camera zoom to stand for come on evil are all part of the story — but or else ofBruce Campbell ’s goofy Ash , the principal character is Mia ( Jane Levy ) , a not - so - recover drug addict who becomes possessed and spearhead all style of bloody , demonic mayhem before go forth as the chainsaw wielding , one - handed hoagie in the oddment . With the original Evil Dead trio of Campbell ( who does have a cheeky ending - credits cameo ) , Raimi , and Robert Tapert producing , this remaking is kind of a estimable - case scenario , using an established pedigree to lift a film that would be think about even as a standalone .

4. Willard (2003)

“ star Crispin Glover ” are three words that will pretty much make me check any movie ( or boob tube show — he ’s great onAmerican Gods ) . But the cult worker ’s magnificently wide-ranging resumé picked up a winner with this reworking of 1971 ’s Willard .

managing director and carbon monoxide gas - author Glen Morgan and atomic number 27 - author James Wong — if those names fathom familiar , it ’s because the duad were heavily involved in bothThe X - Filesand the Final Destination movies — went back to that film ’s root material ( Stephen Gilbert ’s novel Ratman ’s Notebooks ) to shore up their handwriting , which once again is about a unfrequented misfit ( Glover , who else ? ) who befriend the rat colony that ’s taken up residence in his kinsperson ’s rickety older mansion . ( You ca n’t really blame him , since the only other person hold out there is his Mrs. Bates - ish mother . ) Before long , he ’s using his stinkpot army to take revenge , with the majuscule R. Lee Ermey playing a jerky honcho who sweep Willard and soon regret it . Glover ’s increasingly unhinged performance , though , makes the movie — any other worker would make you marvel why anyone would refashion this .

5. We Are What We Are (2013)

Jim Mickle ( Stake Land , Cold in July ) direct and co - wrote ( with frequent collaborator Nick Damici ) this remake of Mexican film producer Jorge Michel Grau ’s 2010 master . What “ we are ” is the fully grown secret ( stay fresh more from other characters in the film , rather than the interview ) at the midpoint of the story , which is about an obscure family that ’s been carry out a specific , extremely taboo , and very blue ritual to honour their pioneer ancestor for generations .

With strong performances by Ambyr Childers ( You ) and Julia Garner ( Ozark ) as Sister who ’re tempted to forsake custom in favour of , you know , live normal lives — and a devout supporting turn by Kelly McGillis as a implicated neighbor who really should ’ve minded her own business concern — We Are What We Are counterbalance its atmospheric thrills with plenty of stomach - boil peculiar result .

6. Lights Out (2016)

David F. Sandberg ’s original 2013 short , also call Lights Out , is maybe the most stressful ( in a effective means ) three - moment film ever made . It ’s not knockout to see why Hollywood took notice , snapping up the director — who went on to makethe eerie Annabelle : Creationand hasShazamup next — to transmute it into a feature . The picture show keeps the short ’s independent menace but builds out a atrocious backstory for its fantasm - dwelling villain with the avail of scripter Eric Heisserer ( who also fleshed outArrival , which was based on a short story or else of a short motion-picture show ) .

Maria Bello asterisk as an unstable woman who screw more about the threat than she ’s let on ; Teresa Palmer play her grownup daughter who has to take explosive charge ( and Hades or mellow water , keep those lights on ) to protect her young half - blood brother . Director Sandberg ’s wife , Lotta Losten , starred in the scant and has a cameo here that mirror her early public presentation — a fun winking for anyone who shrieked their agency through the short and come back for more . concern of the dark is an all - too - common radical in repulsion moving picture , but Lights Out manages to elevate sensory loss to young level of consternation .

7. Suspiria (2018)

As a diehard buff ofDario Argento ’s 1977 repulsion masterpiece , I almost did n’t require to learn Luca Guadagnino ’s remake , even afterI read reviewsthat made it passably clear that the unexampled Suspiria plagiarize the “ minatory terpsichore schoolhouse ” affair and then forged its own weird path .

And while not everything mould in Guadagnino ’s version — the “ divided Berlin ” setting and adjacent political science came across as a bit heavy - handed ; it ’s right smart too long ; and Thom Yorke is no Goblin — some witchy magic does emerge . An early scene in which a rebellious student contorts her body in a herky - foolish nightmare beyond her ascendence is appropriately shocking , and the climactic scene , in which Dakota Johnson ’s Susie Bannion reveals her dead on target motif for link up the society and much jaw - dropping violence ensues . My philia will always belong to to Argento , but Suspiria 2.0 really could have been so much risky .

8. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

The unveiling film of next DC pet Zack Snyder dared — dared!—to reconsider George A. Romero ’s zombies - at - the - mall masterwork , and somehow emerge with an enjoyable update . The film ’s ensemble cast — including Sarah Polley , Ving Rhames , Jake Weber , Mekhi Phifer , and future Modern Family star Ty Burrell — is thoughtfully gather to judge what a random group of the great unwashed , all desperate to subsist ( but who are n’t necessarily going to play nice or bonnie ) , take protection in a shopping center as hungry zombi spirit mill around alfresco . Some intense set pieces , like the birthing of a baby that ’s already turned , and the playful ( until it ’s not ) flake about the shopping center grouping communicating with another gaggle of holdouts in a nearby construction , are also used to unspoiled effect , as is the euphony — especially Johnny Cash ’s “ The Man Comes Around , ” which play over the chess opening collage and sets the exact right tone of lark about doom .

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Dawn of the DeadHorrorSuspiriaThe Ring

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.