- 05/06/2025
Are there ANY good horror remakes?
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00:00When any film becomes iconic, it's inevitable that the studio will remake it, hoping, but
00:06probably failing, to recreate that same success. And because cinemagoers are drawn to the familiar,
00:11it does make sense why people would flock to see another rendition of a recognised and beloved
00:16property. And sometimes this practice does work out for the best, but more often than not it does
00:22go south and we end up with these sorry messes. I'm Josh from WhatCultureHorror and these are
00:2710 horror movie remakes that you must never watch. 10. Poltergeist
00:32The Poltergeist remake is so forgettable that you probably even forgot that it existed until right
00:38now. I know I did. Even if you saw it, it doesn't leave any impression at all because it cannot hold
00:43a candle to Toby Hooper's classic. I saw it in cinemas when it came out and I genuinely couldn't
00:49recall a single frame of it to you now. And you know what's weird? You can actually tell that this
00:53film isn't going to work based entirely on the poster, which depicts a clown doll. This image
00:59is a nod of course to the scene in the original Poltergeist where Robbie is strangled by a possessed
01:03doll. But because the remake uses the creepy doll to sell its movie, it's basically telling us that
01:08it's going to copy the best bits of its forerunner rather than try to do anything new. All the key
01:13scenes are recreated including the doll, the attacking trees, the static hand, the child being sucked
01:18into the TV and of course the iconic line there here. The only difference is that none of these
01:24scenes are scary since they're all replicated so poorly. Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris do their
01:29best to keep the story grounded, but it's not enough. And they're my dudes as well. I honestly
01:35love these two actors and even they can't save this for me. Due to the unconvincing special effects
01:39and superficial scares, the 2015 Poltergeist is just a waste of effort.
01:44Number 9, The Fog. In the 1980 version of The Fog, a horde of ghosts appear from an
01:50inexplicable mist and attack the citizens of Antonio Island. Because of its straightforward plot,
01:55The Fog could have been an unmemorable schlockfest, but with visionary director John Carpenter at the
02:00helm, this ghostly thriller is genuinely chilling. A Scooby Doo episode brought to life and I mean that
02:06as a compliment. The way Carpenter slowly builds tension before delivering a well-earned jumpscare makes
02:11the fog feel like a supernatural version of Jaws or something. The small town connected by Radio
02:17Vibe is done exceptionally well as well, and it just has a lot of style going for it. It may not
02:22be as masterful as Carpenter's other works like The Thing or Halloween, but The Fog does deserve
02:27more credit. Too bad though that the same cannot be said about the 2005 remake. Now to this flick's
02:33credit, it does take its time building up to the supernatural elements and doesn't shove in
02:37relentless jumpscares, which is quite common in modern horrors. Sadly, it never feels suspenseful
02:42since all the characters are generic, whiny and unlikable, and the whole thing is just a little
02:47bit drab. If you thought things would pick up when the killing begins as well, the film actually gets
02:51somehow worse, so don't even bother for that. Number 8, Day of the Dead. George A. Romero's iconic
02:58zombie films have been bastardized by many a remake. Hell, thanks to the original Night of the Living Dead
03:03slipping into public domain immediately, there have been enough shoddy remakes that could have
03:07taken up this entire list in terms of tanking the quality. Day of the Dead, however, the underrated
03:13third installment in Romero's series, has also received its fair share of remakes and adaptations.
03:19The 2008 version, simply titled Day of the Dead, is particularly shoddy. One of those in-name-only
03:25remakes that clearly has no love for the thing it's based on. Sure, some of the characters share names and
03:30roles, but for the most part the story is entirely different, and far more cliched. It's clear the
03:36whole thing was just a cheap cashier and throwing a bunch of zombie tropes from the mid to late 2000s
03:41into a blender, and then just kinda hoping for the best. It's an ugly, ugly flick, and not even the
03:46great Ving Rhames was enough to save this trash fire. Number 7, The Omen. To help promote The Omen
03:53reboot, it was released on the 6th of the 606, as of course, a reference to the biblical Mark of the
03:58Beast, which is 666. And that's pretty neat, right? Well, sadly, more effort was put into
04:04this marketing ploy than the film itself. 2006's The Omen is a remake in a very literal sense,
04:09since it literally just remakes everything that made the original special. If you watch the trailer,
04:14you can tell that the director, John Muir, prioritized making his work identical to the
04:18flick's precursor, rather than focusing on making it entertaining. It's so similar beat for beat and
04:24line for line that it feels like it was designed by an algorithm, but a bad one as well. Like,
04:29whatever that Twitter algorithm is that keeps trying its best to get me into Machine Gun Kelly is,
04:34that's the one that made this. Despite the fact that the sequels were disappointing,
04:37they did have some creatively haunting moments. And, unfortunately, there's none of that here.
04:43It's got a great cast, and it's shot well, but it lacks in scares since we just know what's going to
04:47happen. Once the audience realizes that it's following the formula of Richard Donner's version
04:52meticulously, you know the only difference is that these scenes are going to lack tension and
04:56will be plagued with sloppy CGI. 6. The Amityville Horror
05:01Remakes are often cast in a bad light, since their very nature is a sign of unoriginality.
05:06Nevertheless, there are some stories that do deserve a do-over. I mean, if a movie doesn't
05:10come together despite having a lot of potential, there's no reason not to try again. A perfect example
05:15of this notion is the Amityville Horror. Even though it was a smash hit at the time, this was almost
05:20certainly because it was supposedly based on a true story, rather than the quality of the film
05:25itself. The Amityville Horror received scathing reviews from critics upon its release, and isn't
05:29regarded much better today. So, when Andrew Douglas decided to make his directorial debut by remaking
05:35The Amityville Horror, it felt like it was an opportunity to do this story justice. But, somehow,
05:40it turned out even worse. Due to an over-reliance on shock edits and on still scares, not even Ryan
05:46Reynolds's oozing charm could stop this film feeling just run-of-the-mill. The only advantage
05:51this version of The Amityville Horror has over its predecessor is that it's nearly 30 minutes
05:56shorter. But, if a film's best quality is its brevity, that's probably not a good sign, is it?
06:02Number 5. Flatliners
06:04Flatliners follows a group of medical students who perform an experiment that stops and restarts
06:09their hearts so they can experience the afterlife. But, after each of the participants are plagued by
06:14haunting visions, they realise that they've opened a doorway to the supernatural that they cannot
06:19close. It's a cool premise, right? Well, the 2017 remake felt like it could surpass Joel Schumacher's
06:24version, since it was directed by the same filmmaker behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the
06:29writer of Source Code. Also, it doesn't perform the cardinal sin of duplicating the original film
06:34scene by scene, and instead tries to capture its predecessor's unsettling atmosphere. Unfortunately,
06:39the key word here is try, since the latter Flatliners fails to have any real redeemable qualities,
06:46especially when it comes to the scares. It's biggest issue is that it cannot decide what
06:50genre it is. If you like slow burn horror, you'll enjoy the film's reliance on suspense,
06:55until it turns into a CGI riddle jump scare-a-thon. One minute you're watching a tense medical thriller,
07:00and the next it turns into a cliched film mess.
07:034. Thirteen Ghosts The original Thirteen Ghosts centers around a family who inherit a mansion
07:10haunted by spirits that can only be seen while wearing spectral goggles. The film was nothing
07:15special, but it did have a lot of cheesy, dumb fun along the way. But the remake titled Thirteen Ghosts,
07:20if I'm reading that logo correctly, took this dumb plot and somehow made it even dumber. As before,
07:25the story follows a family who inherit a vast estate after their relative Cyrus passes away. Shortly
07:30after arriving though, the family discover that their new home is filled with twelve vengeful
07:35phantoms. But then, in the climax, spoilers I guess, it's revealed that Cyrus is alive and hiding in
07:41the house. He faked his own death, hoping to lure the family to his abode so he could turn one of them
07:46into the thirteenth and final ghost to activate a machine that will allow Cyrus to see through time.
07:52This is, quite frankly, an insane movie, and there is something to be said about that. However,
07:58while you might get some enjoyment out of catching clips of the best moments on YouTube or, say,
08:03watching other people's videos on it like Ryan Hollinger's really good one, you're best probably
08:07leaving it at that, because the whole thing ain't worth it. Number 3, Carrie. Many people criticized
08:13the Carrie remake at the time, accusing the lead actress, Chloe Grace Moretz, of being too cool to
08:18portray a bullied high schooler. However, the film emphasizes that Carrie White is ridiculed because
08:24of her prudence and overly religious upbringing. So, while Moretz doesn't nail the role the way
08:29that Sissy Spacek did in the original, the young actress is still pretty good at playing a misunderstood
08:34outsider. Sadly, though, with that misconception aside, the rest of the film totally blows. Although
08:40the bullies were generic in the original novel and original film, they are now so unrealistically evil,
08:45they're more akin to cartoon villains. Any moment in this film that had the potential to be scary,
08:51is ruined by the overuse of slow motion as well. Hell, the iconic shot of the blood dropping on
08:56Carrie is done in slow-mo three times, just in case you didn't realize that the scene is important.
09:01Unsurprisingly, this remake tries to outdo the original climax by inserting overly elaborate
09:06creative depths and more special effects than anyone could imagine. But not only is this conclusion
09:11too stylized and CGI heavy, but the image quality in cinematography as well is just ugly,
09:16which is unbearably distracting. Despite the fact that the final shot hints at a sequel,
09:20the potential franchise wisely chose to stay buried.
09:242. Martyrs
09:26If you're a fan of what-culture horror, or just horror in general I guess, you're probably sick
09:30to death of hearing about Martyrs. It's considered one of the scariest horror films of all time and
09:35for good reason. Hollywood being Hollywood though, they got this memo way too late and eventually
09:40put in a long overdue remake that just capitalized on nothing. Still, when the co-directors of the
09:46Martyrs remake emphasized that their version would be a reimagining rather than a retelling,
09:51it did sound like they were wisely trying to not just imitate the original, but do something
09:55kind of fresh. But upon watching the supposed reimagining, it's obvious that the filmmakers
10:00missed the point of the original entirely. All the complex nihilistic themes that made
10:05the original Martyrs so disturbing are entirely absent here weirdly. Instead, they're replaced with
10:10incessant gore, which admittedly the original did have in spades as well, but that actually had a
10:16point and it was effective, whereas here it's just gore for the sake of gore. There's often no real
10:21feeling behind it. What's worse though is that the relentless violence is shoddily short and
10:25inaptistic, and even though the remake is only 80 minutes, it crams in as many witless tropes,
10:30one dimensional characters and cliched lines in as possible. Anyone who had the misfortune of watching
10:35this version of Martyrs will tell you that it's not just a bad remake, it's just like one of the
10:39worst horror films you can watch. Number 1, Psycho. If you've watched Psycho, then you don't need to
10:45watch the 1998 remake because, well, you've already seen it. The director, Gus Van Sant, believed that
10:51Alfred Hitchcock's original slasher was so perfect that there was no point to even try and better it.
10:56This mentality encouraged him to turn this movie into an almost shot-for-shot remake. Now this is
11:02obviously a terrible idea since every scene now feels totally inorganic, because the actors are
11:07encouraged to replicate the performances of the 1960 version's counterparts, everyone moves stiffly
11:13and speaks mechanically. Contrary to popular belief though, the film isn't a total carbon copy.
11:18That's because unlike the original, the remake opens with a pan and zoom over the city, as Hitchcock
11:23wanted to use that this shot for his opening would then scrap the idea when he couldn't make it look
11:28right. However, even this change emphasises the same point as before. Van Sant didn't alter the opening to
11:34better serve his vision. Instead he just thought, yeah, I'll just do what Hitchcock wanted and couldn't.
11:38The 1998 version of Psycho is the worst kind of remake since it is just so bereft of soul. As an
11:45experiment, it is an intriguing idea, but as a movie, it's a shameless, perfunctory mess. Like seriously,
11:51just watch the incredibly underrated Psycho sequels instead. You'll have a much better time.
11:55So that's our list. I want some of you guys think down in the comments below. Do you like these
11:59horror remakes? I really would love to know if you did. Hey, I want to see their redeeming qualities as well.
12:03While you're letting me know though, could you also please give us a like, share,
12:06subscribe and head over to WhatCultureHorror for more lists like this on the regular.
12:09Even if you don't though, I've been Josh. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon.
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