Movie remakes and reboots are controversial… right?
Horror movie remakes seem to get excessive blow back because you’re dealing with a group of intense – I mean very, very passionate people. Horror is niche and horror fans are typically close knit. We like change (the good kind), we tend not to like you messing with our stuff. Especially if you assign unnecessary motives to our monsters (ahem, Nightmare on Elm Street) or swap out good practical effects for CGI (ahem, whatever The Thing prequel was supposed to be).
But, truth be told, horror movies are prone to remakes for the same reason that horror movies get made in the first place: cheap, and easy to cash in on a trend. That’s why we have a great new version of It to scare the crap out of us, an upcoming remake of Suspiria, and hopefully a new Pet Sematary that is just as cheesy as the old one. Remaking a movie isn’t inherently bad. And because I like controversy, I’m here to tell you about some of my favorite scary movie remakes!
1) Carrie (2013)
Controversial opinion #1: I liked the most recent Carrie update. I say “most recent” because Carrie has been through a few changes.
Of course, there’s the unbeatable Brian De Palma-helmed 1976 production featuring a gory Sissy Spacek bleeping up a whole gym full of high schoolers. Then there’s the 2002 tele-film, intended to serve as the pilot for a TV show, but ended up only being notable for having a screenplay by Bryan Fuller (who likely would have quit after a season) and being kind of terrible. And we don’t talk about my favorite emo horror piece, Carrie 2: The Rage.
The 2013 Carrie gets flack for being ho-hum, but it incorporates some important plot elements from the novel that I always thought were missing from the various film adaptations. It has its own unsettling atmosphere, and it incorporates modern technology in a way that doesn’t feel too gimmicky. Also revolutionary for having its teenagers act like actual teenagers. It expounds a lot on the nature of Carrie’s telekinetic strength and develops her complicated relationship with Margaret. Chris and Billy dying in a horrific fiery crash is ah-mazing. Really, Carrie 2013’s major flaw is that it lives in the shadow of its predecessor. Is it absolutely essential? Nope, but it’s a good watch and brings our favorite (literal) scream queen into the modern age.
2) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
This one sets the bar for movie remakes that greatly surpass their template material. And I love the OG 1956 film, but the sheer horror of what Donald Sutherland has to go through when aliens overrun the earth will leave you screaming like a thousand pod creatures!
Whereas the original movie plays by the rules more or less, 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatches sets up a much bleaker atmosphere, helped out by great special effects and a bit of world building. We get to see much more of the alien invaders and all hopes that they’re confused but ultimately benign are dashed. They’re set out to drain our planet of resources, pre-existing human beings be damned! We even get to see the planet deteriorate overtime, driving home the theme of Red Scare-scented paranoia. As each of our hapless heroes is overtaken by a pod critter, their detachment is palpable and eerie. You never really know who has been taken and who is next. And those screams. Who could ever forget those otherworldly, hellish screams? Yeah, you try petting that man-faced dog.
3) The Fly (1986)
If you thought Videodrome was the peak of body horror, boy have I got news for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BzwxJ-M_M0
The Fly ‘86 is Cronenberg running amok with a sizable budget, great cast, and nothin’ but time. It combines the melodrama of the 1958 original with physical and mental deterioration worthy of a gothic horror novel… and Jeff Goldblum. It also touches on issues not present in the original, such as abortion, male body image, and if you squint there’s a smattering of comment on classism. But what you’re really here for is the grotesque Brundlefly, far more horrifying than the original short story or black and white B-movie could ever conceive of. Now, if only they had done a straight remake of the sequel and given Vincent Price some justice…
4) The Omen (2006)
Controversial opinion #2: The Omen remake featuring pre-Sabretooth Liev Schreiber run isn’t all that bad.
To be fair, as a huge fan of the original series (trash sequels and all), I didn’t care for this movie at first. It’s about as rote a remake as Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot of Psycho, and it’s very… blue. That heavy blue tint that everything in the 2000s swore was for atmosphere. But in retrospect, The Omen’s biggest crimes are timing and cast. If this had come out in the age of The Conjuring, we would have five films and two spin offs by now with Patrick Wilson in all roles. The Omen ‘06 successfully develops its own atmosphere, updates some of the cheesier parts of the film (anything surrounding Gregory Peck. ANYthing.) and is able to exist outside of the original series. Also, someone does indeed get speared by Satan, so mission accomplished.
5) The Amityville Horror (2005)
Controversial opinion… 2 and a half? But The Amityville Horror ‘05 is great and surpasses the original.
How can that be? Well, the original Amityville Horror is regarded as a classic demon possession movie, mired in controversy as the story is. But, it’s not something that has aged terribly well. The decay goes beyond its dated grindhouse aesthetics: some plot details just don’t hold up, and the real life basis of the story is way outside of pop culture memory save for true crime junkies. That’s a great place for a remake to step in and highlight the original source material while making itself different enough to not be a complete copy. Amityville ‘05 actually tones down the more…shall we say, overwrought moments of the original film to give us a creepy ghost story vibe, which is more in tune with the original novel than the movie. The acting sells the impact of the scares without going to over the top, and corny ending aside this feels like a more satisfying movie overall. Sure, it lacks the majestic hair of ‘70s James Brolin, but Ryan Reynolds deserves some props for coming damn close.
See? Remakes aren’t all that scary! Legacy tie-ins, reboots, and endless sequels on the other hand…