Listmania!
The hall of remakes
By an Amazon.com customer
The Thing (Collector's Edition)The Thing (Collector's Edition)
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $4.14
I'll start out with an exampler of what TO do when remaking a film. This is an all time horror classic that bested the original by sticking closer to the source material, using inventive and brilliant special effects, and ramping up the suspense. Take notes, aspiring film-stealers.
The GrudgeThe Grudge
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $0.01
A classic Japanese fright film ruined by it's own director. Unbe-freakin'-lievable. The original scared the hell out of me; this one had me laughing all the way home from the theater. Bigger budget = less creativity, end of story.
The Amityville Horror (Widescreen Special Edition)The Amityville Horror (Widescreen Special Edition)
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $0.01
Took a truly creepy -if flawed- original and made it into a lame composite of every hit ghost story of the last 10 years while audaciously claiming to be based on the true story. And the persistently shirtless leading man is a source of endless unintentional comedy.
Highlander - The Search for Vengeance (Animated)Highlander - The Search for Vengeance (Animated)
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $2.71
Now here's something I can get behind. A timeless classic remade as a post-apocalyptic anime that still remains very much true to the mythos that make the original works. More like this, please.
The Texas Chainsaw MassacreThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $0.01
I'll be nice to this one, though hardcore horror fans will hate me for it. This one succeeds as a horror film, but fails to capture the satire, irony, and gallows comedy that makes the original so brilliant. But any of you that thought the footage at the end is real need a brain transplant. Now.
Dawn of the Dead (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut)Dawn of the Dead (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut)
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $0.37
This film should have been titled differently as the only thing it shares with the original is the name, zombies, and a mall. That's it. It is no remake, but it is a nice little zombie flick a la "28 Days Later" and boasts one of my favorite opening sequences ever.
The Ring (Widescreen Edition)The Ring (Widescreen Edition)
Buy new: $9.49 / Used from: $0.01
A rare foreign film remade right. Took everything great about the original almost scene-for-scene and built on the mystery even more. Bravo.
GodzillaGodzilla
Buy new: $8.49 / Used from: $0.17
What a P.O.S. Took the most awesome of all giant monsters and reduced him to a fish-eating iguana co-starring with Ferris Bueller.
King KongKing Kong
Buy new: $10.49 / Used from: $1.98
So they ditched the killer dinos for a lame-a$* giant snake, ditched the state-of-the-art (for the time) animation techniques for a dude on a monkey suit and managed to make those creepy close-ups of Kong oggling his ladyfriend look even more perverse. I'll pass.
King Kong - Extended Cut (Three-Disc Deluxe Edition)King Kong - Extended Cut (Three-Disc Deluxe Edition)
Buy new: $17.49 / Used from: $2.97
Now here's what I'm talking about. The film may be bloated, but when it's got this much action and looks so fine (not as fine as Naomi Watts, however) I will let that slide. It's not perfect, but it delivers a serious spectacle while capturing the heart of the original and that's what really counts.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Collector's Edition)Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Collector's Edition)
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $6.77
My favorite remake alonside "The Thing". The original was amazing for it's time, but this one is so paranoid, so heart-rending, and so hopeless it just captures the story as perfectly as possible. Flawless.
Body Snatchers: The Invasion ContinuesBody Snatchers: The Invasion Continues
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $1.67
Actually quite good, but portrayed from the standpoint of 90's youth it just can't match up to the predecessors.
Village of the DamnedVillage of the Damned
Buy used from: $1.88
John Carpenter is brilliant and manages to tread water with this remake of a classic. Not superior, but just as good as the original and that says a lot.
PsychoPsycho
Buy used from: $1.50
A remake gets criticised if it stays too far from the original, but this is ridiculous! Shot-for-shot, scene-for-scene, line-for-line this carbon-copies the original, only without the iconic performances, and WITH an unnecessary masturbation bit. Pointless beyond belief.
Planet of the Apes (Special Edition)Planet of the Apes (Special Edition)
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $1.75
Marky Mark filling in Charleton Heston's shoes? Ah, HEEEELLLLL naw! The original is genius, iconic, unforgettable. This is a pointless exercise in futility that abandons everything about the original except the goofy ape-masks.
Bram Stoker's DraculaBram Stoker's Dracula
Buy used from: $1.58
Almost beat out the orignal by staying closer to the source material. Then some imbecile decided to turn a straight horror story into a lame romance and completely crap all over Stoker's work while leaving his name on the film. This could have been the best Dracula ever, but it settles in as simply another must-see.
The Mummy Collector's Set (The Mummy (1999)/ The Mummy Returns/ The Scorpion King)The Mummy Collector's Set (The Mummy (1999)/ The Mummy Returns/ The Scorpion King)
Buy new: $19.98 / Used from: $3.07
Stephen Summers wouldn't know real horror if it bit him on the neck, but he makes a fun popcorn flick. Turn off your brain, forget the original, and everything will be just fine. Juuuust fine.
Nosferatu: The Vampyre/Phantom Der Nacht (2 Disc Set)Nosferatu: The Vampyre/Phantom Der Nacht (2 Disc Set)
Buy new: $13.99
A nothing if not unique interpretation of a vampire classic based on the novel "Dracula". A massive departure from the original, but an intriguing one. Dracula as a craven, pathetic parasite is certainly something to see.
Stephen King's The Shining  (Two Disc Special Edition)Stephen King's The Shining (Two Disc Special Edition)
Buy new: $5.79 / Used from: $3.59
So Stephen King thought he could do better than Nicholson and Kubrick, did he? He was dead wrong. This mini-series certainly had it's moments, but it doesn't approach the original, CG animated animal-shrubbery or no.
RollerballRollerball
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $0.01
The original is a bit of a cult classic if roller derby is your thing. This one, eh, not so much. In fact, damn near any remake starring a rapper should be avoided.
Red Dragon (Widescreen Collector's Edition)Red Dragon (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
Buy used from: $0.14
I'll give this one some love because Anthony Perkins IS Hannibal Lector and his predecessor failed to menace even a little. But the original (sporting the lame title, "Manhunter") has "In-A-Gada-Da-Vida" in it so I'll call it a draw.
War of the Worlds (Widescreen Edition)War of the Worlds (Widescreen Edition)
Buy new: $11.49 / Used from: $0.01
The first half is brilliant, genius, Spielburg's back, baby! The second half is lame, recycled, corny, WTF, Tom Cruise sucks! Took the greatest ending in sci-fi history and made it maddeningly lame. Speilburg's back....to passing disposable garbage off as films.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Widescreen Edition)Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Widescreen Edition)
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $1.50
I enjoyed it. Depp is sure as hell no Gene Wilder, but this remake benefits nicely from that nice Tim Burton visual touch and it doesn't step on the toes of the original or destroy it completely so I'll give it a thumbs up.
ShaftShaft
Buy new: $17.99 / Used from: $0.08
Not a great remake, but a very fun one. Samuel L Jackson is the ONLY man who could pull the role off and keep a straight face while telling a woman it's his duty to please their booty. I can dig it.
The Fog (Widescreen Unrated Edition)The Fog (Widescreen Unrated Edition)
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $0.01
A great unintentional comedy, but as a remake of a horror cult classic, little could have been done to make this suck more. Dumbest twist ever, worst use of masking tape in film history, fog that chases little kids, invades garbage disposals, and explodes power lines; I could go on for days.
Night Of The Living Dead 3DNight Of The Living Dead 3D
Buy new: $24.49 / Used from: $2.43
Starts out pretty cleverly. Sid Haig is awesome and there is some quality tongue-in-cheek horror here, but it really falls apart in the end. The biggest flaw: it insisted on being a remake when the only similiarity to the original is zombies and a farmhouse. Why?
The Wicker Man (Widescreen Unrated/Rated Edition)The Wicker Man (Widescreen Unrated/Rated Edition)
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $0.01
Ugh. The original is one of the most original films of the 70's and a fascinating peak into the pagan culture of days gone past. This is some unimaginative, misogynistic, pointless garbage.