10 Best Horror Movie Remakes Of All Time, Ranked

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Horror has long been one of Hollywood's most reliable genres. Always eager to repeat success, studios have churned out a seemingly endless number of horror movie remakes, some good, many bad. Oftentimes these remakes intend to update classics with newfangled special effects and intensified gore. This approach typically makes you appreciate how great the original is, as many classic horror movies hold up better than their remakes. Yet there are a select few remakes that are not only just as good as the original, but in some rare cases, even better.

This list runs the gamut from updates of Hollywood classics to American remakes of international masterpieces. Many are new interpretations of books or short stories, with directors putting their own spin on material. What distinguishes these from lesser horror remakes is how successfully they live up to the legacy of the original. Whereas most remakes embarrass themselves when held up to the genuine article, these have become classics in their own right. In some cases, they've even served as the inspiration for their own remakes, which is as good a stamp of approval as you can hope for.

• Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth
• Director: Luca Guadagnino
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 152 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV

In 1970s West Berlin, Dr. Josef Klemperer (Tilda Swinton) starts snooping around the Markos Dance Company after one of his patients, Patricia Hingle (Chloë Grace Moretz), disappears, after telling the skeptical doctor that the school is run by a coven of witches. Meanwhile, American dancer Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) arrives and becomes a favorite of the lead choreographer, Madame Blanc (Swinton). As Susie rises through the ranks, another student (Mia Goth) grows suspicious that something sinister is going on.

A remake of Dario Argento's Italian Giallo classic "Suspiria" (1977) had long been in the works with director David Gordon Green before Luca Guadagnino took over. Guadagnino's version of "Suspiria" (2018) is less a remake than it is a remix, taking the bones of Argento's film and using them as a means to explore not just metaphorical evil, but literal evil as well. Setting the story during the 1977 German Autumn draws parallels between the political turmoil of that time and the abuses of power inflicted by the witches coven. It also places it within a country still suffering from the lingering horrors of the Holocaust, with Dr. Klemperer haunted by the death of his wife (Jessica Harper, star of the original) in a concentration camp. It's heady material for a horror film, and Guadagnino pulls it off.

• Cast: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber
• Director: Zack Snyder
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Netflix, Apple TV

Milwaukee nurse Ana (Sarah Polley) is so exhausted after returning home from her shift that she misses emergency news reports about a rapidly-spreading virus. She gets a rude wake-up when her husband (Louis Ferriera) gets killed by a zombie, only to re-animate and start attacking her. Ana seeks shelter in a nearby shopping mall with a small group of survivors, who band together with the skeptical mall security in the hopes of making it out of the zombie apocalypse alive.

George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) is one of the best zombie movies ever, using its stomach-churning violence to critique American consumerism. Alongside Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" (2002), Zack Snyder's 2004 remake (with a script penned by James Gunn) helped resurrect the zombie movie. Much like Boyle's horror classic, Snyder's film transformed zombies from slow-moving brain-eaters into fast-paced savages. And just like "28 Days Later," this version of "Dawn of the Dead" is a product of a post-9/11 world, coming out at a time when people felt a heightened sense of anxiety over increased militarization, the threat of biological warfare, and the fear that your neighbor could turn on you at any moment.

• Cast: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch
• Director: Chuck Russell
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 95 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV

Life is peaceful in the small California town of Arborville until a meteorite crashes nearby. Turns out it's a slimy, gelatinous blob that looks harmless enough ... until it starts melting human flesh and consuming everything in its path. Teenagers Brian (Kevin Dillon), Meg (Shawnee Smith), and Paul (Donovan Leitch) try to warn the unsuspecting population. The US military is eventually called in, and scientists reveal that the Blob is a Cold War experiment that has gone horribly wrong.

Released in 1958, "The Blob" is a classic of Cold War paranoia cinema, and launched the career of leading man Steve McQueen. That being said, its special effects are hokey at best, and there's hardly anyone who would find it scary today. That's not the case with Chuck Russell's 1988 remake, which tricks audiences into believing it's going to be just as campy as the original before showing how destructive the Blob actually is. Using the best makeup and puppet effects could offer, Russell renders the giant pink goo as anything but a joke, and "The Blob" holds up as an '80s sci-fi movie that still looks amazing today. That's not to say there aren't laughs to be had, and what makes the film so fun is how gleefully it subverts horror movie expectations.

• Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins
• Director: Matt Reeves
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Starz, Kanopy, Tubi, Apple TV

In 1980s New Mexico, bullied 12-year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) spends his evenings alone in his apartment complex. Owen becomes friends with Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz), a girl who moved next door with her father Thomas (Richard Jenkins), who encourages him to stand up to his tormentors. Strange noises keep coming from next door, and a string of homicides cause panic amongst the townspeople. It's not long before Owen learns that Abby is a vampire, and Thomas is her adult companion who finds fresh victims to keep her alive. When Thomas disappears, Owen tries to keep Abby safe from an inquiring police detective (Elias Koteas).

Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In" (2008) is one of the best horror movies of the 21st century, so the American remake had hefty shoes to fill. Matt Reeves' effort stands out by essentially replicating what made the Swedish original so effective. While it's certainly filled with blood and gore, "Let Me In" is at its best when creating a haunted, sinister mood, with fear lurking behind every shadow and clang on the soundtrack. What's most surprising is how genuinely moving it is, even while wrestling with the eerie implications of Abby's immortality and her relationship with Owen. 

• Cast: Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard
• Director: Paul Schrader
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV

After years of estrangement, Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski) reunites with her brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell), in New Orleans. Meanwhile, a wild black panther is captured by the local zoo after attacking a prostitute. Irena pays the panther a visit, feeling instantly drawn to it. As Irena falls in love with zoologist Oliver Yates (John Heard), her brother makes uncomfortable sexual advances towards her. It turns out that Paul is actually the black panther, and he's killing people to regain human form. Much to her horror, Irena learns she's a cat person as well, one who will attack anyone that gets between her and Oliver.

Produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur, 1942's "Cat People" is a great example of how working around budget limitations can turn a B-level horror flick into a masterpiece. Paul Schrader's 1982 remake has no such constrictions, using impressive makeup effects to bring the cat people to life. Yet what truly distinguishes Schrader's version is his take on the material. While the violence and gore are certainly amplified, Schrader focuses more on the story's psychosexual undercurrent. The remake is also famous for its Golden Globe-nominated score by Giorio Moroder and David Bowie's theme song, "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)."

• Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox
• Director: Gore Verbinski
• Rating: PG-13
• Runtime: 115 minutes
• Where to watch: Pluto TV, Prime Video, Criterion Channel, Kanopy, Apple TV

Journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) grows skeptical of rumors about a cursed videotape that causes anyone who watches it to mysteriously die seven days later. After a group of teenage girls die after watching it, Keller pops the tape in for herself, after which her phone rings and a stranger whispers "Seven days." Desperate to prevent her demise and save her son (David Dorfman), Rachel tries to get to the bottom of the mystery, which is more supernatural than she could have ever guessed. 

1998's "Ringu" is one of the most influential films of its era, kicking off a revival of Japanese horror cinema characterized by extreme violence, gore, and jump scares. Though Hollywood toned down the bloodshed to PG-13 levels, that didn't make it any less scary. Directed by Gore Verbinski, "The Ring" is more unsettling than it is shocking, creating an atmosphere of constant dread through disturbing images and creepy undertones. The films critical and financial success kicked off a wave of similar American remakes of Asian horror flicks, including "The Grudge" (2004) and "Dark Water" (2005). Yet "The Ring" remains the best of that bunch, and has grown more frightening with the rise of Creepypasta.

• Cast: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins
• Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 128 minutes
• Where to watch: Pluto TV, Prime Video, Apple TV

400 years after vowing to live forever after the death of his wife Elisabeta (Winona Ryder), Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) is living as a vampire in Transylvania, and is looking to purchase property in London from real estate agent Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves). The Count grows transfixed by Harker's fiancée, Mina (Ryder), thinking she is the reincarnation of his late wife. Dracula seeks to turn her into a vampire, a fate which Professor Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) fights against time to prevent.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula" is far from the first adaptation of the classic vampire novel, and it's certainly not the last. Yet Francis Ford Coppola's version is the most distinctive since Tod Browning's 1931 iteration, while also being one of Gary Oldman's best movies. Whereas Browning's film was moody and atmospheric, Coppola's is gothic and operatic, making a more direct comparison to the occultism that turns Dracula into a vampire. It also serves as a metaphor for the AID epidemic, with the exchange of blood depicted as both sexual and deadly. Mounted with extraordinary craft, the film won Oscars for its costumes, makeup, and sound editing. 

• Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum
• Director: Philip Kaufman
  
• Rating: PG
  
• Runtime: 115 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Tubi, Apple TV
  

San Francisco Health Department employee Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) starts noticing strange behavior from her husband. She confides to her colleague, Matthew (Donald Sutherland), who thinks she's worried about nothing until he starts noticing other people acting strangely. His fears are confirmed when Jack (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife, Nancy (Veronica Cartwright), discover a horribly mangled corpse in a spa. Before long, they realize that a parasitic alien race is taking over humans and replacing them with pod people, and their leader (Leonard Nimoy) won't stop until the entire population has been replaced.

1956's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is a small-scale B-picture that benefits from Don Siegel's muscular direction, and remains an underrated classic movie you need to watch. Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake manages to both honor and build upon the original. The 1950s "Invasion" was a parable for Cold War paranoia, with the pod people acting as a substitute for communist infiltration. The 1970s version came out in the wake of Watergate, which created a sense of distrust in the government. Kaufman instills that fear throughout his film, amping up the horror through impressive special effects and adding a darkly satirical sense of humor.

• Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
• Director: David Cronenberg
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 96 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
  

Brilliant yet socially maladroit scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) invites journalist Ronnie Quaife (Geena Davis) to see his latest invention: a teleportation device that transports living matter through a pair of telepods. Eager to prove his new invention works, Seth tests the telepods on himself, unaware that a housefly has snuck into the pod with him. The experiment appears successful until Seth starts acting strangely, and before long he's transforming into a hideous half man/half fly hybrid. Unable to help Seth, Ronnie is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.

1958's "The Fly" might be considered a cult classic, but its rendering of the fly-man — which amounts to an actor wearing a giant insect head — is far from scary. With his 1986 remake, David Cronenberg crafted a masterpiece of body horror, depicting Seth's early transformation similarly to the initial stages of a terminal illness. As he slowly turns into Brundlefly, the Oscar-winning makeup effects become increasingly elaborate and stomach-churning. But what makes this a remake that's better than the original is its reinterpretation of the material into an allegory for the inevitable deterioration of our bodies, and how sometimes letting go is the truest act of love.

• Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
• Director: John Carpenter
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 109 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
  

At a remote research facility in Antarctica, a group of American scientists stop a team

 of gun-toting Norwegians from killing a runaway sled dog. Later, they're shocked to learn the stray is actually an alien invader that perfectly imitates whatever it has just destroyed. Fearing the creature could spread throughout the world if it isn't contained, lead biologist Blair (Wilford Brimley) destroys any means of escape or communication, leaving the men stranded. As paranoia and fear spreads throughout the camp, grizzled helicopter pilot R. J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) takes command, trying to stop The Thing before it's too late.

Produced by Howard Hawks, 1951's "The Thing from Another World" is one of the great sci-fi films of the Cold War era, yet its casting of "Gunsmoke" star James Arness as the alien isn't necessarily scary by today's standards. The same isn't true of John Carpenter's 1982 remake "The Thing," which uses pre-CGI special effects to create a terrifying shape-shifter that's not for the faint of heart. When The Thing isn't on screen, Carpenter keeps the tension high through the implication that the threat could be anywhere, hidden in plain sight. It's that fear of our friends and neighbors that is the most frightening, and it's what makes "The Thing" an enduring classic.