6. The Last House on the Left (2009)
Raw, gritty and just demoralizing are some ways to describe the Last House on the Left. The success of the original film relies on the film’s realism; it’s shot like an amateur documentary with poor framing and on location sound, which intentionally or unintentionally accentuate the trauma the audience and the victims are put through.
The Last House on the Left is far from what one would call an enjoyable film. And although one feels a certain need to root for the parents of the victim, there is no satisfaction in the murders committed in the final sequence. By the end of the film, one should feel just as horrified and exhausted as the characters do.
On the other hand, the remake puts all its efforts in making a final sequence, which results in audiences cheering and applauding as the villains are taken out one by one. It’s a celebration of violence that culminates in microwaved brains, which in any other film would have been fantastic, but in this case, it actually feels anti-climatic.
7. Carrie (2013)
This iconic film has had more than one remake, but for the sake of keeping this short; let’s focus on De Palma’s film vs. the 2013 remake by Kimberly Peirce.
The first mistake of the remake was casting Chloe Moretz, and that’s not an attack on Moretz acting abilities but rather on the fact that by simply looking at her, one would find it hard to imagine her as an awkward, bullied kid. The original Carrie had a solid cast all around. The remake seems to have placed its trust solely in Julianne Moore, who was cast as Carrie’s mother.
Finally, the remake completely deviates from the idea that Carrie is developing these abilities and can’t yet control them, which ultimately leads to the prom massacre; instead, the new Carrie is practicing her powers and moving things at will. This might seem like an insignificant detail to some, but it changes the essence of the character and takes the story in a whole different direction. Carrie is no longer a victim of her abusive mother and classmates; she’s become a bloodthirsty villain.
8. Poltergeist (2015)
Never has a movie felt so bland and cliché as the Poltergeist remake. One can’t help wondering how much Sam Rockwell got paid to make this movie because his apathy on screen is blatantly obvious.
The remainder of the film is B movie material at best. In this case, remaining faithful to the original script doesn’t help this remake; in fact it causes irreparable damage by creating a mediocre copy, devoid of any originality or freshness.
9. The Thing (2011)
Even though The Thing (2011) is not a remake of John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), but rather a prequel, it will be in this post for one reason: Just like the other films listed here, there was absolutely no value added by making this movie, and its existence in one way or another is insulting to the original material. The Thing (2011) being a prequel to the original has more freedom to explore areas and characters than a straight remake would ever have the right to do.
However, it also has to the duty to provide a fresh angle on the original or provide the audience with one revealing piece of information to justify its existence. The new The Thing does neither. The movie unfolds in an Antartica research site, just like its predecessor. The audience is thrown into a mix of underdeveloped characters and their growing paranoia over who might be assimilated offering a similar story with a less talented cast and an inferior script.
10. The Uninvited (2009)
Hollywood is notorious for falling in love with Asian horror films and then tearing them to pieces by completely changing the ending or dumbing down the plot, which is exactly what happens with The Uninvited. Hollywood once again delivers a weak, overly simplified film, completely stripped from the essence of the original.
The supernatural elements are removed, and we are left with a meager tale of a split personality disorder where all the characters fall victims to the psychotic protagonist. The Uninvited makes many mistakes but the biggest one is insulting the audience by wrapping up the film with a series of flashbacks that essentially invalidate the story up to that point as if the last 90 minutes hadn’t been bad enough already.
Author Bio: Rosely is a writer based in Vancouver, BC. She’s a horror movie buff, tech enthusiast, cat lover, and zombie survival instructor, in no particular order. She’d love to write about wine, but she knows nothing about it.