Readers Respond: What do you think are the worst horror movie remakes?

Responses: 9

By Mark H. Harris, About.com Guide

See More About

From the article: 20 Worst Horror Movie Remakes

What do you think are the worst horror movie remakes? What are your choices?

The Stepfather. Absolutely the worst remake of the bunch. Dull characters, actors of tv level talent, a serious lack of suspense, four kids and three disappear w/o explanation. Worst of all, where the original had a girl who was totally isolated, the son here has a girlfriend who's there every step of the way. The Stepdad himself wasn't menacing. In fact, the son could easily take him out (he went to military school). All of this coupled with dull kills and an ending that was every bit anticlimactic all make a terrible movie. The only good thing to come out if its release was that it finally got the original on DVD that fans have been waiting for.
—Guest Cry_Wolf_743

I hated the Friday the 13th remake... It was an insult to the original!! I thought I was watching a bad porn movie for a moment!!
—Guest Matt

Prom Night. I honestly did not think this was worth being labelled under the "horror" category. No blood, mediocore storyline and the characters were just SO obnoxious! Call me crazy, but I was on the brink of cheering for the bad guy. My opinions for others: Halloween (Zombie): This ceratinly was no masterpiece, but I didn't HATE it. It was just "okay". Elm Street (Bay): This isn't one of the worst IMO, but again, it's no masterpiece.
—Guest Daydreamer

Lacks the documentary 'voice' of the original -- ie. the version that sent 1938 listeners heading for the hills. Just another Tom Cruise action film sans intellect.
—scr1b.bler

Michael Bay's wrecking crew is at it again with Nightmare On Elm Street. This throws a whole boring back story(which they mess up) into the mix in an already boring remake of the '84 classic. They mess up all the characters(think Twilight), there is no suspence and less gore than the original. New Freddy is not scary. He basically wanders around looking like a melted cat that sounds like Batman. Jackie has none of the charisma that Robert brought to the role and Bayer can't do horror like Craven. Even when they recreate scenes right from the original they come off less intense and feel rushed, probably so they can get to that crappy, boring back story. Why would new Freddy have a bladed Glove in death when he wasn't a killer in life? In the original, he made the glove because he was a sadistic serial killer and showing him creating that thing made him scary before you even see him. Bottom line, the remake is a boring mess.
—Guest Mike

The Spiral Staircase - 1970's version - it's so slow moving I fell asleep 30 minutes into it. And Rob Zombie's "Halloween" - Nor worth the rental fee.
—kuroneko1571

When A Stranger Calls. I guess it was nicer that the kids didn't die in the remake but they basically left out half the movie. The original was way freakier and kept you on edge better!!
—Guest Guest HorrorFan

We have to remember what Brian de Palma said about making Hitchcock type movies; he called them homages. As in the case of Psycho, it totally lacked originality and screwed with the shot by shot scenes. Okay, do the remake (sorry, homage), but show some originality and vision. Depend less on the star power. Cut some of needless violence and concentrate on the story. Create a vision great enough that someone will feel a need to do a remake of yours.
—Guest Darkenwulf