50 Movie Remakes That Don't Suck

For the past few years, one word has instilled rage and sadness into the hearts of cinema purists: remake. Rebooting older films isn’t a new trend, though; it’s been happening for years, but never with as much frequency as seen in recent years. For the most part, modern-day film remakes are soulless cash-grabs that either neuter the original’s excellence or worsen an already problematic flick. To sample such awfulness, check out Friday the 13th (2009), A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), and Prom Night (2008), to name a few.

Horror films aren’t the ones frequently subjected to the cruelty of remakes. This weekend, for example, Total Recall, a re-imagining of director Paul Verhoeven’s beloved 1990 science fiction adventure (based on the late Philip K. Dick’s novel We Can Remember It for You Wholesale), opens in theaters.

Using the Len Wiseman-directed pic’s trailer and commercials as evidence, the new Total Recall looks, for better or worse, like a glossier but far less imaginative rehash. One for which Arnold Schwarzenegger has been replaced by Colin Farrell, who plays Doug Quaid, a nondescript factory worker fighting to preserve his identity after participating in a Rekall experiment that implants fake memories into a person’s brain. Along the way, and with the help of a rogue agent (Jessica Biel), Quaid tries to evade his now-villainous wife (Kate Beckinsale).

Yes, Total Recall 2012 damn near close to Total Recall ’90, though, this time, there’s no Mars setting. At the very least, open-minded sci-fi heads are hoping for an entertaining diversion, which, fortunately, isn’t out of the question. While Hollywood revamps are generally frowned upon, and rightfully so, positive examples do exist. Here, counting down the best of the best, we present 50 Movie Remakes That Don’t Suck.

Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)

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Original: Trois hommes et un couffin (1985)
Director: Leonard Nimoy
Stars: Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Nancy Travis, Margaret Colin, Alexandra Amini, Celeste Holm

Hollywood studio heads pouncing upon a successful foreign film? Indeed, that went down way back in the 1980s, so when the French comedy Trois hommes et un couffin performed well in its native country in 1985, the tastemakers at Disney wasted little time before snatching up the remake rights. And, interestingly enough, they hired Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy—yes, Spock himself—to direct.

Then, they cast the hugely likeable threesome of Steve Guttenberg (remember, we’re talking about the ’80s here), Tom Selleck, and Ted Danson to play the Manhattan bachelors suddenly tasked with taking care of an abandoned baby. Through their seemingly effortless chemistry, the trio of leads convey every emotion and belly laugh with appealing panache.

Original: The House on the Sorority Row (1983)
Director: Stewart Hendler
Stars: Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Jamie Chung, Rumer Willis, Audrina Patridge, Julian Morris, Caroline D'Amore, Matt O'Leary, Matt Lanter, Margo Harshman, Carrie Fisher

Of all the infamous slasher movies from the 1980s, The House on Sorority Row isn’t the most obvious choice for a reboot, namely because it’s not a household title. And, unfortunately, the underperforming 2009 remake didn’t do much to spotlight the original.

Still, the ’83 film stands as one of the older era’s better hack-and-slash efforts, and Stewart Hendler’s newer version is stylish, quick-moving good time in its own right. Of course, centering on a cast of sexy young actresses doesn’t hurt matters, but, as a straightforward body-count flick, Sorority Row recaptures a bit of Scream’s funny/violent spirit with more imaginative kills (see: the liquor bottle jammed into a poor girl’s throat).

Original: The Crazies (1973)
Director: Breck Eisner
Stars: Timothy Olymphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, Joe Anderson

Anyone who watches the FX series Justified knows that Timothy Olymphant deserves to be a bankable, big screen movie star—hopefully dude will transition into that role one of these days.

Admittedly, while it’s a surprisingly proficient remake of George A. Romero’s viral outbreak thriller, 2010’s The Crazies isn’t the kind of flick that will have casting directors breaking down Olymphant’s door, so to speak. But taken as a slick genre picture, it’s perfectly solid, and, expectedly, revolves around the actor’s commanding turn as a small-town sheriff leading a four-person crew of uninfected survivors against their suddenly homicidal neighbors.

Original: La Cage aux Folles (1978)
Director: Mike Nichols
Stars: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, Christine Baranski

Not a minute goes by in Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage without a joke or gag of some kind surfacing, and, for that, the veteran director’s remake of the popular French comedy La Cage aux Folles earns our recommendation, even if its ultimately a slight, easily forgettable work.

Robin Williams has certainly given funnier performances, and, after a while, Nathan Lane’s exaggeratedly flamboyant energy begins to grate, but The Birdcage has agreeable silliness to spare.

Original: [REC] (2007)
Director: John Erick Dowdle
Stars: Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Greg Germann, Steve Harris, Dania Ramirez, Johnathon Schaech, Denis O'Hare, Rade Serbedzja

What’s the best horror movie of the last decade? By some accounts, the answer will be [REC], the 2007 Spanish found-footage adrenaline rush that’s as much a reinvention of the zombie genre as it an exercise in expert pacing and balls-to-the-wall filmmaking.

On the downside, though, [REC] was also evidence that remakes were out of control at the time, with American move-makers putting a stateside rendition into production before [REC] was even finished.

Fortunately, no one can accuse director John Erick Dowdle and his producers of jumping any guns. Even though its largely a shot-for-shot twin of Jaume Balaguero’s and Paco Plaza’s [REC], Quarantine mostly nails everything that makes the original flick work, albeit in less towering manners. Credit goes to star Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter), whose work as the increasingly shell-shocked reporter goes a long way to relay every jolt.

Original: The Last House on the Left (1972)
Director: Dennis Iliadis
Stars: Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Aaron Paul, Sara Paxton, Riki Lindhome, Spencer Treat Clark, Martha MacIsaac

Highly regarded for its political undertones and, for its time, shocking violence, Wes Craven's 1972 feature film debut, The Last House on the Left has certainly earned its place within the canon of genre film classics. But give it a fresh look today and you'll realize something: It's not that all that great. Sure, its nastiest moments are still sufficiently visceral, but it's also poorly paced and features two of the worst comic relief characters imaginable, a couple of dim-witted cops who derail the movie every time they're on screen.

Following the blueprint he set three years earlier, when he hired French director Alexandre Aja to remake The Hills Have Eyes (more on that later), Craven looked outside of the U.S. when it came to redo Last House. In Greece, he came across Dennis Iliadis, whose edgy, fearless 2004 debut Hardcore (about two female prostitutes who fall in love and start killing people) impressed him enough to give Iliadis the keys to his House, so to speak.

In Iliadis' film, gone are those moronic police officers, and, frankly, all sense of humor whatsoever. The Last House on the Left 2009 is an intensely dark revenge picture, no questions asked, one that doesn't shy away from what Craven's original so controversial (i.e., graphic depictions of rape and murder) and benefits greatly from its cast of talented character actors (including Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, in a wonderfully despicable role).

Original: Jusan-nin no shikaku (1963)
Director: Takashi Miike
Stars: Koji Yakusho, Yusuke Iseya, Masachika Ichimura, Takayuki Yamada

You don’t have to be a connoisseur of old-school samurai flicks to appreciate Takashi Miike’s brutal 13 Assassins, but it certainly helps. Though we’d venture to guess that anyone who enjoyed the extended third act battle sequences in either The Avengers or Transformers: Dark of the Moon would take great pleasure in watching Miike’s 45-minute orgy of swinging, blood-soaked swords, close-up dismemberment, and hand-to-hand combat that concludes 13 Assassins. You won’t care that CGI is altogether absent.

Original: The Incredible Journey (1963)
Director: Duwayne Dunham
Stars: Don Ameche, Sally Field, Michael J. Fox

Unless your insides are made of impenetrable concrete, the Disney-back 1963 children’s film The Incredible Journey should reawaken your innermost kid and fill him or her with happiness. There’s nothing one can do but submit to the upbeat charms that come from watching cats and dogs work together to overcome nature’s many adversities.

Furthermore, it takes a real sourpuss to dislike the 1993, movie-star-assisted redo, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Joruney, in which Michael J. Fox voices a bulldog puppy, Sally Field speaks for an adorable feline, and Hollywood vet Don Ameche brings wit to a Golden Retriever.

Original: Freaky Friday (1976)
Director: Mark Waters
Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Harmon, Harold Gould, Chad Michael Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky, Christina Vidal

Oh, Lindsay Lohan—what potential you once had. Before the gossip blog magnet was repeatedly getting in trouble while foolishly driving cars and sampling drugs, an upstart Lohan gave an Emma-Stone-in-Easy-A style performance in the cheerfully vigorous family comedy Freaky Friday.

A new spin on Jodie Foster’s charming 1976 hit, Freaky Friday finds Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis swapping bodies in the age-old switcheroo, leaving the young redhead in a string of grown-up situations, all of which require her to appear wise beyond her years. And she’s delightful the entire way. So what the hell happened?

Original: Bedtime Story (1964)
Director: Frank Oz
Stars: Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Anton Rodgers, Barbara Harris, Ian McDiarmid

After watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Frank Oz’s buoyant remake of the playful 1964 con man comedy Bedtime Story (starring Marlon Brando and David Niven), you’ll wish that stars Steve Martin and Michael Caine had collaborated on more films. Caine, who can do no wrong in our books, holds his own admirably well alongside an in-the-zone Martin; side by side, the two gents establish a rich rapport as scheming fellas who love pulling fast ones on impressionable women the world over

Original: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Joely Richardson, Yorick van Wageningen, Robin Wright, Geraldine James, Steven Berkoff, Embeth Davidtz, Elodie Yung

Screw it, we’ll come out and say it: Rooney Mara was robbed at the most recent Academy Awards ceremony. Instead of giving the trophy to the obvious, safe option, Meryl Streep (for The Iron Lady), the Oscar committee should have shown some bravery and awarded David Fincher’s uninhibited leading lady, who inhabited the complicated, introverted, and rock-hard character of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with staggering aplomb.

The same can be said for Fincher’s work behind the lens, for his take on the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novel is a creepier, more compelling product than the 2009 Sweden-made original.

Original: Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Director: Frank Oz
Stars: Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, James Belushi, John Candy, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Levi Stubbs, Tichina Arnold, Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham

When giving old B-movies a new-age revision, filmmakers and producers would be wise to use Frank Oz’s bubbly horror-comedy Little Shop of Horrors a look. Rather than simply follow the original, Roger Corman-produced film’s story beat for beat, Oz opted to flip the script and go the musical route. The most resistant of anti-song-and-dance haters should be powerless against Little Shop’s pleasurable energy. Where else can you bop to doo-wop jams while seeing a man-eating plant munch away?

Original: True Grit (1969)
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, Domhnall Gleeson, Ed Lee Corbin

The original True Grit is most noted for its legacy as the movie for which the legendary John Wayne finally won his first Oscar. That accomplishment aside, director Henry Hathaway's gritty western, about a drunken U.S. Marshall (Wayne) and a 14-year-old girl (Kim Darby) on the hunt for her daddy's killer, is still worthy of praise, engrossing viewers with its rich character development and superb chemistry shared between its leads.

Once again spot-on with their casting, esteemed directing siblings Joel and Ethan Coen called upon Jeff Bridges, hot off his Oscar-nominated turn in Crazy Heart, and teenage newcomer Hailee Steinfeld to portray Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross, respectively, and, together, the on-screen odd couple forged a solid rapport. With a pair of first-rate performances at their disposal, the Coens interestingly ignored their signature flourishes to craft a straightforward, traditional western, the kind that's rarely ever attempted nowadays.

For those True Grit having an established appreciation for John Wayne's brand of westerns serves as an added bonus.

Original: Interview (2003)
Director: Steve Buscemi
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Sienna Miller

Sadly, Steve Buscemi got the opportunity to helm a remake of the Dutch drama Interview through tragedy. Initially, the original film’s director, Theo van Gogh, was interested in adapting Interview for English-speaking audiences, but van Gogh was gunned down a year after the movie’s release.

Stepping into the director’s chair, Buscemi did a fine job of translating the two-person premise for American audiences fascinated by the psychosis of “celebrity.” Since Interview was merely an art-house release, hardly anyone saw it in theaters, but its minimal exposure doesn’t detract from Buscemi’s and co-star Sienna Miller’s palpable, and at times explosive, chemistry.

Original: Nosferatu (1922)
Director: Werner Herzog
Stars: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor, Walter Ladengast

In the mood for a waking nightmare? Check out the 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu, in which the enigmatic German actor Max Schreck gives one of the creepiest "method acting" performances of all time to play the eponymous vampire. A ghoulish amalgamation of fully committed actors, discomfiting Gothic sets, and mind-scarring imagery (Nosferatu's shadow on the staircase; the undead Nos emerging from his coffin without bending a single muscle), director F.W. Murnau's film is a crowning achievement in paralyzing fear.

Meaning, it's undoubtedly a daunting motion picture to remake, if not only for the challenge of finding an actor capable of doing Schreck's original work any shred of justice. In 1979, though, Werner Herzog pulled off the seemingly impossible with Nosferatu the Vampyre, a remarkable slice of atmospheric freakiness bolstered by star Klaus Kinski's masterful turn as the titular vamp and an unexpected undercurrent of dark comedy.

Original: Insomnia (1997)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Maura Tierney, Martin Donovan, Nicky Katt

Nowadays, of course, Christopher Nolan is worshipped by comic book die-hards as the filmmaker responsible for the Dark Knight trilogy of modern-day Batman movies, and it's a distinction the British writer-director has more than earned. Nolan hasn't strictly made summer blockbusters, though; there once was a time when he brought the same kind of twisty storytelling and dark drama seen in his Batman flicks to smaller, quieter thrillers.

One such effort was Insomnia, a slick, captivating game of cat-and-mouse starring Al Pacino as a worn-down detective and Robin Williams as the strategic murderer constantly toying with Pacino's nerves. Both acting veterans give top-shelf performances in an underrated film that finds just the right alterations (including a different setting and fresh peripheral characters) to justify remaking an already must-see Norwegian picture, the Stellan Skarsgård-starring, 1997 original.

Original: Angels in the Outfield (1951)
Director: William Dear
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Ben Johnson, Jay O. Sanders, Taylor Negron, Neal McDonough, Adrien Brody, Matthew McConaughey, Dermot Mulroney, Milton Davis Jr.

Sometimes, it’s OK to flip a film’s critical consensus the middle-finger bird—as long as a movie is enjoyable, who cares if it’s technically a display of creative mediocrity?

Which is precisely how we feel about the cutesy 1994 kids flick Angels in the Outfield, the whimsical story of a down-and-out youngster (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in his earliest professional days) using his ability to see actual angels to help his beloved California Angels baseball team win some game.

The overriding themes of death and orphan-felt plights aren’t exactly uplifting, but, in the end, Angels in the Outfield hits the proper sentimental notes to give any sports-loving kid a reason to smile.

Original: 12 Angry Men (1957)
Director: William Friedkin
Stars: Courteney B. Vance, Ossie Davis, George C. Scott, Armi Muehler-Stahl, Dorian Harewood, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Jack Lemmon, Hume Cronyn, Mykelti Williamson, Edward James Olmos, William Petersen, Mary McDonell

Television movies, outside of the ones made for, and by, HBO, are often looked down upon, but, occasionally, a few great ones emerge. Case in point: William Friedkin’s 1997 crack at 12 Angry Men, the single-location drama in which 11 jury members, eager to issue a “guilty” sentence, butt heads with the sole guy (Jack Lemmon) proclaiming the defendant's innocence.

Much like its superior 1957 predecessor, Friedkin’s 12 Angry Men is a nearly flawless acting showcase, with a range of personalities and performance strengths congealing into an electrifying morality tale.

Original: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Director: Nora Ephron
Stars: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton, Greg Kinnear, Steve Zahn, Dave Chappelle, Dabney Coleman

Yes, we’re big fans of You’ve Got Mail, the sappy, mushy romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Got a problem with that? Well, you shouldn’t, because the late Nora Ephron’s uplifting story of a man and a woman falling in love over E-mails is hard to dislike once you’ve given in to its immediate charms.

Not to mention, You’ve Got Mail represents the earliest days of our society’s digital takeover; consider that the original film, The Shop Around the Corner, built its love connection around handwritten letters. Seriously, who actually uses pens to do more than sign documents anymore?

Original: Profumo di donna (1974)
Director: Martin Brest
Stars: Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gabrielle Anwar, Richard Venture, Bradley Whitford, Frances Conroy, Ron Eldard

Nope, Al Pacino didn’t win any Academy Awards for his work in The Godfather, Scarface, or Dog Day Afternoon. The legendary actor’s first golden statue came via 1992’s Scent of a Woman, in which he owns every single scene as blind former Army colonel. It’s a legitimate showstopper of a performance, strong enough to make the film’s overblown 157-minute running time tolerable.

Original: Piranha (1978)
Director: Alexandre Aja
Stars: Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Jerry O'Connell, Paul Scheer, Jessica Szohr, Steven R. McQueen, Dina Meyer, Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Brooklynn Proulx, Cody Londo

As much as we, like most other film lovers, bitch and moan about the oversaturation of 3D in current cinema, the occasional project does come along that (momentarily) justifies the celluloid-enhancing technique. And there’s perhaps no better example than Piranha 3D, a totally self-aware, campy blast of sleaziness and bloodshed.

Give director/co-writer Alexandre Aja tons of respect—he completely understood the material and delivered on all of its sordid promise. With killer fish chomping through bikini-clad spring breakers, Aja’s three-dimensional slaughterhouse isn’t above a slow-motion underwater ballet starring two naked beauties, or having a piranha spit a dude’s junk at the camera.

Original: 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Director: James Mangold
Stars: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Logan Lerman, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Dallas Roberts, Alan Tudyk, Gretchen Mol, Vinessa Shaw, Kevin Durand

You aren’t going to find many dudes in Hollywood more convincingly able to play tough guys than Russell Crowe and Christian Bale; put them together and you’ve got a combustible, grisly match of wits.

You’ve also got James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma, a taut, cynical western that’s arguably the best gunslinger movie made in the last 10 years, with Crowe playing the outlaw role and Bale as the do-good lawman hunting him down. Also of note is co-star Ben Foster, whose turn as Crowe’s most reckless subordinate is a real scene-stealer.

Original: The Nutty Professor (1963)
Director: Tom Shadyac
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett-Smith, James Coburn, John Ales, Larry Miller, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle

Revisiting Eddie Murphy’s 1996 hit The Nutty Professoris a rather sad endeavor. Hilarious, fearless, and endlessly able to hit every emotional sweet spot, Murphy’s performance in the fantastical romp—about a gentle college professor’s transformations into an arrogant Casanova—shows how uniquely gifted the comedian truly is; that is, when he’s given worthy material.

In the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy vehicle of the same, that’s just what director Tom Shadyac found. Now if only Shadyac would give Murphy a phone call today.

Original: The Italian Job (1969)
Director: F. Gary Gray
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def

Sad truth: Most younger ticket-buyers who know Michael Caine as Alfred in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series don’t have a clue about the revered British actor’s stellar history. Back in his heyday, Caine was quite the badass, and the 1969 car/heist flick The Italian Job represents the thespian in his young, charming, leading man groove.

Thus, director F. Gary Gray had a tall order in front of him when he signed on to update the film in 2003; instead of banking on one big name to anchor his own Italian Job, Gray assembled a stacked ensemble to carry the proverbial weight. And with Mark Wahlberg, Jason Statham, Mos Def (pre-Yasiin Bey), Charlize Theron, and Edward Norton all in fine form, The Italian Job is well-made, escapist fun.

Original: Funny Games (1997)
Director: Michael Haneke
Stars: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart

It makes perfect sense why filmmaker Michael Haneke would want to remake his psychological distress-machine Funny Games for our reality-TV-obsessed society; with its breaking of the fourth wall, Haneke’s 1997 original is a fascinating and disturbing look at how audiences, in their own unconscious ways, act as willing participants to slaughter while watching scenes of torture and murder.

Granted, killing one’s own brain cells in the face of Snooki looking for a public toilet isn’t comparable to full-blown homicide, but, still, Haneke’s message rings loudly in the 2008 film. Just like the ’97 flick, Funny Games observantly views two teenage sociopaths’ meticulous destruction of an innocent family, complete with one villain’s (Boardwalk Empire star Michael Pitt) dialogue spoken directly into the camera.

It’s also entirely bleak, right down to the scene in which (spoiler alert) one of the bad guys dies but comes back thanks to a simple push of an imaginary “Rewind” button.

Original: The Debt (2007)
Director: John Madden
Stars: Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Marton Csokas, Jesper Christensen

Every year, several noteworthy films fall by the wayside, whether it’s due to a lack of marketing steam, poor box office, and the overshadowing of more critically pushed properties.

In 2011, one such slept-on movie was John Madden’s The Debt, featuring the year’s biggest female breakout, Jessica Chastain, arguably giving her strongest performance of ’11, in a physically demanding role.

Equal parts suspenseful thriller and in-depth character examination, The Debt spans 30 years as the ramifications of three Mossad secret agents’ past mistakes spawn double-crosses, suicide, and a geriatric fight scene climax in which Helen Mirren knuckles up. That alone should rouse your attention.

Original: The Big Clock (1948)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Young, Gene Hackman, Will Patton, George Dzundza

Every Hollywood star has that one performance, that one film role responsible for kick-starting his or her career into overdrive. For Kevin Costner, it was No Way Out, in which he plays a Naval officer caught up in the murder investigation of a woman with whom he recently fornicated. As it turns out, she was the mistress of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman), meaning that Costner’s character plunges knee-deep into a real shit-storm.

The twists hit hard, the acting is solid across the board, and the political themes are all used to great effect, giving the overall sensation of paranoia some Big-Brother-esque implications.

Original: Father of the Bride (1950)
Director: Charles Shyer
Stars: Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams, Martin Short, George Newbern, BD Wong, Kiernam Culkin

In 1950, Golden Era leading man Spencer Tracy received an Oscar nomination for his work in Father of the Bride, a vibrant, accessible, and entirely feel-good comedy about a dad coming to terms with his grown-up little girl's impending nuptials. Considering that patriarchs in any era can relate to that narrative set-up, it was inevitable that Father of the Bride would be remade, and in 1991 that's exactly what happened. Fortunately, Steve Martin was attracted to the material.

Made back when Martin was still headlining mainstream comedies (a time that's sorely missed, frankly), Father of the Bride is a faithful spin on the '50 film that breezes on by thanks to a pair of hilarious and always-on performances from Martin and fellow comedy great Martin Short (as a flamboyant wedding planner). In this case, the original far outweighs its remake, but Father of the Bride is, nonetheless, an enjoyable romp.

Original: Ocean's 11 (1960)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Elliot Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Carl Reiner, Shaobo Qin, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts

How do you successfully modernize a film that included Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop without losing any of its effortless "cool"? By casting George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle as your leading men, clearly. Oh, and it doesn't hurt to have a director as proficient as award-winner Steven Soderbergh at the helm, a guy who won't be intimidated by all the star power on set and will inject just the right amount of behind-the-camera style to what's already a showy presentation.

Just as in the 1960 original, the plot of Ocean's Eleven is mostly convoluted fluff, with Clooney playing an ex-con leading a merry band of misfits as they carry out an elaborate robbery inside the Las Vegas casino the Bellagio. But Soderbergh's film has a strong magnetic appeal, radiating the sense of fun had by its cast members and oozing with the collective charism of Clooney, Pitt, and Cheadle all at their most comedically sound.

Original: The Blob (1958)
Director: Chuck Russell
Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Jeffrey DeMunn, Michael Kenworthy, Candy Clark, Douglas Emerson, Jamison Newlander, Donovan Leitch

Even back in the 1950s, A-list actors were getting their starts in horror flicks. In Steve McQueen’s case, the future Bullitt star jumped his career off with a headlining role in The Blob, a goofy but monster movie about a huge, gooey pink mass engulfing townsfolk left and right. So what if it’s basically Attack of the Killer Jell-O? It’s a lot of fun.

The 1988 remake, on the other hand, is a ghastlier experience. Co-written by Frank Darabont (of The Shawshank Redemption and AMC’s The Walking Dead fame), director Chuck Russell’s The Blob is darker than its forbearer, particularly in its horrid imagery, like a guy getting sucked into a sink’s drain, or little kids dying viciously.

Original: The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Director: Alexandre Aja
Stars: Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin, Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Ted Levine, Michael Bailey Smith, Billy Drago, Robert Joy, Laura Ortiz, Desmond Askew

Unable to fight the remake urge, iconic horror filmmaker Wes Craven set forth to back a reboot of his 1977 flick The Hills Have Eyes in 2005, a dicey proposition that was thankfully handled in proper ways. The most important decision Craven and his colleagues made was to look overseas for possible directors; in France, they discovered director Alexandre Aja and his co-writer Gregory Levasseur, the duo behind Haute Tension (or High Tension), an excellent, gruesome, uncompromising feast of hard-R-rated carnage.

Giving Aja and Levasseur free reign to update The Hills Have Eyes, Craven opened the proverbial floodgates for a movie that's far better than his own. Not to mention, more brutal and horrific. Though it's still about a family being terrorized by deformed killers while stranded in a California desert, Aja's film doesn't operate with the same matter-of-factness and minimalism as Craven's; when the nastiness erupts in The Hills Have Eyes 2006, it's accompanied by stylish direction, a punishing electronic score, and a perversity that's somehow more meaner-spirited than that of the original.

Aja's final product is, in all, a real brutalizer, one punctuated by one of the decade's most disturbing sequences, set inside the family's trailer and involving both rape and a gun pointed at an infant's head.

Original: Ransom! (1956)
Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg, Evan Handler

Oh, the good old days when Mel Gibson was a formidable leading man, and not a Hollywood pariah struggling to regain his box office clout. Revisiting films like director Ron Howard's Ransom only reinforces the fact that, in his prime, Gibson was an exceptional movie star, an A-lister able to sell tickets while delivering exemplary performances.

As a movie, Ransom is a serviceable thriller, with consistent tension that's occasionally downgraded by predictability; playing a father who takes matters into his own hands after his son is kidnapped, though, Gibson is electric every second that he's on screen, single-handedly giving Howard's version the edge over the 1956 original.

Original: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Director: Tom Savini
Stars: Patricia Tallman, Tony Todd, Tom Towles, William Butler, Katie Finneran, McKee Anderson

George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead is a national treasure; made on a shoestring budget, the zombie movie classic stands as a crucial milestone for independent cinema, an untouchable gem amongst horror purists, and an intelligent, thought-provoking time capsule for the civil rights era. Not bad for a movie about corpses lumbering around in hopes of devouring human flesh.

So when the 1990 remake was announced, unsurprisingly, fans weren't all that ecstatic. But then the director was revealed to be Tom Savini, a long-time Romero acolyte and an accomplished makeup effects artist; basically, Savini was already horror royalty. And, fortunately, he also proved to be a rather competent filmmaker.

Though its marred by occasional flashes of spotty acting, Savini's Night of the Living Dead is nevertheless a taut piece of genre entertainment, featuring some particularly strong zombie makeup work and aided by the fascinating choice to turn central character Barbara (played by Patricia Tallman here) from a meek drone, as she was in Romero's film, into a tough, gun-toting chick ready to whoop some undead ass.

Original: Fingers (1978)
Director: Jacques Audiard
Stars: Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Jonathan Zaccai, Gilles Cohen, Linh Dan Pham, Aure Atika

For our money, there are very few currently working actors capable of selling raw emotion and explosive fury quite like a young Harvey Keitel, and the James Toback-directed Fingers is definitely one of his most overlooked efforts. In it, Keitel thoroughly captivates as a piano player who moonlights as a loan shark and battles his overpowering inner demons.

It’s not a clear target for a remake, especially not one made overseas, yet French filmmaker Jacques Audiard clearly knows a thing or two about under-appreciated ’70s cinema. With an excellent Romain Duris occupying Keitel’s role, The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a more subdued take on Toback’s film, thanks to Duris’ calmer, more introspective variation on Keitel’s unhinged, showier interpretation.

Original: Let the Right One In (2008)
Director: Matt Reeves
Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas, Dylan Minnette, Ritchie Coster, Jimmy Pinchak, Cara Buono

Let the Right One In, from Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, became gospel for horror heads in 2008, wowing critics of all kinds on its way to becoming that rare genre movie that transcends its category and earns universal acclaim. Which is to say that initial word about its inevitable Hollywood remake, with the shortened title Let Me In, caused an outpouring of all-out pessimism.

So imagine the stunned faces of Let the Right One In fanatics when Matt Reeves’ Americanized remake turned out to be a singular vampire picture. And, in some ways, superior to its antecedent.

While it’s fair to debate over which is the better film, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Let Me In’s pair of adolescent leads, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz, are vast improvements over the Swedish film’s colder, at times detached youths. Or maybe that’s just our opinion.

Original: Cape Fear (1962)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Illeana Douglas, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck

Not even the reputable Martin Scorsese could outdo the virtuosity of director J. Lee Thompson’s dark-as-night 1962 thriller Cape Fear. Robert Mitchum, the O.G. of imposing on-screen villainy, is a force of threatening nature as Max Cady, an ex-con determined to administer bloody payback to the prosecutor who put him behind bars.

Looking to get his Alfred Hitchcock on a bit, Scorsese tackled Cape Fear with slightly more horror-centric sensibilities than he’d previously ever shown. His film, while inferior to Thompson’s, assaulted viewers with hardcore images of violence and sadism rarely seen in early 1990s mainstream cinema. Today, Scorsese’s Cape Fear is still able to grimly distress audiences.

Original: Ringu (1998)
Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander, Amber Tamblyn, Daveigh Chase, Lindsay Frost

One can’t blame Hollywood execs for ransacking Japan’s horror movie output back in the early 2000s—at the time, Japanese filmmakers were churning out the genre’s best new material. The cream of the crop was Ringu, director Hideo Nakata’s surreal, haunting tale of a mysterious videotape that harbors a little girl’s malevolent spirit, and from which viewers die seven days after watching.

Unfortunately, stateside J-horror remakes like Shutter and The Eye have given the now-dormant trend a bad rap, but it’s important to remember that the craze kicked off in amazing fashion.

Directed by Gore Verbinski (who’d go on to make the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movie), 2002’s The Ring is a fine example of a filmmaker approaching a genre remake with intelligence. Led by Naomi Watts’ top-notch performance, Verbinski’s remake is as absorbing as it is unnerving, pulling you into a dread-drenched detective story of sorts, and culminating with a final scare that’s a marvel of both special effects and pacing.

Original: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Miles, Ralph Truman

Before he made his mark in Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock successfully thrived as Britain’s premier creator of suspenseful cinema. One of his best works of that pre-America period is The Man Who Knew Too Much, a 1934 potboiler about a vacationing couple who witness an assassination and discover that their daughter has been abducted by those behind the murder plot. At only 75 minutes in length, it’s to the point and tense as hell.

Twenty-two years later, Hitchcock took a creative risk and opted to remake his own movie, giving The Man Who Knew Too Much another go-round. Only this time, he expanded upon the story, adding 45 extra minutes to flesh out his characters, add new ones, and pull off the set-pieces with an increased budget and a more seasoned touch.

If nothing else, it’s confirmation that Hitchcock, widely regarded as the master of suspense, could sustain tension for two hours just as well as he could 75 minutes.

Original: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Jake Weber, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers, Michael Barry, Lindy Booth, Jayne Eastwood, Boyd Banks, Inna Korobkina, Kim Poirier

When approaching a remake of George A. Romero's sacred zombie masterpiece Dawn of the Dead, screenwriter James Gunn and first-time director Zack Snyder wisely went in a whole other direction.

While honoring Romero's film, through Easter eggs of actors' names, cameos by original stars, and retaining the basic premise (survivors trapped inside a large shopping mall as flesh-eaters try to break in for dinner), Gunn and Snyder also changed several key elements: In addition to upping the number of still breathing characters, they followed the 28 Days Later...model and turned the undead into fast-running predators, not slowly lurching ghouls.

Thus, Dawn of the Dead 2004 is more about adrenaline-rushing action, never abandoning horror (gore and tension remain intact) but moving at a breakneck speed, unlike Romero's movie, which administered its horror with more patience.

Before the Dawn of the Dead remake came out, haters were ready to pounce upon a rookie director ballsy enough to touch their beloved Romero creation; shortly after its release, though, mouths were shut, box office receipts piled up, and the new millennium was treated to one of its best zombie flicks.

Original: La Totale! (1991)
Director: James Cameron
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Art Malik, Bill Paxton, Tom Arnold, Tia Carrere, Eliza Dushku

All it takes is a look at that poster (seen above) to realize that the 1991 French action-comedy La Totale! was seriously lacking in ass-kickery. You know, the brand of bare-knuckle imposition and memorable one-liner dialogue that come from casting Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the entertaining, mostly non-threatening action orchestrated by blockbuster titan James Cameron.

Together, the director and his Terminator collaborator upgraded a lightweight French romp into a muscular, summer box office ready smash, one that’s as fun to watch today as it was 18 years ago.

Original: King Kong (1933)
Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Evan Parke, Kyle Chandler, John Sumner

If there’s any kind of cinema that’s worthy of remakes, it’s the monster movies of old, like Godzilla (which, sorry to remind everyone, was horribly updated in 1998) and King Kong. In 1976, the giant ape flick was given a fresh look, to decent but much-room-for-improvement effect. Which left the material just waiting for its proper handling.

Enter Peter Jackson, the CGI wizard behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Utilizing motion-capture technology and chameleon-like actor Andy Serkis’ inspired acclimation to it, Jackson conceived a massive King Kong that makes up for some questionable casting choices (Adrien Brody and Jack Black don’t exactly mesmerize in their respective roles) and a meandering first hour with several thrilling action sequences and an empathetic, tragic portrayal of the misunderstood beast, Kong.

Original: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright

The late novelist Jack Finney really cemented his legacy when he released The Body Snatchers in 1955—since then, the book has been adapted into four separate movies. One is decent (1993’s The Body Snatchers), another is pure fecal matter (Invasion, 2007), and two are superlative: the original, 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and its 1978, same-named remake.

And it’s actually the second-comer, directed by Philip Kaufman, that’s the best all-around. Whereas the ’56 flick rides on campy paranoia, Kaufman’s film roars with sheer dread, revolting makeup work, and a wonderfully downbeat ending.

Original: Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Directors: Warren Beatty and Buck Henry
Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Buck Henry

Frankly, Heaven Can Wait is the kind of dazzling rom-com that Hollywood just doesn’t make anymore. Taking inspiration from the 1941 screwball comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan, co-directors Warren Beatty and Buck Henry set out to both turn actress Julie Christie into a star and prove to audiences that Beatty could let his guard down, after edgier roles in Bonnie & Clyde and Shampoo.

Mission accomplished on both fronts. Beatty, who also co-wrote the script, is delightful as a deceased NFL quarterback whose soul returns to Earth and into the body of a millionaire recently drugged to death by his wife (Christie). Yes, all of that morbidity leads into a charming love story that ultimately garnered a whopping nine Oscar nominations.

Original: Yojimbo (1961)
Director: Sergio Leone
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte, Marianne Koch, Jose Calvo, Joseph Eger, Antonio Prieto

It’s actually a surprise that more directors haven’t mined inspiration from the works of iconic filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Famously, for example, George Lucas took cues from the Japanese shot-caller’s The Hidden Fortress to conceive Star Wars.

Sergio Leone, for his part, applied the story and tone of Kurosawa’s samurai action flick Yojimbo to make A Fistful of Dollars, his first Spaghetti Western with frequent cohort/star Clint Eastwood. With the film, and thanks to Kurosawa’s influences, Leone redefined the western genre as a whole, stripping it of all flash and focusing on true grit.

Original: 1984 (1956)
Director: Michael Radford
Stars: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack, Gregor Fisher, James Walker

George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel 1984 doesn’t immediately strike one as an easily filmable work, due to its delicate balance of imaginative settings and cynical presentation of totalitarianism. And in 1956, director Michael Anderson proved its difficulties, crafting a so-so sci-fi flick that barely scratched the surface of Orwell’s book’s possibilities.

Fortunately, 28 years later, filmmaker Michael Radford did a much better job. Radford’s 1984 translates the novel’s permeating sense of revolution in the face of hopelessness quite well, evoking a distinct paranoia that’s alternately scary and provocative. It’s not the end-all, be-all adaptation that Orwell’s literary achievement deserves, but it’s closer than one might expect.

Original: Infernal Affairs (2002)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone, Martin Sheen, Anthony Anderson, James Badge Dale, Kevin Corrigan

One look at the critically acclaimed 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs and it's easy to see why Martin Scorsese was so drawn to its story; twisty, pulpy, and bursting with violent gunplay, directors Andrew Lau's and Alan Mak's tale of undercover intrigue within both an organized crime outfit and the police department fits right into the wheelhouse of the esteemed filmmaker responsible for gangster hallmarks like Goodfellas and Casino.

With The Departed, Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan stayed very true to the tone and narrative of Infernal Affairs. What the Asian original didn't have, however, was the one-two-three acting juggernaut of Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson, who all give riveting, pitch-perfect performances that, surprisingly are nearly outdone by co-star Mark Wahlberg. Like all of Scorsese's greatest films, The Departed gets better with repeat viewings, which allow viewers to fully absorb its multi-layered, labyrinthian plot.

It's no wonder why the film took home the Academy Award for Best Picture in the 2007 ceremony; most importantly, though, it also brought Scorsese his first-ever Best Director statue, bringing an end to a decades-long Academy travesty.

Original: Scarface (1932)
Director: Brian De Palma
Stars: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, F. Murray Abraham, Harris Yulin

The venerated Howard Hawks, one of film’s all-time great directors, felt no need to prolong the nitty-gritty in 1932’s Scarface; only 94 minutes long, it’s a blunt, violent, and no-frills look at an Al Capone type, named Tony Camonte (played by Paul Muni), who takes over his boss’s bootlegging operation and steals his girl.

Exceedingly graphic for its time, Hawks’ Scarface went through extensive pre-release drama, forcing the director to tone the film down before its theatrical release.

That’s clearly something Brian De Palma avoided altogether when making his own Scarface, the notoriously grisly saga of Tony Montana (Al Pacino) that’s become a cultural institution, particularly amongst rappers. A sprawling character study (written by Oliver Stone), De Palma’s film details the rises to riches, and eventual bullet-ridden downfall, of an abhorrent individual made oddly endearing by Pacino’s soaring, legendary performance.

Original: The Fly (1958)
Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz

Directed by Kurt Neumann, and based on author George Langelaan’s 1957 short story, the original version of The Fly was a great drive-in-movie product, a product of its humble time that features some dated yet still effective creature makeup and an overall lightness—it’s fun, not frightening.

David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake, however, is unquestionably the latter. No stranger to the horrors of the human body, Cronenberg took the driving force behind Langelaan’s tale—the nightmare of a man slowly turning into an insect—and squeezed gore out of every possible orifice, all before turning Jeff Goldblum into an extremely hideous specimen of practical makeup effects.

More importantly, though, Cronenberg’s The Fly skillfully invests time and emotion into its characters; as Goldblum’s ill-fated scientist gets closer to his tragic fate, it’s impossible not to sympathize. Believe it or not, you’ll want to hug a man-sized, slimy, grotesque bug by the film’s end.

Original: Seven Samurai (1954)
Director: John Sturges
Stars: Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Vladimir Sokoloff

Understandably, the folks behind 1960’s The Magnificent Seven decided to westernize Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, changing the Japanese auteur’s swordplay into pistol-packing gunplay. That’s about all that’s significantly different, though, since John Sturges’ ensemble action-drama maintains the storytelling greatness of Kurosawa’s seminal work, largely due to its series of grandly orchestrated gunfights.

Original: The Thing from Another World (1951)
Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Donald Moffat, Richard Masur, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan

John Carpenter's The Thing is a brilliant case study in going for broke. Back in 1951, director Christian Nyby brought simplicity to The Thing from Another World, a sci-fi monster flick about a group of scientists facing off against a tall, almost Frankenstein's monster-like alien in the Arctic; a vintage B-movie, The Thing from Another World is lean, mean, and devoid of much pizazz.

Carpenter's remake, however, is a ferocious beast of a picture. Instead of The Addams Family's Lurch with a bald head, The Thing's otherworldly antagonist is a shape-shifting E.T. with a penchant for bringing forth copious gore. And Carpenter is at the top of the game, combining a colorful band of well-fleshed-out, likable characters (led by a great Kurt Russell performance) with amazingly practical effects and genuine shocks.

The result: Not only the best movie remake of all time, but also one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made.