7 Horror Movie Remakes That Are Scarier Than The Original Films

The knee-jerk reaction to any remake is that it won't be as good as the original. The knee-jerk reaction to any horror movie remake is that it won't be as scary as the original. But rules were meant to be broken, and every so often a horror remake does just that. Here are the remakes that are more spine-tingling than the original.

'Maniac' (2012)

1980's "Elijah Wood). They accomplish this with the narrative, portraying the murderous creep in a surprisingly sympathetic light and also through the camerawork, which gives off the impression that you're literally looking through the killer's eyes. This first person aesthetic creates one of the more unsettling experiences in recent memory and doesn't feel like the schlocky gimmick it easily could have been. Sadly, there's no shotgun sequence to rival the original.

'Let Me In' (2010)

This English-language remake of the Swedish original (released just two years prior) should have failed spectacularly. The story was localized (going from Sweden to New Mexico), many of the more sexual aspects of the storyline were dropped, and the camerawork, stark and still in the original, became active and imaginatively whirligig in the remake. And yet, ultimately, "Let Me In" is also the better, scarier film. It streamlined the narrative, dropped a very silly sequence with computer-generated cats (the antithesis of scary), and upped the intensity. This remake is just as contemplative and mournful, but also considerably spookier.

'Last House on the Left' (2009)

The original "Last House on the Left" remake retains much of that rawness, but makes the violence more palpable. It turns the whole affair into a relentlessly terrifying black comedy. (Stephen King loved this new version.) Macabre and menacing, "Last House" all but erases the memory of the original.

'Evil Dead II' (1987)

Yes, this is a sequel to the 1981 original. But it's also a remake, reworking elements of that film and reconfiguring them for the purposes of this new enterprise. Writer/director Sam Raimi, instead of making a straightforward reconstruction, opted to fold in elements of slapstick comedy. The resulting film was unlike anything people had seen before and remains one of the greatest horror films of all time. 

'The Ring' (2002)

While it's true that few things rivaled the power of watching the little ghost girl crawl out of the television in the 1998 Japanese original, The Ring" is a more procedural (and "western") take on the material, but it's also more effective and bone chilling.

'The Hills Have Eyes' (2006)

For some reason, the original "Hills Have Eyes," which ups the gore of the original but also heightens the suspense. This one will have you on the edge of your seat before you reach for the barf bag.

'It' (2017)

The horror movie sensation of all time (yes!) is endlessly more terrifying than the lame made-for-television movie version of "It" that nostalgia has somehow turned into some lost classic. It" saga will also be just as long as the TV miniseries, so the idea that the length of the original somehow added to its creepiness is just not true.