Top 5 Remakes of 80s Horror Films
Some are even better than the original!
With Late Night with the Devil, Immaculate, and The First Omen, 2024 is shaping up to be a memorable year for horror. We’ve also reached peak 1980s nostalgia with the Road House remake and sequels to Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, and Beetlejuice premiering this year.
This unholy amalgamation of industry trends presents a great opportunity to highlight the best remakes of 1980s horror movies. While the landscape is cluttered with stinkers, these five are worth watching or revisiting.
Evil Dead (2013)—Available on Pluto TV or to rent, 1h 31m.
The first entry in the Evil Dead series, released in 1981, lacks refinement, but it overcompensates with ingenuity and confidence. It's a fun contraption built from spare parts of popular horror movies, such as Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Exorcist (1973), crafting a unique punk rock visual style. It ushered in a new era of indie horror and stands, to this day, as one of the most influential movies ever produced.
With that said, the remake/soft reboot is, in my humble estimation, a far scarier, nastier, downright stomach-churning experience. Yes, the original, reportedly made with little money, remains a landmark of guerrilla filmmaking, but the 2013 version, while unconcerned with brandishing its grindhouse roots, really gets under our skin. I don’t know which scene is more uncomfortable to watch: nasty things being done to a human eye or a young addict going through withdrawal.
My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)—Available on Tubi, 1h 41m.
Of all the movies on this list, My Bloody Valentine 3D, a remake of a low-budget Canadian slasher film that also came out in 1981, is probably the one that must be experienced on the big screen. Released during the 3D craze of the early 2010s, it actually looks slicker than some of its more expensive contemporaries (looking at you, Clash of the Titans [2010]). Story-wise, it’s basically a clone of Friday the 13th (1980) but set in a mining town on Valentine’s Day instead of a summer camp.
It’s the type of horror film that knows its audience and succeeds in being a tongue-in-cheek gorefest, with inventive kills that look awesome in 3D. Don’t pay much attention to the story—you’ve seen it all before. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy what’s basically a Six Flags ride made of guts and sharp objects. I’d recommend watching the original first. It’s apparently Quentin Tarantino’s favorite slasher film.
Fright Night (2011)—Available to rent, 1h 46m.
The premise of Fright Night (1985) always fascinated me as a kid: What if my next-door neighbor was a bloodthirsty vampire? This Rear Window (1954) meets Dracula (1931) hybrid largely succeeds because its laced with the right levels of humor, camp, and the kind of bizarre sexual tension present in virtually every piece of 1980s pop culture—from Ms. Pac-Man to Who’s the Boss?.
The remake ditches the original's wacky shell in favor of well-calibrated tension and an ominous undertone. While the original portrayed a debonair, somewhat flamboyant version of the vampire (played with gusto by Chris Sarandon), the remake features Colin Farrell, who brings a sensual yet menacing, even sadistic edge to the character, heating up the screen (in more than one way). Personally, I find the remake to be more intimate, friskier, and entertaining than the original.
Poltergeist (2015)—Available in multiple platforms with premium subscriptions, 1h 33m.
It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that Poltergeist (1981) redefined fear for an entire generation. It spearheaded a shift in horror from tangible menaces, such as serial killers targeting adults, to abstract forces lurking in everyday objects like a television set, threatening the family unit. Put simply, it’s a classic.
Of course, any remake would inevitably pale in comparison to the original, and that's evident in the 2015 version. However, that doesn’t make it a bad film. It’s a competently made, creepy modernization of a suburban nightmare. The film effectively reinforces the theme of technology as an untrustworthy intruder and carefully weaves recent anxieties about economic stagnation into its narrative. Well-placed humorous moments and a playful sense of irony smoothen some of the derivativeness of the story. While it may not be groundbreaking, it’s undeniably entertaining.
Silent Night (2012)—Available on Hulu, 1h 34m.
A loose remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), Silent Night follows a man in a Santa suit who goes on a killing spree during the holidays. Sounds repellent? You’re not alone. The original often finds a prominent place on lists of the most controversial films and drew harsh rebukes from critics and moralist groups. However, compared to current standards and depictions of violence, it feels somewhat tame.
The remake feels a bit run-of-the-mill slasher, drawing inspiration from the original premise rather than copying it scene by scene. It focuses more on the body count than on the story, whereas the original prioritized exploring (and exploiting) the traumatic creation of its antagonist. Nonetheless, the remake, though it sometimes spins it wheels with its narrative, is much better than it should be, given its sleazy DNA.
Interesting list! I'll have to check some of these out.
These are all great picks! I love seeing Fright Night get some love, both the remake and original are so fun!