Director Rob Zombie's recent remake of John Carpenter's classic slasher flick "Halloween" proved that plenty of fresh blood is pumping in old horror movies.
The new "Halloween" grossed $26 million in its opening weekend on its way to $57 million to date. And there's more bloodletting on the way, with "Friday the 13th," "Hellraiser," "Prom Night," "Scanners," "April Fool's Day" and "Piranha" being remade.
David Edelstein, film critic for New York Magazine, could do with fewer horror remakes. He sees them as easy sells for studio executives who can make them on the cheap and franchise them to the public.
"They know they only have to cough up $15 million and that people have seen the original movie," Edelstein said. "So all they have to do is up the gore quotient and use the vocabulary of modern films, which involves more hand-held cameras and faster, choppier cutting."
Edelstein walked out of "The Amityville Horror" remake. He said the old films are "put in new packages by very lazy people. That doesn't mean there can't be creativity within that. But you'll never get the sort of organic satisfaction like a movie like the original 'The Hills Have Eyes.' "
Here's how some recent horror remakes have been measuring up the last few years, and thoughts on which movies are prime for a makeover.
Remakes that did the job
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