Editorials
Top 5 Horror Remakes of the 21st Century!
The concept of a remake is not a new one. In fact, some of the most beloved and classic films in history are remakes. Brian De Palma’s Scarface, John Carpenter’s The Thing and David Cronenberg’s The Fly are great examples of what can be accomplished when a remake is done properly.
However, the popular consensus seems to be that remakes (or “reboots”) are for the most part unnecessary and more often than not, turn out to be terrible, uninspired attempts to cash in on a popular film or franchise. I can fully understand why horror fans would take this stance in particular, as horror movies, in general, seem to get more remakes than any other genre in film.
As horror remakes/reboots/etc. continue to come down the pipeline (most notably with Andy Muschietti’s IT and the upcoming Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich), I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the top 5 horror remakes of the 21st century (so far). These films improved or altered aspects of their originals successfully while paying homage to them in one way or another. This list by no means indicates they are perfect or succeeded in all their attempts completely, but at least they are more than carbon copies of their predecessors.
The Ring (2002)
The film tells the story of Rachel (Naomi Watts), a journalist investigating the death of four teenagers (one of whom is her niece). As she delves into the particular circumstances surrounding their deaths, she uncovers rumors of a videotape that kills its viewers seven days after it has been watched.
Based on Ringu, a Japanese film released in 1998, the film as a whole sticks relatively close to the plot of the original film. What makes the film stand apart from its predecessor is the amped up presence of the villain, Samara. With her pale skin and long black hair covering her face, Samara is able to kill simply by scaring the shit out of her victims. Seeing her crawling out of a TV to this day is one of the most terrifying scenes put on film. Director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of The Caribbean, A Cure for Wellness) was able to craft an intense, atmospheric and suspenseful thriller amplified by a star-making performance by Naomi Watts – all while maintaining a PG-13 rating.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Tobe Hooper’s original film is without a doubt one of the most influential and everlasting horror films of all-time. Hooper was able to capture a sense of fear and terror through the simple idea of what is possible when humans venture into the unknown, creating one of the most iconic villains in history: Leatherface, a one-man wrecking crew with a love for masks made of human flesh, meat hooks and above all else, chainsaws.
Director Marcus Nispel (who would later go on to direct the Friday the 13th reboot in 2009) had a tall order to fill when he took on the task of directing the remake. There is nothing Nispel could have done to outshine the original, so instead, he focused on developing a very dark, gritty and intense film that layered on the violence and gore. It is this approach that makes the remake a worthy companion to the original. In fact, one could argue that Nispel did overly succeed in one particular area: The costume and makeup design of Leatherface. Andrew Bryniarski is very scary looking and his costume only serves to amplify his already hulking 6 foot 5-inch 270-pound frame in the film. Not to mention the film features a very fun performance from resident military guru R. Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Before he was known as a flashy comic book director with films like 300 and the upcoming Justice League, Zack Snyder got his first opportunity in the realm of horror. Directing a film based on George A. Romero’s zombie classic, Snyder took the basic concept of the 1978 classic and turned up the intensity.
The film gets into the zombie mayhem early, as Ana (Sarah Polley) awakens one morning only to realize a young girl has become infected with some kind of virus, turning her into a blood-thirsty monster. After seeing her attack her husband and turning into a monster himself, she flees and eventually meets up with other survivors, taking up residence in a local shopping mall. As the film progresses, we meet an array of characters highlighted by Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Jake Weber (Homeland) and Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile).
Snyder incorporates zombies that are fast, effective in numbers and unrelenting in their dismemberment of the living. He never lets the audience get too comfortable. The makeup and gore effects are top notch as well, making for some truly gory kills. The addition of one particular scene involving a chainsaw and another involving the birth of a baby only add to the film as a whole. Having the screenplay written by James Gunn (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy) is the cherry on top of this zombie treat.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The late Wes Craven had a knack for finding new and disturbing ways to terrify audiences. It’s only fitting that the man who would eventually be responsible for creating Freddy Krueger would first tell the tale of cannibalistic mountain dwellers who stalk and terrorize an all-American family.
Craven’s original Hills Have Eyes was described by many critics in 1977 as brutal and disgusting, and it originally received the X-rating due to its violent content. The film still holds up by modern standards because it relied on genuine performances from the likes of Michael Berryman and James Whitworth and still lives within the realm of possibility to a certain extent within our society today.
French director Alexandre Aja (High Tension) was given the opportunity to helm the remake under the guidance of Wes Craven himself, who acted as a producer on the remake. Aja decided to take the basic concept of Craven’s original 1977 film and incorporate the devastation that nuclear testing could have on the human body through some of the most excellent prosthetic and makeup effects ever put on film. Aja focused his film on making the audience care deeply about his all-American family with the purpose of devastating them with every disturbing kill throughout (of which there are many).
Aja pulls no punches and brings the brutality and gore front and center, and he definitely succeeds in making the audience squirm; there is no better example of this than with what can only be described as “the rape scene,” which continues to be the fabric of nightmares for anyone who views the film. Incorporating “Buffalo Bill” himself, Ted Levine, into the film only enhances the viewing of this brutal remake.
Evil Dead (2013)
Sam Raimi will forever be cemented within the realm of the horror genre thanks to a little film he made in 1981 called The Evil Dead, which itself was actually a feature-length remake of his own short film Within the Woods. Raimi is responsible for introducing the world to one of my favorite sarcastic antiheroes: Ashley J. Williams aka Ash, of course played by Bruce Campbell.
The original film has a much more serious tone than its two sequels and uses practical effects almost exclusively. The film is a shining example of low-budget filmmaking, resulting in a fun, gory possession film that has earned a cult following in the decades since its original release.
Given the continued success of the franchise, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell decided to produce a “reboot” of their original film in 2013 in place of the heavily demanded Evil Dead 4 that fans have been clamoring for even to this day, tapping first time Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez to helm the project.
Like many remakes, Alvarez took the basic structure of Raimi’s original and tweaked it to reflect modern times in a sense. The film does not feature any of the original characters and focuses on a new lead protagonist named Mia, who is forced into going to a remote cabin in the woods to help detox from a nasty drug habit. However, as the film progresses, things do not go as planned and the skies turn red with blood (literally).
Alvarez’s film is very serious in tone and the film brings an intensity that is unrelenting at times. The reliance on practical effects and makeup add to the realistic tone the film is going for, resulting in some truly horrific gore effects. The film succeeds in taking what made the original so memorable and enhancing it through a standout performance by Jane Levy and more blood than we’ve seen in a mainstream film in years (Alvarez used over 50,000 gallons of fake blood for a single scene!).
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
You must be logged in to post a comment.