As with other genres right now, Hollywood seem intent on regurgitating the same stories and characters onto our screens, rebooting and remaking films from years gone by, rather than fresh ideas and stories. There’s plenty of reasons for this trend, but this article isn’t about that, so here’s five of the worst horror reboots we’ve had so far.
Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
There’s several things you might think about when you think of the Nightmare on Elm Street films; the gloved hand, the iconic red and green jumper, his scarred face and of course the man and legend himself, Robert Englund.
By the time this reboot came about, Englund considered himself too old to continue playing the part and passed on it, the responsibility falling to Jackie Earle Haley, of Rorshach fame.
The reboot tried to walk the fine line of reinventing itself whilst trying to be different enough from the source material to warrant its creation, and ended up being too different from the original and not good enough in its own right.
Friday the 13th (2009)
The original Friday the 13th films weren’t exactly Oscar-worthy, with the basic premise being an extremely annoyed Jason running around and murdering his way through some unsuspecting and usually undeserving victims, before being vanquished… kind of.
Somehow the reboot managed to mess that up, making mistake after mistake and ruining the character even more than Jason X did. In a time when horror reboots are the ‘in thing’ there’s still no new noise about another Jason film, and it’s largely because of this attempt.
Related: 31 Days of Horror: 5 of the Most Disappointing Horror Sequels
Halloween (2007)
At this point we’ve sat through multiple different iterations of the nefarious masked killer, however it’s almost inarguable that this is the worst version. Resurrected by Rob Zombie, this horror reboot tried its best to introduce new and exciting concepts to Michael and the surrounding world; the biggest being a more fleshed out childhood and first-hand experience of what happened to make him the way he ended up, but this was met with large-scale pushback from fans, who felt the humanising of Michael took away the terrifying aspect of.his character. They weren’t wrong. Oh, and let’s not even mention the abomination that was this films sequel.
Carrie (2013)
Starring Chloe Grace Moretz as the titular Carrie, the film follows largely the same ideas as the first, but as with any unwanted horror reboots, it forgets what exactly made the original not only so good, but what made it considered one of the must watch Stephen King films.
There’s numerous reasons why this didn’t work, be it the lackluster direction, poor performances or the fact it just wasn’t unnerving or scary at all, this is a horror reboot that was not only unneeded, but may well have been so bad that we may not have to sit through another botched remake any time soon.
Related: 31 Days of Horror: 5 Modern Horrors That Are Actually Scary
Oldboy (2015)
We’re pushing the limits of the definition of a horror movie here, but the original Oldboy by Park Chan-Wook is a Korean cult classic, with the horrifying story playing out bit by bit, drawing the audience in as Dae Su tries to unravel the question which he already has the answers to. Even the goriest, most disgusting films out there will struggle to shock and disgust you in the same way as this.
The 2015 American remake strips away all the nuance, mystery and genuine horror from the story, turning it into just another American, stylised, less substance version of a truly fantastic film. If you’re ever given the opportunity between which one to watch, watch the original.
That’s our choices for five of the worst horror reboots we’ve had the displeasure of experiencing, but what would have made your list?
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