Summary

• Remakes of horror movies can be successful and impactful, as proven by films like The Thing, The Fly, and Dawn of the Dead.
• Many horror classics that haven't been remade could benefit from a modern update, including Rosemary's Baby, Shocker, The Birds, and The Shining.
• A modern remake of these films would offer the opportunity to improve upon certain aspects, such as special effects, realism, and suspense.

Many yet-to-be-remade horror movies are overdue for a remake. Remakes are often contentious, and sometimes they turn out terribly, but the best horror remakes have proven to be some of the finest movies in the genre, cementing the fact that it's worthwhile producing them. 1982's The Thing, 1986's The Fly, and 2004's Dawn of the Dead are some remakes that, at least arguably, sured the originals.

Looking back on horror history, many classic films haven't been subject to the remake treatment. Undoubtedly, more remakes will come, but they must be the right movies. From slashers and supernatural horrors to creature features and scary sci-fi offerings, remakes of several horror classics would be more than welcome.

10 Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski's Iconic Psychological Horror

Rosemary's Baby is one of the best psychological horror movies ever made. Based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin, it chronicles the pregnancy of a young woman in Manhattan who believes her neighbors are grooming her to gain access to her baby for Satanic rituals. Her suspicion turns out to be horrifyingly justified. Mia Farrow stars as the eponymous Rosemary Woodhouse and gives a terrific performance. Ruth Gordon's performance as her elderly neighbor, Minnie Castevet, earned her an Academy Award for Best ing Actress. The original is incredibly suspenseful, but it might be time for a scarier remake that's more impactful in the 21st century.

9 Shocker (1989)

Wes Craven's Forgotten Slasher Gem

Shocker is an often-forgotten entry in the late horror master Wes Craven's catalog. To be fair, it's not the most fantastic horror film ever made — in fact, it's sometimes downright silly — but this supernatural slasher is still wildly entertaining and worth a watch. It follows a serial killer sentenced to death by the electric chair, who then returns to life in the form of electricity to continue his murder spree. Given Shocker's failure to become a cult classic the first time, a remake should be made to produce a less silly, more frightening modern version of the film, bringing Craven's lesser-known gem the success it deserves.

8 The Birds (1963)

A Bona Fide Hitchcock Triumph

Alfred Hitchcock's seminal masterpiece The Birds depicts several days in which birds of all species suddenly start attacking the human population of Bodega Bay, California en masse. The idea of birds being scary sounds ludicrous, but Hitchcock categorically succeeds in making them so. The film does a remarkable job of showing the birds gathering in ominous groups, ready to make their move. However, where it suffers today is in its closeup scenes, which look badly dated and occasionally outright silly. A modern remake with more realistic attacks and the gory aftermath of those attacks would be intriguing to see.

7 The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick's Chilling Stephen King Adaptation

A sequel to 1981's The Shining was released in 2019. Doctor Sleep depicts the adulthood of Danny Torrance from the original film and his handling of his childhood trauma. However, a remake would still be most welcome. The Shining chronicles the off-season at the remote Overlook Hotel, where writer and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance takes the caretaker job, bringing his family with him. During their stay, supernatural occurrences plunge them into a nightmare. The most intriguing thing about a modern remake would be how any writer can be convincingly portrayed as truly isolated given modern technology. Seeing someone attempt to live up to Jack Nicholson's performance would also be wild.

6 Eyes Without a Face (1960)

French-Language Plastic Surgery Nightmare

Eyes Without a Face is a French horror movie based on Jean Redon's 1959 novel. It's about a plastic surgeon who becomes obsessed with giving his daughter a face transplant after she becomes disfigured following an accident. He will go to any lengths to provide her with one — even if it means taking the lives of other young women. With intriguing themes of guilt and obsession, Eyes Without a Face is as intelligent as it is horrific. A modern remake with the makeup and special effects of the 21st century could be deliciously gruesome and bring the classic story to a broader audience.

5 Event Horizon (1997)

Hugely Underrated Sci-Fi Horror

Event Horizon is a tragically underrated sci-fi horror with a fantastic cast. The movie takes place in 2047 and chronicles a mission undertaken by a team of astronauts to find a missing spaceship, the eponymous Event Horizon, only to find it's been possessed by an evil supernatural force and may have been to Hell itself. Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, and Sean Pertwee are among its stars. Event Horizon is terrifying, with some of the goriest scenes in horror history. However, it went underappreciated by a generation, and a modern remake to give the story another chance to shine would be welcome.

4 The Funhouse (1981)

Tobe Hooper's Suspenseful Carnival Of Horror

The slasher movie The Funhouse is one of the most unfortunately overlooked films in the genre's history. It's directed by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's Tobe Hooper and follows a group of teenagers trapped in a local carnival's dark ride in small-town Iowa. There, an unstable and physically deformed carny attacks them. The film boasts more suspense than the average slasher film and a more tragically sympathetic villain in Gunther Twibunt, who deserves his place among more revered horror icons. A remake would give him that opportunity and allow for a modern retelling, which would be interesting given The Funhouse's intriguing setting.

3 The Faculty (1998)

High School Of Sci-Fi Horror

The Faculty is one of the most quintessentially '90s movies imaginable. The sci-fi horror flick chronicles the infiltration of a high school's staff roster by alien parasites and the fight back by a group of students who don't want to become infected. Its trendy cast includes Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Famke Janssen, and Jordana Brewster. It's derivative but frightening, funny, and irably self-aware. It would be great to see a fresh cast of young stars in a remake, playing a new group of teen archetypes, perhaps with some original cast as faculty .

2 In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

A Supernatural Descent Into Insanity

John Carpenter's supernatural horror movie In the Mouth of Madness is the third movie in what Carpenter calls his "Apocalypse Trilogy." 1982's The Thing and 1987's Prince of Darkness (which is also ripe for a remake) are the others. It chronicles the descent of an insurance investigator into madness as he looks into the disappearance of a horror novelist. The lines between reality and fiction become terrifyingly blurred. Its fantastic cast includes Sam Neill, David Warner, and Charlton Heston, and it's a technical triumph with an intriguing premise that's genuinely scary. A modern remake, with the technology of today, would make for an aesthetically incredible movie.

1 Jaws (1975)

Spielberg's Terrifying Maritime Masterpiece

Many people would see a remake of Jaws as nothing short of blasphemy, but there's no doubt it would draw in the crowds like Amity Island beach on a hot day. The original film, based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel, centers on the hunt for a man-eating great white shark after a spate of attacks in a summer resort town. It's fantastic, suspenseful, terrifying, and boasts a leading acting trio: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw. Watching new actors attempt to match them would be fascinating. Also, seeing a generation of vain Instagrammers devoured by a shark would be undeniably entertaining.