When iconic horror flicks have been stylishly revisited!
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00:00As a sub-genre, the slasher fix which rose to prominence over the last 40 or so years
00:05have provided us with some of the best-loved horror movies of all time.
00:09In the 2000s, we have seen a significant number of remakes and reboots of some of the finest
00:14slasher movies ever made.
00:16So with that in mind, I'm Ellie, with WhatCulture, here with the 10 best slasher horror movie
00:21remakes of all time.
00:2310.
00:25Sorority Row
00:26A remake based on The House on Sorority Row, which told the story of a group of sorority
00:30sisters whose prank on the owner of the house they live in goes horribly wrong when she
00:35ends up dead.
00:36The girls decide to hide the body and cover up the disaster, only to be stalked and killed
00:40at their graduation party by someone who knows their secret.
00:44Sorority Row was directed by Stuart Hendler, and expands on the premise of the original
00:49with a new backstory and prank gone wrong that ends the same way, before time-jumping
00:54eight months to the bloodbath graduation party.
00:57The movie clearly takes influence from I Know What You Did Last Summer, although that film
01:01itself undoubtedly owes a lot to The House on Sorority Row.
01:05There is a trashy blend of the 80s and 90s era to the movie, which unashamedly throws
01:09every sorority house cliche you can think of at the viewer.
01:13With plenty of sexual undertones, some pretty gruesome kills and a whodunit vibe to the
01:17narrative that keeps you wondering who or what the killer is through to the reveal of
01:22the final act, this all combines to make Sorority Row an enjoyable modern popcorn slasher.
01:289.
01:29The Hitcher
01:30The Hitchhiker was an 80s cult classic that told the simple story of a young man driving
01:35across America who makes the mistake of his life when he picks up a psychopathic hitchhiker,
01:41superbly played by the sinister Rutger Hauer in one of his greatest roles.
01:46The 2007 remake was directed by music video specialist Dave Myers and produced by Michael
01:51Bay, and places Sean Bean into the role of the hitchhiking serial killer, who this time
01:56terrorises Zachary Knighton's Jim and his girlfriend Grace in another thriller that
02:01hits the spot in just the same way the original did.
02:05The couple innocently help Bean's character out as he has seemingly broken down on a rainy
02:09night, but he soon shows his true colours and their horror begins as he pulls out a
02:13switchblade and holds it to Grace's eye.
02:16The inclusion of Grace adds an interesting dynamic to the remake, and the movie faithfully
02:21recreates many of the key scenes from the original in what is a fast-paced and highly
02:25engaging movie.
02:278.
02:28Maniac
02:29Maniac was a dark and gritty low-budget slasher movie directed by William Lustig, which told
02:34the story of Frank Zito, a psychopath who stalks the streets of New York at night.
02:40Frank spends his time killing and mutilating young women by scalping their corpses and
02:44displaying their hair on mannequins around his apartment.
02:47Achieving somewhat of a cult status, the macabre and visceral film was given a fresh
02:52remake in 2012, starring Elijah Wood as Frank, in what is unquestionably his most disturbing
02:59role.
03:00Much of the movie is shot from Frank's point of view, with a demented voiceover, as we
03:04see what he sees and hear what he's thinking.
03:07He is a calculated murderer who kills without remorse.
03:10The movie stands out for its sequences of fantasy, as in his imagination, Frank's mannequins
03:15come alive and take on the personas of the women he has killed and whose hair they are
03:19wearing.
03:20With an 80s synth-heavy score, this is a remake which stylistically acts as a fine companion
03:25piece to the original.
03:277.
03:28Friday the 13th
03:29Friday the 13th was created to capitalize on the success of Halloween and audiences'
03:34fresh appetite for slasher flicks.
03:37It introduced the lore of Jason Voorhees, a child seemingly allowed to drown by counsellors
03:42at Camp Crystal Lake.
03:44It is a movie in which Jason's mother Pamela takes revenge on those she blames before she
03:48is beheaded in the final scene.
03:51From here, the sequel snowballed into a long series of trashy movies before this 2009 Michael
03:56Bay-produced remake arrived, turning out to be a highly satisfying reboot, following the
04:02series having slowly hit rock bottom.
04:05Condensing the Pamela Voorhees storyline solely to the introduction, the redo jumps straight
04:09into Jason wearing a sack over his head, an homage to Part 2, and dispatching a group
04:14of young adults camping out in the woods.
04:16As might be expected, Jason soon attacks everyone, while also finding his trademark ice hockey
04:21mask in a movie which interestingly ties together different parts of the original franchise.
04:276.
04:28House of Wax
04:29House of Wax is a classic Warner Bros. horror, starring the legendary Vincent Price as a wax
04:34sculptor who specializes in creating historical figures.
04:38The film itself was a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum, and it took another 52 years
04:43for the newest version to arrive.
04:45Loosely based on themes introduced in the original's narrative, the remake takes a fresh
04:49approach to the storyline.
04:51Here, the 2005 picture introduces a group of young adults who come across a strange
04:56and virtually deserted town after their car breaks down on a road trip.
05:00The film unashamedly wears the influences of both Psycho and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
05:05firmly on its sleeve, and features some highly inventive and gruesome kill sequences.
05:105.
05:11The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
05:13When writer and director Tobey Hooper unleashed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he changed the
05:17horror scene forever.
05:19He created the most violent and realistic slasher movie audiences had seen at the time,
05:24a deeply dark film which was seeped in controversy and a disturbing and difficult watch for many.
05:30Inspired by the true crime events of serial killer Ed Gein, a cannibal who skinned his
05:34victims to create masks and other grotesque objects, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre introduced
05:39us to the demented, power tool-wielding Leatherface, one of cinema's most horrifying maniacs.
05:45Producer Michael Bay rebooted the classic film in 2003 with director Marcus Nispel at
05:51the helm.
05:52The remake pays homage to many of the original movie's key scenes, whilst also writing in
05:57many new scenes and story arcs, bringing a fresh feel to the story which enhances the
06:01viewing experience.
06:03But like its predecessor, this remains one slasher film that is certainly not for the
06:07faint-hearted.
06:084.
06:09Halloween
06:10John Carpenter's Halloween was certainly not the first slasher flick to hit our screens.
06:15However, it is one of the most important, as Halloween reinvigorated the slasher sub-genre
06:20and would go on to inspire a new generation of filmmakers in the following decades who
06:25would create a host of iconic movies influenced by this masterpiece.
06:30Halloween introduced one of the legendary slasher antagonists in Michael Myers, and
06:34itself also became one of the most prominent franchises in horror with a whole host of
06:39sequels that ran throughout the following decades.
06:42In 2007, Rob Zombie, the industrial, heavy metal shock rocker turned music video and
06:48horror filmmaker, delivered his fresh reboot on the story, and took the franchise back
06:53to the very beginning with his remake.
06:55Zombie's interpretation certainly split the fickle Halloween fanbase, but the final part,
07:00which mirrors and pays respectful homage to the original film, is unquestionably a superb
07:05recreation.
07:063.
07:07Child's Play
07:09Child's Play introduced us to the murderous children's toy Chucky, the infamous doll possessed
07:14by the evil spirit of a serial killer by way of voodoo.
07:17Child's Play would, of course, go on to become one of the best love franchises in horror,
07:22perfectly blending a dark humour into its narrative.
07:25Quality-wise, the series has, for the most part, remained relatively consistent throughout
07:29the majority of its sequels.
07:31In what is the most recent remake from the key franchises of modern horror, 2019's Child's
07:37Play is also one of the best, looking carefully at what worked well in the early films and
07:42blending into a new story.
07:44This redo modernised the original premise for a current market, with Chucky being able
07:48to log into the cloud of its owner's home and connect to all of their online devices.
07:53The humour runs deep again throughout this movie, and the story provides intrigue as
07:57we watch Chucky slowly evolve from a playful, butter-wouldn't-melt doll into the murderous
08:02killer we know he's going to become.
08:042.
08:05A Nightmare on Elm Street
08:07A Nightmare on Elm Street really needs little introduction.
08:10It was a visionary movie created by one of horror's true masters in Wes Craven, which
08:15turned the genre on its head when it dropped in the mid-80s.
08:19It introduced us to the ultimate horror icon in the child-murdering dream demon Freddy
08:23Kruger, who was played exquisitely by Robert Englund.
08:27The franchise would go on to deliver one of the finest horror sequels of all time with
08:30Dream Warriors, before slowly descending in quality with Kruger becoming a parody of the
08:35pure evil character he once was.
08:37The 2010 remake is a polarising film for sure, with many original fans of the classic 80s
08:43era immediately turned off by the thought of anyone other than Englund applying the
08:47grotesque burn makeup and knife-fingered glove of Kruger, but the reality is that Jackie
08:52Earl Haley does a fine job.
08:54His performance takes Freddy back to the very darkest side of the character, with the movie
08:58overall devoid of the unpopular direction of humour that we saw in the likes of Freddy's
09:03Dead The Final Nightmare.
09:05Paying a dark and gritty homage to the early films, and with many faithful recreations
09:09of some of the most iconic kill sequences, this is a remake which was on a hiding to
09:13nothing with what it had to live up to, but is actually a far better film than many give
09:17it credit for.
09:191.
09:20Psycho
09:21To name Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho as the most important film in the origins of the slasher
09:25genre as we would come to know it in the decades to come would be no understatement.
09:30The legendary director shocked audiences at the time with the murderous themes in the
09:34movie, and with the pacing and twists within the narrative, and its influence on horror
09:39and thriller films is evident throughout virtually every scene.
09:43In 1998, visionary director Gus Van Sant was tasked with remaking the original and controversially
09:49delivered a film which virtually mirrors Hitchcock's classic scene for scene and line for line.
09:55He recreated one of the finest thriller movies of all time, with an intriguing new generation
09:59of actors, in a film which, this time presented in colour, would appeal to a newer 90s audience.
10:05Faithfully adapting Psycho in this way and paying testament to a near perfect film is
10:09a move that either makes total sense or seems like a big waste of time, depending on how
10:14you look at it.
10:15And that concludes our list, if you think we missed any then do let us know in the comments
10:18below and while you're there don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification
10:22bell.
10:23Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
10:26just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
10:28I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon.