50 Horror Movies That Haven't Been Remade... Yet
We stress the ‘yet’…
The Food Of The Gods (1976)
Original Version: Though it was awarded the Golden Turkey Award for Worst Rodent Movie Of All Time by film critic Michael Medved, there's much fun to be had with this slice of seventies silliness.
The plot follows a batch of hunters who head to a Canadian island, only to get attacked by a swarm of super-sized wasps…
The Remake: Michelle Rodriguez is the hunting party leader (because, really, who else could be a hunting party leader other than Michelle Rodriguez?) who has to fight off giant wasps in the Bermuda Triangle.
House (1986)
Original Version: Writer Roger Cobb (William Katt) heads to his recently-deceased aunt's house, only to find it stuffed with evil zombies.
The plot of this tongue-in-cheek horror comedy leaves something to be desired, but what it lacks in narrative nuance, Steve Miner's film makes up for in fantastic prosthetics and a great sense of fun.
The Remake: Steve Miner’s still directing, so let’s get him to update his film for modern movie-lovers.
Scrap Cobb for a wise-cracking young couple buying their first house and we’re set.
Demons (1985)
Original Version: Italian horror produced by none other than Dario Argento, whose presence is felt in the film's lashings of gore.
In a clever post-modern twist, people go to watch a mysterious horror movie at the cinema, only for demons to show up.
The Remake: People who download a mysterious viral horror movie become possessed by evil internet-lurking demons.
Turns out an anti-piracy group have made a deal with the devil to take down evil film bootleggers. Ooo, topical.
Damnation Alley (1977)
Original Version: Loosely based on the novel by Roger Zelazny, this post-apocalypse horror follows a group who survived World War III.
They attempt to make it across a wasteland in order to meet up with other survivors. Cue killer cockroaches, inbred hillbillies and giant scorpions. Good fun.
The Remake: Monster movie madness in the best sense. Sam Raimi to direct.
Eyes Without A Face (1960)
Original Version: Franco-Italian horror from director Georges Franju.
As the title suggests, the plot follows genius surgeon Dr Genessier, who kidnaps women to remove their faces in order to give them to his daughter.
The Remake: Pedro Almodovar proved surgery horror is still alive and kicking just two years ago with The Skin I Live In.
We doubt he’d want to repeat himself with an Eyes Without A Face remake, so how about giving Jennifer Lynch a go at it?
Dementia 13 (1963)
Original Version: An early film by Francis Ford Coppola, this Roger Corman-produced horror was the director's first 'legitimate' movie.
Set in Ireland, it's about an axe murderer who's making his way through a family. Coppola wrote the script to meet Corman's requirement that the film be a Psycho copy - with brutal deaths and a gothic atmosphere.
The Remake: A post-modern horror that follows a film crew attempting to make Dementia 13 , except a crazy producer’s protestations about the casting of the female lead is followed by her bloody demise on set...
Pin (1988)
Original Version: One of the strangest slasher movies ever made, Pin 's high concept premise rivals the likes of Child's Play for all-out kookiness.
In this little-seen horror flick, a life-sized medical dummy carries out some horrific murders at the behest of psycho Leon (David Hewlitt). Or does it?
The Remake: Nathan Fillion is the affable medical professor whose life-sized medical dummy starts following him home at night and showing up at murder scenes.
Is the professor losing his marbles? Or is the dummy coming alive?
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Altered States (1980)
Original Version: William Hurt's psychology professor starts going a little bit crazy when he undergoes a sensory deprivation experiment.
The Remake: David Cronenberg returns to body horror with a pseudo Videodrome follow-up that comments on our increasing reliance on technology.
Just think how good the monsters would look with a little help from the WETA work shop.
The Beast Within (1982)
Original Version: Made on a dime but still effectively creepy despite some dodgy prosthetics work.
A woman is raped in Mississippi, but her attacker is never brought to justice.
Seventeen years later, the woman's kid is all grown up and going through puberty, which signals the start of some pretty horrific events.
The Remake: A modern day werewolf flick (because we haven’t had a decent one in ages), in which a twenty-something guy starts suffering memory lapses at certain times of the month.
Think Ginger Snaps but for guys, with lycanthropy played out as a metaphor for youths being seduced by the big bad city.
976-EVIL (1988)
Original Version: Satan has a telephone in this oddball horror, and you can reach him by dialling a specific number (hint, it's the one in the title).
The Remake: Two teenagers discover they can Skype the devil by adding him as a contact.
But once they've Skyped him, the devil becomes an internet stalker who takes over the guys' lives.
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.