Friday Top Five / Horror Movie Month: Best Sequels and Remakes

I know the words "sequel" and "remake" are negative words to most people. These days, it seems just about every other movie released is one or the other. But they aren't all bad. Since I'm trying to stick with horror themed posts this month (and I really wanted to do Top Five Tom Hanks movies because of Captain Phillips, but that will have to wait), I've decided to focus on the best horror movie remakes or sequels.

05. Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez, 2013)
The first Evil Dead movie starring Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi is revered as an achievement in DIY filmmaking. It spawned two sequels and is considered one of the most effective horror movies of its time. Still, it doesn't really do it for me. Is it funny? Is it scary? Is it just buckets of gore? This year's re-imagining, if you will, is everything the first movie isn't and then some. It's terrifying and full of genuinely great performances, namely Jane Levy and Lou Taylor Pucci. The only movies I think you should remake are movies that aren't that great to begin with. You take the things that worked and transform the new film into something that pays homage but is better, fixing the problems of the original. That's this film in a nutshell.

04. Scream 2 (Wes Craven, 1997)
The original Scream trilogy is pretty great although it falters a bit in the third film. The second film, however, keeps alive the spirit of the first - with it's witty banter and dialogue, great performances and cast chemistry. Maybe the reason the third film isn't quite up to par is because screenwriter Kevin Williamson didn't write it, but he did write this and you can tell. This sequel finds our heroine Sydney and her friends in college where the terror continues! Of course, you can't quite recreate the magic of the original Scream, but this sequel comes pretty close.

03. The Last House on the Left (Dennis Iliadis, 2009)
Confession: I don't watch Breaking Bad anymore, but I used to. I remember watching this movie in theaters on a Sunday evening and then going home and watching an episode of Breaking Bad where Jesse Pinkman is getting his ass beat. I thought it was some sort of karmic justice because in The Last House on the Left, Aaron Paul plays a pretty sketchy guy. Of course, he gets what's coming to him, as everyone does in a tale of revenge. Director Dennis Iliadis approached making this horror movie like it was an art house film, so it's brutal violence, sure, but interspersed with such beautiful images that it makes the violence that much more effective. A big step up from Wes Craven's original.

02. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (Steve Miner, 1998)
I've always had a soft spot for this Halloween sequel that picks up the strands of the first film and acts as though films 3, 4 and 5 never even existed. Sure, it's not the best movie ever made. And, of course, it's nowhere near as good as the original, but it's still a great story, I think. We find Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie with a changed name working at a prep school in the middle of nowhere, hiding from her crazy brother, trying to protect her son. Of course, Michael will always find her. The ending with the two of them is sort of heartbreaking but also completely perfect. (Obviously, subsequent movies ruined the end, but try not to think about that!). Oh, and this movie also features Michelle Williams and Joseph Gordon-Levitt). (And LL Cool J, but try not to think about that either).

01. The Hills Have Eyes (Alexandre Aja, 2006)
I once had a working theory that directors could only successfully remake Wes Craven movies. But, of course, the terrible Nightmare on Elm Street reboot totally blew that theory out of the water. Still, The Hill Have Eyes is an absolute great remake, one that is scary as hell but also has characters that we genuinely care about. I remember being blown away when I saw it in theaters and I still get chills every time I watch it. Aja, who also directed the wonderful High Tension, is a modern horror master and this film is the best remake I can think of.