10 Most Pointless Movie Remakes, Ranked

Before getting too negative, it has to be pointed out that remakes aren’t inherently evil or a sign of creative bankruptcy. It might be easier to say flat out that remakes are bad or remakes are pointless, but some of the greatest movies of all time were based on earlier films, often improving those originals or offering something updated/new (see 1983’s Scarface, 1986’s The Fly, and 1982’s The Thing for some key examples).

Other remakes didn’t fare as well, and some are indeed bad. But not all the following are automatically terrible. Some are decent, yet pale in comparison to the original film, or otherwise don’t seem to be adding much. Some came out too quickly after the first movie, too, lessening the capacity for things to feel fresh. The common thing that ties these sometimes decent, sometimes quite bad remakes together is that they all struggled – for one reason or another – to completely justify their existence.

10 ‘Let Me In’ (2010)

Director: Matt Reeves

Let the Right One In is indeed the right one to let into your movie-watching life, rather than Let Me In, which was made just two years later. The original film, from 2008, is one of the greatest horror movies of the past few decades, and also works as an oddly moving coming-of-age film about a young boy and a seemingly young girl with a strange and violent past.

Let Me In is certainly competent, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz are both solid in the lead roles, and it’s one of many movies that shows Matt Reeves knows what he’s doing as a director… but it’s just so similar to Let the Right One In. There are no surprises to be had, and the 2008 version does, admittedly, feel a little more authentic, grounded, and atmospheric. Let Me In mostly captures what the original did, but nothing excels, and it really only seems to exist for English speakers who don’t want to read subtitles while watching the Swedish original.

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9 ‘Psycho’ (1998)

Director: Gus Van Sant

It’s hard to talk about remakes without addressing the 1998 version of Psycho, given it’s arguably one of the most infamous in cinema history. The original is a beloved and boundary-pushing classic, and one many would call Alfred Hitchcock’s best. 38 years later, Gus Van Sant directed a remake, and the most shocking thing about it was how similar it was to the original.

The biggest difference is changing the look of the film in the sense that it goes from black and white to color in this version, but it’s otherwise a film that feels shot-for-shot like the first Psycho. That might all be the point; it could be some sort of in-joke that viewers weren’t really aware of. The existence of it at all is strange, but maybe Van Sant just wanted to provoke and confuse people, for whatever reason… if you want to over-analyze it all, maybe there’s something there.

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8 ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’ (2009)

Director: Tony Scott

Even if The Taking of Pelham 123 was one of Tony Scott’s lesser films, on its own, it’s not entirely terrible and has some things to offer as a piece of action/crime/thriller filmmaking. There’s fun to be had in seeing Denzel Washington and John Travolta paired off against each other, and the premise is also engaging, being about a dispatcher rising to the occasion and thwarting a group of men who’ve hijacked a subway train in New York City.

The problem with The Taking of Pelham 123 is that it was done already – and done much better – in 1974, with the slightly differently titled The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. It’s just a great deal grittier and more exciting, with the 2009 remake only being somewhat recommendable to those who are particularly big fans of Scott, Washington, or Travolta.

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7 ‘City of Angels’ (1998)

Director: Brad Silberling

City of Angels falls into the same camp as Let Me In, being a remake of a superior foreign film, translating things into English but not doing a great deal else. Unlike Let Me In, though, City of Angels feels like it takes away more things that made the film it remade, Wings of Desire, so good. It’s much more direct, lacks subtlety, and feels kind of cheesy.

On the other hand, Wings of Desire is one of the best international fantasy movies of all time, and is justifiably considered one of the greatest films Wim Wenders has ever directed. City of Angels tells the same story on the surface (a guardian angel falling in love and longing to be human), but it just doesn’t capture the right kind of otherworldly and moving energy that Wings of Desire did so effortlessly.

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6 ‘Gone in Sixty Seconds’ (2000)

Director: Dominic Sena

This is an interesting example of a remake, in all honesty, but still not a particularly good or successful one. There was a cult classic from 1974 called Gone in 60 Seconds, which was notable for having little to offer beyond some great car chase sequences, deliberately keeping the narrative and characters super simple, and letting those action scenes (which take up most of the second half) really shine.

Then, in 2000, Gone in 60 Seconds was remade as Gone in Sixty Seconds, and attempted to be a more conventional movie, for better or worse. There is a bit more complexity regarding the heist-related plot and some of the characters, but not really enough to be interesting. And, at the end of it all, Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) doesn’t have action nearly as engaging or dangerous-looking as Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), making it flounder a little, even if there was some attempt to make the whole thing more like a “real” movie.

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5 ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ (2007)

Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

As a sibling filmmaking duo, the Farrelly Brothers have had their successes here and there, but their take on The Heartbreak Kid isn’t one of their finer efforts. It’s a remake of the underrated 1972 film of the same name which was directed by Elaine May, herself one of the most underrated directors in the history of American cinema.

Both versions are romantic comedies, technically, following a man on his honeymoon who realizes he may have made a mistake by hastily marrying a certain woman, but there’s a good deal more cleverness to the original. That 1972 version still has a ton to say and feels more shocking and darkly comedic, even though the 2007 version tried to shock in a different way; principally, by having more gross-out comedy. It’s not great gross-out comedy, either, and it does little to elevate or surprise more than the first The Heartbreak Kid already did.

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4 ‘The Omen’ (2006)

Director: John Moore

This could be a bold claim, but there is a chance The Omen only got a remake in 2006 so it could be released on the sixth day of the sixth month of that year… 06/06/06. Which, yes, is cute, and admittedly, coming out in 2006 means it’s also a remake that marks the 30th anniversary of the original, but otherwise, it just doesn’t feel like it was worthy of being made.

The original The Omen is an all-time great blend of horror and drama genres, being genuinely unsettling and also quite powerful, thanks largely to Gregory Peck’s central performance. The 2006 remake plays out in an incredibly similar way to that 1976 version, and given the latter still holds up and proves more than adequately moving/scary, there’s little to no reason to also check out the newer version.

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3 ‘Going in Style’ (2017)

Director: Zach Braff

Going in Style might appear serviceable on the surface, functioning as a fairly lightweight heist movie that goes against conventions by having a team of elderly people instead of a younger group of thieves. It does enough to make one care at least a little about their plight, and it’s generally a feel-good affair, so far as heist movies go, which can make it sort of pleasant enough.

But, compared to the original (which is criminally underrated), Going in Style (2017) is lackluster. The 1979 version of the film has some comedy, but also a good deal of genuine pathos, exploring consequences and highlighting how difficult it is to grow old. The 2017 movie is more of a crowd-pleaser, and an okay-at-best one, with it ultimately sacrificing much of what made the 1979 version surprisingly great.

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2 ‘The Haunting’ (1999)

Director: Jan de Bont

1963’s The Haunting is perhaps the definitive haunted house movie, taking place in a large and purportedly ghost-ridden mansion, and following one man trying to show some other individuals that spirits might reside there. In 1999, the film got a remake with the same title, and it generally followed the same kind of premise (though, like Psycho, things went from black and white to color).

The original still holds up and, while not particularly terrifying, does have an undeniably strong sense of atmosphere while also successfully building tension throughout. The 1999 version lacks the scares and seems to replace them with some questionable casting decisions. Liam Neeson’s here, somewhat awkwardly, but at least he fits in a bit better than Owen Wilson, who doesn’t really have a screen presence that works for a horror movie.

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1 ‘The Wicker Man’ (2006)

Director: Neil LaBute

Nicolas Cage has lent his unique acting talents to a handful of good horror movies, but 2006’s The Wicker Man isn’t one of them. This film tried to remake and revitalize the classic original from 1973, which is one of the greatest folk horror movies of all time, but ended up being inferior in just about every way. The original still holds up very well, too, making the remake even more questionable.

It’s since gone down as infamously being one of Cage’s worst movies, and is probably only worth watching for those desperate to see the context of the numerous memes that have come from the film. 1973’s The Wicker Man is great, but 2006’s is anything but, and it drives home how some horror is timeless, and how some remakes are kind of just wastes of time.

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