Trust is a hard thing to come by these days. Or any days for that matter, but I hope you folks will trust in me that John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) ranks up top as the best remake around. Yes, we’ve finally made it to Halloween and the top of the Halloween Top 13: The Remake (which also heralds the era in which I promise to never have such a lengthy event title again), and I hope everyone is having a great All Hallows Eve. I’ve had a wonderful weekend dressing up and going out with my friends, and we’re capping it off tonight with a Walking Dead viewing party. One of the highlights of Halloween, as it has been for the past three years, is doing this countdown and getting to share movies I love as well as getting all the fabulous lists from my blogging friends. Before I get into the review I want to thank each and every one of you folks who pitched in, stopped by to read a post, retweeted, liked, or whatever other kind of social media thing you did. You’ve all made this a wonderful Halloween for me, and I can’t thank you enough.

I also can’t thank Mama Carpenter enough. Without her, we wouldn’t have John, and my list of favorite films would be devoid of Escape from New York, The Fog, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, and Christine. (You may notice that I failed to list Carpenter’s eponymously titled holiday film from the list. I like it and respect it, but I don’t love it.) Of course, tonight’s film, The Thing, also belongs on that list. Looking back over all the lists that folks sent in, The Thing was the most popular title to appear on a list as well as the most popular choice for number one. When I first jotted down notes for this list back in November of 2009, The Thing was the first film I wrote down, and without a doubt it took top honors. Combining horror, suspense, paranoia, and action into a cohesive film, Carpenter showed everyone how isolated terror and remakes were done.

The original 1951 film, entitled The Thing from Outer Space, was directed by Howard Hawks and starred James Arness (Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke Fame). In it, ‘The Thing’ is a Frankenstein’s monster type creature from space, frozen in a block of ice, but when a group of scientists stationed in the artic thaw it out, it seems that it hadn’t come in peace and proceeds to start killing them off. Carpenter’s film dispenses with the plot of the ‘51 film, and instead goes back to the source material, the novella ‘Who Goes There?’ by John W. Campbell, Jr. Sticking closer to the original story, the 1982 Thing once again terrorizes an Artic base, but it no longer needs a single actor playing it. Instead through a series of great performances and an array of mind blowing special effects, the updated ’Thing’ no longer looks like a Western star with a huge forehead, but in its place can look like anyone, any creature, or reveal its horrible metamorphic form.

Carpenter begins his film by introducing us to the stark whiteness of the location which was filmed both in the Artic and snowy British Colombia. Throughout the film the camerawork and lighting is stunning, and major kudos have to go to cinematographer Dean Cundy for his incredible high contrast work. The careful viewer will also notice several times that Carpenter fades to white or the black during the film which subtly add to the atmospheric tone of The Thing. We are soon introduced to our reluctant hero R.J. MacReady, another wonderful character brought to life by Kurt Russell in a John Carpenter film. Russell is one of the best at playing heroic characters that are everymen, and he hits that perfectly here.  Surrounding him are a cast of characters played by wonderful actors like Keith David, Wilford “Diabeetis" Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, and Charles Hallahan, and they all give great singular performances differentiating the characters in what could have been a crowded field. This group of men finds themselves trapped by a creature that is a ruthless killer and an unseen menace. Suspicion and paranoia soon run rife though the outpost, and soon people are beginning to question if they could be the creature and not even know it.

As I mentioned yesterday with The Fly, the invasion of the body by an outside force is a common theme in horror films, but what Cronenberg and Carpenter share is the ability to execute their vision. That being said, Carpenter takes a less graphic (and less sexual) path to get to where he was going. He relied on good old fashioned Hitchcockian suspense and a claustrophobic atmosphere to draw the audience into the story of these men. They are, after all, the last line of defense against ’The Thing’ destroying the Earth. Carpenter cleverly hides his hand until the last reel of the film, and then you better hold onto your hat. The whole film is enhanced by the score which is uncharacteristically not penned by the director himself. Instead the duties were handed to Italian maestro Ennio Morricone who gave the film a sound very complimentary to Dean Cundy’s moody lighting. I also have to mention the use of pop songs in a few parts of The Thing because I can never hear Stevie Wonder singing ‘Superstition’ without my mind going to this film.

With The Thing, Carpenter thrills and horrifies in exactly the way I want during Halloween. I want to be afraid of the thing (no pun intended) that goes bump in the night, but I also want to keep a healthy fear of my fellow man going on as well. It delivers on every level, and it not only ranks at the top of this list, but also very near to the top of my favorite Carpenter films overall. That about wraps it up for HT13: TR and my review of The Thing. Once again I want to thank everyone who got involved in the events over here at The Lair, and I hope you all keep coming back. I have lots of great stuff in store for the next couple of months, and I’m already kicking around ideas for next year’s list. 13 Giant Monsters? 13 Foreign horrors? 13 Classics? Who knows? You’ll have to stay tuned right here for the next year to find out. It will be worth it. Trust me.



Today's final list of horror remakes is the person that takes the number one spot for me each and every year, my number one, my wife, the lovely and talented Ms. Directed. As always I have to send out a big thanks to her for being a trooper and not killing me as I tried to cram in 31 posts in 31 days. It takes an awful good woman to deal with that, and on top of that she has horror remakes. Take it away, hon…..


1. Thirt13een Ghosts- Taking the concept of the original film and taking the special effects too a whole new gory level, Thrit13een Ghosts made for a great film and Tony Shaloub and F. Murray Abraham were pitch perfect.

2. The Thing- Because I like Kurt Russell in (or out) of anything. I even love Overboard. When you look at it, it could have come out really silly, but Carpenter made it work.

3. The Fly- If you like Franz Kafka and horror movies, how can you not like this one?

4. House on Haunted Hill - I love William Castle, and his event films lend themselves to be remade. Perhaps not the gimmicks, but his stories are so strong. The only thing that holds it back is that Lisa Loeb doesn’t get killed.

5. Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman- It brings the pre-feminist fear of the original into a post-feminist world, and it proves that giant women kicking ass will always be fun to watch.

Halloween is so almost upon us that I can feel it. Literally, I’m reaching over and feeling Halloween right now, and it feels sticky like sweets…also a little gross like I might not want to have my hand in this. I should have learned a lesson about gross gooey substances and sugar when I watched today’s penultimate entry to the Halloween Top 13: The Remake, David Cronenberg’s The Fly. When you add tonight‘s film, Naked Lunch, Rabid, Dead Ringers, Videodrome, The Brood, and Scanners all up together, you have a collection of films that leave me feeling quite nauseous one way or another. The Fly though is one of he very few films that can always makes me cringe and look away lest I lose all this delicious Halloween candy I’ve been gobbling up. Not only that, as always Cronenberg delves deep into the psycho-sexual and body horror motifs always guaranteed to give me the creeps.


Beginning in medias res, scientist Dr. Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) entices journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) to his laboratory with the promise of an earth shattering breakthrough. The skeptical journalist finds herself faced with an active and working transporter device, at least one capable of moving her silk stocking across the room. The problem is that Seth can’t make it transport flesh and blood creatures, but once Veronica teaches him a thing or two about the flesh (i.e. Baw-chicka-wa-wah.) he works out the problem. Soon enough he’s transporting a cute baboon across the room without turning him inside out. The new couple celebrates at first, but when Veronica goes out to put an end to the harassment by her former boyfriend and current editor Stathis (John Getz), the scientist’s fragile ego gets the best of him. He prematurely decides to transport himself, but he doesn’t realize that there’s a stowaway, Musca domestica, the common housefly.

Right up front I’m going to say that spoilers will abound in this review because I have too much I want to talk about to leave them out. So where to even start? Well, first thing’s first. If I was a crazy, depressed, drunk, heartbroken scientist, then I would have teleported myself along with Geena Davis’ stocking, but hey, that’s just me. The Fly, like so many classic horror titles, is a film about the invasion of the body by a foreign host. In this case a fly brought into the genetic structure of Seth Brundle. When the scientist first takes Veronica to his lab, he comments on its shoddy appearance saying it’s “cleaner on the inside.” He may be speaking about the building, but the idea of the purity of the body is a constant theme throughout the film. When Brundle first begins to see the effects of the transformation, he can do gymnastics, punch though walls, or arm-wrestle a guy’s arm in half. He feels that he has become more than human, and he has, just not the way he supposes.

On the other hand you have Veronica, impregnated by Seth after he suffered his transporter accident. She states plainly, “Can’t you understand? I don’t want it in my body.” It is a rejection of Brundle and what he has become, but also her reaction to the impurity in her body. She doesn’t want a child who could be deformed or turn into a fly. She even has a nightmare where she gives birth to larva. I could go into the political ideas lurking behind Cronenberg’s film, but all I will say is this. I don’t care what trimester you’re in, if you have a half fly baby (or would it be a quarter fly which would still be pretty fly for a white guy), then by all means get that thing out of you. That’s how things like Perez Hilton happen. The Fly is not the first time that Cronenberg has tackled this issue, but it may well be the best full exploration of the subject that the director has ever done.

None of what is wonderful and terrifying about the transformation of Seth Brundle into the Brundlefly is would be possible without the performance of Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum, a favorite of mine and two time Halloween Top 13 Inductee, gives one of the most dynamic performances in modern cinema, and the fact that he was not recognized as such because of the genre trappings of the picture is a real shame. At first, he seems alien to Veronica with touches of Starman-like innocence, but their relationship brings him out of his shell and he is taken over by the mechanizations of ego. As the tension builds , and Brundle becomes less human (coincidentally as Goldblum disappears beneath a layer of makeup), his performance becomes an intense, perfect piece of cinema magic. I don’t want to take anything away from Geena Davis’ solid performance or John Getz sleaze ball you hate to love, but the film is clearly Goldblum’s and he owns the moment.

The other crowning achievement of The Fly comes in the filmmaking itself. Brought to life from a script by Cronenberg and Psycho III scribe Charles Edward Pogue, The Fly takes the original version’s basic premise, a scientist who suffers from a transporter accident, and dispenses with all the “heeeelllp meeeee” campiness. In its place Cronenberg penetrates the films with the dark themes and tones that are so common in his work. Working with six time collaborator Mark Inwin as his cinematographer, Cronenberg makes the film visually dynamic to enhance his story. I especially like the subtle changes such as how Seth is never shot or shown in the same kind of light after his accident than he was before. There also needs to be something said for the sound editing. The squishy noise that accompanies the fingernail peeling scene is enough to turn my stomach each and every time.

At one point, the Brundelfy croaks, “This would make a great children’s book.”, and it might if you want your kids to grow up and be little David Cronenbergs. As I would, that probably goes to great lengths to explain why I don’t have kid. The Fly works because it is terrifying on each and every level, and the fact that it is a remake rarely if at all enters my mind. The greatest line in the movie is when Brundle, now at the end of his rope and with nothing but a dastardly plan to teleport Veronica, himself, and their unborn child into one body says, “I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man, and loved it, but now the dream is over and the insect is awake.” We all have the insect, the dirty, carnal, instinctual, unemotional side lurking in us, but hopefully for most of us, it will never happen and you will never have to puke on food to eat.

Today's final Halloween Overachiever, is a person that is no stranger to readers of The Lair because I'm talking about my good friend Emily, the Deadly Doll, who takes part in the film swap with me each month.  So while I subject her to films like Hot Wax Zombies on Wheels, I get thoughtful picks like We Are Going To Eat You in return. It's a nice system, and I rather enjoy it. Plus, it give me the added bonus of getting to collaborate with Emily. Every time I read one of her posts, I am reminded how wickedly funny her writing is.  No matter if she's mining a Mill Creek set for one of the hidden gems, talking about classic horror, rightfully calling out The Blind Side, Emily proves time and time again that she can strike the perfect balance of entertaining and information that makes for a great review. Plus, just like I mentioned yesterday with Matt, I get to meet up with Ms. Emily soon at Horrorhound, and we have something really special cooked up for next month's swap. For now kick back and enjoy her 13 remake picks (which include a few non-traditional choices, but that;s why I love the Deadly Doll.), and I'll be back this evening with the penultimate entry on the countdown.

A man is sent to the Carpathian Mountains where he is to meet a client, an investor looking for property. Once there, he realizes something is not quite right with his host. As he further investigates lead him to believe that this Count Dracula must be [Cue Dramatic Music and Lightning Crash] Klaus Kinski? Yep it sure is because when I want to kick back with a classic vampire flick, well, let’s be honest. My first choice is Bela Lugosi, but right after that is today’s creepy gem. Now I know many folks love the Hammer films with Christopher Lee, and personally I prefer Jess Franco’s 1970 Count Dracula with Lee. There is even a few people I know who like Gary Oldman or Frank Langella, and I have a place in my heart for both of those (Keanu’s accent and Langella’s hair withstanding.) Once in a blue moon, I might even throw on F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu, but my second choice for a Dracula tale will always be the strange, atmospheric retelling of Murnau’s film, Werner Herzog‘s Nosferatu: Phanton der Nacht or Nosferatu the Vampire (1979).

Let’s get back to the action already in progress, so Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) is stuck in the Carpathian Mountains with Count Dracula, and he’s sold him a run down property conveniently adjacent to his own. It doesn’t take long before the Count has loaded up his coffins full of soil, and embarks on the long voyage to his new home. He brings along a few friends with him, rats diseased with the plague. When he arrives in his new home, the German port city of Wismar, death begins to spread immediately, and the Count sets his sights on Harker’s beautiful wife Lucy (Isabella Adjani). Eventually, Harker makes his way home though he no longer remembers his wife. Lucy tries fruitlessly to warn the townsfolk of the Count, but no one, not even Dr. Van Helsing (Walter Ladenghast), would believe her. With no other choice, Lucy takes matters into her own hands and sacrifices herself to defeat the vampire.

It would be an impossible task to measure Herzog’s film against Murnau’s innovative early horror. They both share a mastery of the visual style of film, tell their stories economically making the most of atmosphere to horrify, and share a singularly strange leading man. (Talk about the impossible, try comparing Kinski and Schreck.) Essentially they are the same film except one of them has the added bonuses of color and sound, but outside of those obvious similarities, the two films could not be more different. Now, I’m not here to talk about Murnau, and I think the vast majority of horror fans have at least some experience with his Nosferatu (if not get thee to Internet Archive pronto) so I’m not too worried about spoiler as the plots are near identical. The real differences come from the cast, and the director who is making each film. If there is one thing that is true about Wener Herzog, it is that he is a man of singular vision.

This was the second of five collaborations between Herzog and leading man Klaus Kinski, and this is a perfect example of why their partnership worked (on screen at least). In Herzog’s film, the vampire is not merely the source of plague, death and evil (Though the film certainly exploit’s the literal translation of Nosferatu, “plague carrier”). This Count Dracula is a tragic figure who you can genuinely have pathos for even as he’s destroying a whole town with his very presence. I really think it is Kinski’s performance and his sad, sad looking eyes that make the character and really gives a different tone to the film. Herzog also exploited the fact that in the end Mernau’s film deviated from the book casting Harker’s wife as the heroine of the tale. Isabella Adjani is both a stunning woman and gives an incredible performance in her role. There are a number of other smaller performances I quite enjoy especially Roland Topor as Renfield. (You can read more about my thoughts on Topor and all the Renfield’s here.) I should have probably said, but there were two versions of the film made simultaneously in German and English, and while both are very good, for this review I watched the German version.

One of the themes that I have never seen explored in Herzog’s Nosferatu is the battle between science and superstition. The townsfolk won’t hear of a menace like a vampire in their city and so forth. This theme comes up repeatedly in the film, and it often strikes me that Herzog may not have just been talking about the death of folklore. By the late ‘70’s Star Wars had already hit, and movies would never be the same again. Herzog, a man who loves the artistry of film deeply, didn’t rush headlong into the future, but instead reached for the past. He saw that science had changed filmmaking, and that at once it was a scary thing and not. After all, when Murnau made his film, it was science and art changing the way we perceive the world too. So along with his story there is a message, accept change and remember the past... or it could kill you.  Is that not exactly what as moviegoers we want when a film we hold dear is remade?

So there we have it Number 3 on my list, and I really can’t wait to get into the last two picks on the countdown. I’m sure plenty of you have figured out what they’re going to be, but I won’t spoil the surprise. Instead, I’ll just say that I’m please as hell to have to check out these movies again. Hey, in case you missed it, don’t forget to go back and check out Matt from Chuck Norris Ate My Baby as he counts down his 13 favorite remakes, and look out tomorrow around noon for the last Halloween Overachievers list, this time from my good friend Emily. Until then I’m going to sign off, and have a glass of wine. Who am I kidding? I never drink….awww, you know the rest!

Oh man, these Overachievers are starting to make me second guess my own list, and I've only got three more entries to go! Today's 13 Remakes comes from a man who is the stuff of myth a legend. After all, if Chuck Norris Ate My Baby, I'd be quite sad indeed, but Matt seems to be OK with it. He fires up some massive Friday night dance parties, gets you through the weekend with the Horror Hangover, and generally lays down some of the most entertaining posts around. Every time I visit Chuck Norris Ate My Baby,  I know I'll leave with a smile on my face (and it doesn't even cost $2.99 a minute, yet.) Seriously, he's a great fellow, and one of the many people I look forward to meeting in just a couple of weeks at Horrorhound Cincinnati. I'm definitely going to owe the man a  round for the work he put into this one. Take it away Matt!



I've never been one to hate on the idea of remakes. Sure, they are sort of the embodiment of Hollywood's lack of originality, but a remake will never take away from me my love for the original source material. A remake doesn't 'rape my childhood' as some would say. My childhood was already enjoyed, thank you very much. While it is rare, there are certainly diamonds in the rough, and if there is to be yet another great version of a story I already love, well, that's just a win win situation if you ask me. What's the worst that can happen? The remake sucks and you never watch it again? You can still sit back and enjoy the original - It's still there and you'll still love it, no matter what a remake is like.

13. House of Wax: I love the original House of Wax staring that dude, Vinnie Price, and this 2005 update is just that, an update that took the basic setting and made an original film around it. Actually, it is claimed that House of Wax is not really a remake of the '53 film (which itself is a remake), only sharing its name. But in all reality, someone was trying to capitalize on a familiar-ish name with a good-looking cast meant to draw in the youngsters. However, House of Wax avoids the pitfalls that many other films of its ilk fall to by being well made, having an awesome setting, and the wax figures themselves are super creepy in a very Tourist Trap kind of way. And I fucking love Tourist Trap, so good on them for having that level of creepiness.

12. House on Haunted Hill: Now, here's a film that sort of came before the remake onslaught, in fact, I think it played a crucial part in the ongoing boom that is still strong even today. It's also the birth film of Dark Castle Entertainment, a company that made its initial stamp with a handful of remakes, including House of Wax. Anyway, history aside, House on Haunted Hill is a ton of fun and has plenty of creepy moments, many of which involve the mad Doctor played by genre darling, Jeffrey Combs. Now, while I do enjoy this film quite a bit, I do have one major issue with it, and that is the Disney-fied happy ending with a ghost Chris Kattan. Shit is so awful, but up until that ending, the movie is a rollercoaster ride of a time.

11. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The 1974 film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is one of my all time favorite horror movies. We're talking top five or better here, so for me to be even remotely pleased with this 2003 update says a lot in my opinion. This is a remake that follows the same guidelines, but does it in a way that makes it different enough to keep from being just a simple rehash. The movie is a little overly stylized, but with that does come some solid grit and a definite presence of the brutality that is to come. R. Lee Ermey's performance might be the most frightening thing over anything else, including Leatherface, who in all fairness is no slouch himself when it comes to being intimidating. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the first film to come from Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, and remains the best of the bunch that the studio has released remake wise, unfortunately. Is anyone really surprised, probably not.

10. The Hills Have Eyes: Even if I think it's a tad bit over rated by most horror fans, I really enjoy Alexandre Aja's remake of the Wes Craven pseudo classic, The Hills Have Eyes. It takes a film that was brutal at times to begin with and amps things up more than a few notches. It also fixed many of the issues as far as cheesiness goes with the original Hills, which is something that always held that film back as far as being an exploitation/horror classic. You could say that this is a case where the remake is better than the original, and that makes this update a prime example of why the remake risk is sometimes one worth taking. It should also be noted that it would seem that the presence of Craven as a producer had a major play in the way this remake was handled, and that is only further proven by my next pick.

9. Last House on the Left: Here we are again talking about a remake of a film that I have always been a huge fan of, and when you say exploitation, I say The Last House on the Left is one of THE most definitive exploitation films ever made. This time around, we have a film that trades in the dirty grindhouse look for a polished and very well crafted style. And while many would complain that that is not what a Last House on the Left film should look like, I say why would you want to see yet another exact replica of a film that you have already seen? The 2009 Last House is superbly shot, and even if it is not quite as brutal as its predecessor, its mean-spiritedness is just as impactful with characters that are written and acted in a way that you actually care about them. And for the record, I love the ending.

8. Body Snatchers: There have been more than a few celluloid versions of this tale, so in many ways this doesn't really count as a remake, but a stand-alone film that takes from a written source material. Either way, I would be remised if I didn't include 1993's Body Snatchers on a list of my favorite remakes. I simply loved this film - as well as its star, Gabrielle Anwar - when this film came out, and even with some of its faults, it is a genuinely creepy and smart movie for a multitude of reasons. The Abel Ferrera direction is solid, with a true sense of unease at all times, and all of the performances are spot on, with a stand out by Meg Tilly, who gives one of cinema's most chilling lines of dialogue: "Where you gonna go, where you gonna run, where you gonna hide? Nowhere... 'cause there's no one, like you, left." If you still have clean undies after this moment, then you might be a pod-person yourself.

7. The Ring: There were very few remakes that came from the J-Horror rip-off splash of last decade that were any good, but the one film that stood out above them all was the one that certainly influenced that wave in a huge way. The Ring is a perfect example of taking a foreign product and Americanizing it for accessibility without dumbing it down. It's sleek, atmospheric and has a true ominous sense throughout that I really enjoy, and that is only compounded on by the patient pacing of the movie, something that is always appreciated in a time of flashy cuts and over stylization. And for the record, the scene with the horse is scarier than anything that happens in the original film.

6. Night of the Living Dead: He may be a wicked dick, but FX maestro, Tom Savini, really stepped up to the undead plate with this 1990 remake of the 1968 classic George Romero film (and another of my all time favs). While Savini used the original screenplay as his guideline, there was a major change, specifically with the character of Barbara (Patricia Tallman), a women who was portrayed as weak and useless in the '68 film, and made to be a take-charge women who has as much will to survive as her male counterparts. An important part of what makes this such a great remake is the fact that Tony Todd was able to put forth a performance as Ben, which was on par with what was done by the incredible Duane Jones. And let's face it, Jones made that movie, and the same can be said for Todd with this one. Night of the Living Dead '90, in my opinion, is a near perfect modernization of a classic.

5. Dawn of the Dead: And what better way to follow-up the Night of the Living Dead remake than with the remake of its sequel, Dawn of the Dead. Well, it just so happens to work out that way, and out of the glut of modern horror remakes, this is the one that I believe most all horror fans champion as the cream of the crop, myself included. Here is a film that truly stands on its own two feet and does so while retaining the essentials. A mall, zombies, gore and a whole lot of kick ass. The characters are interesting, the actors are all great, the film is shot very well, and that opening, oh that opening is simply awesome. Dawn of the Dead will go down as a classic example of how to do a remake right, but more so, it will go down as a shining example of a great horror film, whether it's a remake or not.

4. Cape Fear: The first time I watched 1991's Cape Fear, it was double feature style with the first film being Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Now, while I pretty much love Jason Spends Ten Minutes in Manhattan a whole lot, I was very disappointed at the time, and to have a film such as that as your lead in to the tour de force that is Robert De Niro as Max Cady, it's no wonder I was so blown away by Cape Fear. From the tension filled opening credit sequence with that fantastic Bernard Hermann score, to the creepiest make out scene in cinema history, Martin Scorsese crafted one of my all time favorite remakes. Scorsese's style splashes the screen with powerful visuals, only adding to the ever-present insanity of one Max Cady. In addition, De Niro's generated madness is one of the man's best performances outside of Raging Bull. 

3. The Blob: Coming 30 years after the original, 1988's The Blob is one of the best monster movies of its time. Some of the FX work looks very dated now (which is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you), and at times it reeks of the 80's (mostly due to Kevin Dillon's sexy presence and demeanor), but it's a respectfully made update that fits in perfectly with its time period as was the case with the 1958 film in its own decade. That's not much of a surprise with someone like Frank Darabont's name being attached as co-writer, along with the film's director, Chuck Russell, who has a decent repertoire himself. This is a horror film straight up, and the scenes involving the titular menace are quite memorable and very nicely executed in just how visceral and gory they are. When it comes down to it, The Blob is simply a fun, and at times, gut wrenching monster film, and I love every second of it.

2. The Thing: Speaking of monster films, what's scarier than a monster that has no 'shape?' How about a monster that only takes the form of whatever body it takes over, making its home in the empty vessel of an unwilling man, women or even an animal? That monster is known only as it can be, The Thing, which is also the name of the 1982 classic John Carpenter update of 1951's The Thing From Another World, a film that is a classic in its own right. I mean, what can you say about The Thing that already hasn't? The claustrophobic setting, compounded by the frigid snow surrounding a group of men that trust no one but themselves, makes for a film that pisses out tension in spades. The Rob Bottin special effects are still astonishing, if not terribly morbid and grotesque, and that score done by the great Ennio Morricone does nothing more than add to the taut feeling of emptiness and seclusion that the film's characters, as well as its viewers, are faced with. One of the greatest films the genre would ever produce, and that's all that needs to be said.

1. The Fly: Well, while 90% of the horror community would put The Thing as their number one remake, with MY number one pick, The Fly, being not too far behind it. For me, both The Fly and The Thing are interchangeable as far as favorite horror remakes (and films period) go. However, my reason for putting David Cronenberg's body horror classic at the top of my list, is partially it's one of the greatest horror films ever made, as well as a film I watched all the time as a kid. For real, I watched a taped off of TV version of The Fly like once or twice a month for years as I was a child, and I loved it with all my black heart. I even used to spit tapioca pudding back into the little cup it came in to freak out my boy, which it did.

With a film that is mostly set in one main location with very few actors involved with the main story, The Fly places as much focus on the impact the metamorphosis has on all of the characters involved as it does the horrific transformation of Seth Brundle from human to Brundlefly. The tour de force performance from Jeff Goldblum is incredible to watch, and his transformation as a person is what drives the film even more so than do the physical changes. But boy, are those changes something to behold, and seeing what Seth Brundle goes through is truly frightening in ways that very few films can attain. To not be able to stop your body from deteriorating due to illness is horrific, because it can happen to any one of us if we were to be stricken with the right disease. Minus that whole fly thing, naturally.

If you made it this far, thanks for doing so, as that is my list of my top 13 favorite horror remakes!