The Worst Remakes In Movie History

Worst Remakes in Movie History

Sometimes, you just have to ask yourself, why. Why, Hollywood? Why are you doing this to us? The “this” that we are talking about are the endless movie remakes the film industry continues to “impress” us with. They are non-stop and, for the most part, unnecessary, which always leads us to the end result of “Why?”

There are bad remakes and then there are the worst movie remakes. Here are 10 of the worst remakes in movie history.

10. The Haunting (1999)

This 1999 fiasco, The Haunting, is a remake of the creepy 1963 film of the same name, both of which got their inspiration from the best-selling novel, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. This remake has all of the elements needed for a solid film – a cast headlined by Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, and Lili Taylor. But after a decent setup, the script becomes so shoddy and unintentionally humorous that you might mistake this “horror” film as a comedy.

9. The Pink Panther (2006)

Okay, so before we lambaste this movie remake, you need to know we are big fans of Steve Martin here at GFR. But, with that said, not even the brilliant Martin can replicate what Peter Sellers did as Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The script, which Martin also co-wrote, simply doesn’t do the character justice. Even with the film going through heavy edits to remove the raunchier tone, it still doesn’t work. And where is Clouseau’s faithful companion Cato Fong?  

8. Ben-Hur (2016)

Seriously? A remake of the 1956 film that won an incredible 11 Academy Awards? Why even go there? Well, Paramount tried, though they didn’t try even remotely hard enough. How a film could fail so miserably with the ability to run the gambit with CGI is mind-boggling, but again, why even try? The film starred Jack Huston as Judah Ben-Hur and it did feature the fabled chariot race, but come on. Why?

7. Psycho (1998)

We are going to give director Gus Van Sant an “E” for effort, but this is one classic film that should not have been a movie remake. Hitchcock did it best with a lead actor (Anthony Perkins) who embodied the character of Norman Bates. It is a tough watch, seeing Vince Vaughn (who is great in most things) try to turn himself into Bates with a script that tried to go toe-to-toe with Hitch’s. This film deserves a “P” for we’ll pass.

6. RoboCop (2014)

It seemed like a fun idea to bring back Robocop, but the idea of turning a brutal original (it originally received an X-rating for its bloody violence) into a PG-13, violence-light crime drama was not the best decision to make. True, the cast was game, with Joel Kinnaman taking over the Alex Murphy/Robocop role and others including Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Jackie Earle Haley, Abbie Cornish, and Samuel L. Jackson. But the film was missing the one thing (or maybe more) that made the original so enjoyable – bite.

5. Fantastic Four (2015)

Once the cast was announced for this poor remake movie, fans knew it wasn’t going to work. When Fantastic Four finally hit the movie theaters, their thoughts were dead on correct. This 2015 poor attempt at a remake stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as the Fantastic Four, and while Jordan’s inclusion set off a wave of unnecessary controversy, it was ultimately an asinine script that spelled its “Doom.”

4. The Mummy (2017)

The intention of this 2017 movie remake was to create what was then billed as the Dark Universe, where Universal Pictures was bringing back all of their classic monsters in different stories with the goal of them all coming together in one big film. This Tom Cruise misfire pretty much killed that idea. It was a sad state of affairs as there was so much hope and promise for this film that came from director Alex Kurtzman and a script by frequent Cruise collaborators David Koepp and Christopher McQuarrie.

3. Rollerball (2002)

It’s not that the 1975 Rollerball movie starring James Caan was such a thrill ride, it was fun, but it’s just that it never needed a remake. And the 2002 film, “God-awful” by some accounts, starring Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Jean Reno, and Rebecca Romjin-Stamos was proof positive. This uncalled-for remake movie focused more on the action on the roller rink than the social critique from the first film and that was only the beginning of its problems.

2. The Wicker Man (2006)

Say what you will about the resurgent career of Nicolas Cage, because it has been quite impressive, but perhaps the reason for this resurgence in the first place comes from absolute bombs such as the 2006 movie remake of The Wicker Man. Cage is game (he’s always game) as a lawman who travels to a secluded island in hopes of finding a missing girl. What he gets instead are (many) moments of unintentional comedy and a very puzzling question of why. We love us some Nic Cage but skip this one at all costs.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Sometimes it is simply best to leave well enough alone and that is exactly what director Paul Feig and the cast of the Ghostbusters remake should have done. This film, which features four funny women replacing the original Ghostbusters crew, is a complete misfire from the word “go.”

Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones are out of their depth in this remake that also sees Chris Hemsworth appear as the Ghostbusters clueless receptionist. Not even the appearance of the original Ghostbusters cast Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts (in different roles from the original) could save this film.