10 worst Hollywood remakes of international horror films, ranked

Hollywood taking non-Hollywood films and remaking them for American audiences is nothing new. Of course, very few remakes retain the quality of the originals, but there are some excellent films that are still remembered years after their release. Of course, with this trend of Americanizing films, some horror films will inevitably fall into the trap.

The most recent of these foreign remakes is 2024’s Speak No Evil, a remake of a Danish film that was released in 2022. So far, Speak No Evil has generally received quite positive reviews, except for one of the worst Hollywood horror remakes, there are many. These horror remakes not only lose the original story, but feel like they are trying to cater to generic horror, and ignore what fans want to see – i.e. what makes the original films appealing in the first place, what makes the location so unique.

10 ‘The Wicker Man’ (2006).

The Wicker Man, starring Nicolas Cage, has received some pretty bad reviews, which are honestly deserved. However, it escapes being Hollywood's worst horror remake because it's intentionally funny. British-born Sir Christopher Lee plays a cult leader on the remote Scottish island of Summerisle, who becomes a detective investigating the disappearance of a young girl. The original film is actually quite scary and well-made, although it's very underrated.

However, the 2006 film is not only scary, but sometimes funny when it shouldn't be. It's the film that launched the "No Bees!" craze. It provides memes that can be found all over the internet. The plot is very similar, but the visuals and screenplay are filled with craziness such as Nicolas Cage himself. The 2006 film is now widely regarded as one of the "very bad-very good" movies of all time.

9 'Goodnight Mother' (2022).

The 2014 Austrian original Goodnight Mommy has a really interesting premise and uses a lot of psychological horror tropes. The film is about two young twin brothers whose mother undergoes cosmetic surgery. But when she returns with bandages wrapped around her face, they begin to suspect that the woman standing in front of them might be an impostor. It has a kind of predictable plot twist, but overall, it's a pretty good psychological horror.

In 2022, a North American remake is being made for Amazon Prime Video, which is missing everything that made the original great. It wasn't as shocking or scary, and even the dialogue was weak in places. While it certainly wasn't terrible, it was extremely disappointing, and it turned a promising concept into a forgettable round of boredom that somehow got buried after release. It's best to just stick to the basics in this case.

8 'The Lost One' (1993).

The original 1988 Dutch film known as The Vanishing may have been overlooked, but it remained popular for nearly four decades. Famed director Stanley Kubrick dubbed it the scariest horror film he had ever seen, even better through subtext and narrative. If Kubrick, known for films like The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, praised the film, that alone should say a lot about its quality. So how could the 1993 American version go so wrong?

For one thing, the original film is probably one of the worst movies ever made, because it's really about evil, and it has a deliberately depressing ending to make its point clear. But the remake has a happy ending, which completely ruins the whole point of the original film. This and a few other obstacles are what caused Startup to fail so miserably. Even better, the 1993 film The Vanishing is far from the worst movie ever made. Hey, it's not that bad. Yes, it's bad, but it's not terrible.

The Vanishing (1993) is now available in the US. Not available for streaming, rental or purchase in Canada.

7 'Mirrors' (2008).

Mirrors is based on the original 2003 South Korean horror film Into the Mirror, which is actually worth watching for horror fans. The original film stands apart from other horror films, as it takes a long hard look at psychological and philosophical issues such as doppelgangers, self-reflection and more, and sends a deeper message that lingers long after the credits roll.

The Hollywood remake however removes all of these issues, and leaves them in South Korea, and the film really suffers because of it. Instead of being a narrative triumph, it becomes a dull, boring horror film focused on spectacle and little else. Neither does its main star, Kiefer Su