TAGGED AS: Horror, movies, remakes, worst
(Photo by Screen Gems. Thumbnail: Warner Bros /courtesy Everett Collection.)
The 30 Worst-Reviewed Remakes of All Time
Second time’s the harm for these Rotten remakes, with each critically-trashed film here scored well below 30% on the Tomatometer. It’s probably no surprise there’s plenty of horror remakes on here (especially during those flare-ups when Hollywood would plunder overseas for material to adapt for American audiences) but since we’ve already got a worst horror movies list, let’s focus on the remakes that made critics scream without the tacky jump scares. Die Hard director John McTiernan virtually killed his career with the Rollerball reboot, and love made Guy Ritchie do some screwy things, like putting Madonna in Swept Away. Nicolas Cage double-dipped with Bangkok Dangerous and The Wicker Man, putting his image in a tail-spin until his rehabilitation in recent years. Tom Cruise proved he CAN’T do it all with The Mummy, immediately unravelling the Dark Universe. And the FBI may pay you to surf, but they’re certainly not wasting taxpayer dollars on a decent action flick in Point Break.
As for comedies, the search is on for laughs with The Pink Panther in the Inspector Clouseau role. The Women and Yours, Mine & Ours tried updating some classic comedies of decades past, while Taxi didn’t even work just a few years after the French original came out. Now, see the full list to our guide of the worst-reviewed movie remakes of all time. —Alex Vo
#1
Adjusted Score: 2546%
Critics Consensus: One of the weakest entries in the J-horror remake sweepstakes, One Missed Call is undone by bland performances and shopworn shocks.
Synopsis: When Beth Raymond (Shannyn Sossamon) witnesses the deaths of two friends, she knows there is more at work than just...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 540%
Critics Consensus: No need for a quarantine -- enthusiasm for this inert remake is not contagious.
Synopsis: Fresh out of college, five friends (Nadine Crocker, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis) face the horrors of a flesh-eating virus while...
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#3
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: With the help of her father's ex-partner (Samuel L. Jackson) and a friend (Callan McAuliffe) from her past, an orphaned...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 6620%
Critics Consensus: Removing the social critique of the original, this updated version of Rollerball is violent, confusing, and choppy. Klein makes for a bland hero.
Synopsis: Jonathan (Chris Klein) is the most popular player in the fastest and most extreme sport of all time: rollerball. Along...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 7538%
Critics Consensus: Flatliners falls flat as a horror movie and fails to improve upon its source material, rendering this reboot dead on arrival.
Synopsis: Five medical students embark on a daring and dangerous experiment to gain insight into the mystery of what lies beyond...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 5884%
Critics Consensus: The Fog is a so-so remake of a so-so movie, lacking scares, suspense or originality.
Synopsis: The prosperous town of Antonio Bay, Ore., is born in blood, as the town's founders get their money by murdering...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 4287%
Critics Consensus: A needless remake that quickly loses sight of the themes that elevated the original, this is a Jacob's Ladder that leads straight to nowhere.
Synopsis: After losing his brother in combat, Jacob Singer returns home from Afghanistan -- only to be pulled into a mind-twisting...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 8093%
Critics Consensus: Muddled and lacking the political context of the original, Swept Away offers further proof that Madonna can't act.
Synopsis: Imagine being shipwrecked on a beautiful island -- with someone you really can't stand. A young soldier (Adriano Giannini) is...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 9453%
Critics Consensus: The initial set-up is unbelievable, the plotting is predictable and stale, and the comedy depends on repetitive pratfalls that soon get old.
Synopsis: When Coast Guard Adm. Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid) decides to move his family of eight children back to his old...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 12039%
Critics Consensus: Silly and unfunny remake of a French movie of the same name.
Synopsis: After a slew of traffic accidents, police detective Andy Washburn is demoted and has his driver's license revoked by his...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 12130%
Critics Consensus: With murky cinematography, a meandering pace, a dull storyline, and rather wooden performances, The Pang Brothers' Hollywood remake of Bangkok Dangerous is unsuccessful.
Synopsis: Remorseless assassin Joe (Nicolas Cage) is in Thailand to complete a series of contract killings for a crime boss called...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 11155%
Critics Consensus: When a Stranger Calls ranks among the more misguided remakes in horror history, offering little more than a rote, largely fright-free update to the original.
Synopsis: Far away from the site of a gruesome murder, a teenager named Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) arrives at a luxurious...
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#13
Adjusted Score: 12918%
Critics Consensus: Being a remake of a Thai horror film instead of Japanese doesn't prevent Shutter from being another lame Asian horror remake.
Synopsis: Photographer Ben (Joshua Jackson) and his new bride, Jane (Rachael Taylor), turn their honeymoon into a working vacation when he...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 9736%
Critics Consensus: Martyrs flays off everything that gave the original its icy horrific beauty, leaving us an empty, pointless remake.
Synopsis: With help from a friend (Bailey Noble), a tormented woman (Troian Bellisario) tracks down the family that imprisoned and tortured...
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#15
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#16
Adjusted Score: 13324%
Critics Consensus: Another stale American remake of a successful Japanese horror film, Pulse bypasses the emotional substance of the original and overcompensates with pumped-up visuals and every known horror cliche.
Synopsis: After her boyfriend commits suicide, a psychology student (Kristen Bell) and her friends begin receiving unsettling e-mails and video messages....
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#17
Adjusted Score: 12853%
Critics Consensus: Michael Caine shows up to collect a paycheck, and so does everyone else in this rote, middling remake.
Synopsis: Sylvester Stallone plays Jack Carter, a Vegas mobster who comes home to Seattle to bury his brother after an apparent...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 21232%
Critics Consensus: Visually faithful but lacking the depth and subversive twists that made the original so memorable, the Nightmare on Elm Street remake lives up to its title in the worst possible way.
Synopsis: Teenagers Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean are all neighborhood friends who begin having the same dream of a horribly...
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#19
Adjusted Score: 18598%
Critics Consensus: The Women is a toothless remake of the 1939 classic, lacking the charm, wit and compelling protagonists of the original.
Synopsis: Clothing designer Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) appears to have it all: a beautiful home in Connecticut, a successful husband, a...
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#20
Adjusted Score: 21450%
Critics Consensus: The rebooted Red Dawn lacks the original's topicality, but at least pays tribute in delivering the same short shrift to character development and general logic.
Synopsis: When North Korean troops invade U.S. soil and take over the city of Spokane, Wash., a recently returned Iraq War...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 14957%
Critics Consensus: A gratuitous remake of the 1974 slasher, Black Christmas pumps out the gore and blood with zero creativity, humor, or visual flair.
Synopsis: The holiday season turns deadly for a group of sorority sisters (Katie Cassidy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Michelle Trachtenberg)...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 32564%
Critics Consensus: Lacking the campy fun of the franchise's most recent entries and failing to deliver many monster-movie thrills, The Mummy suggests a speedy unraveling for the Dark Universe.
Synopsis: Nick Morton is a soldier of fortune who plunders ancient sites for timeless artifacts and sells them to the highest...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 18940%
Critics Consensus: Puzzlingly misguided, Neil LaBute's update The Wicker Man struggles against unintentional comedy and fails.
Synopsis: A reclusive lawman (Nicolas Cage) travels to a secluded island to search for a girl who has gone missing. Once...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 29505%
Critics Consensus: Without compelling characters or heart, Godzilla stomps on everything that made the original (or any monster movie worth its salt) a classic.
Synopsis: During a nuclear test, the French government inadvertently mutates a lizard nest; years later, a giant lizard makes its way...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 28423%
Critics Consensus: Bereft of the imaginative flair that made earlier Hellboys so enjoyable, this soulless reboot suggests Dante may have left a tenth circle out of his Inferno.
Synopsis: While battling a trio of rampaging giants, the legendary half-demon Hellboy encounters Nimue the Blood Queen, an ancient resurrected sorceress...
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#26
Adjusted Score: 21888%
Critics Consensus: Sophisticated visual effects fail to offset awkward performances and an uneven script.
Synopsis: This horror tale focuses on visitors to the secluded mansion of Hill House who have been called to the isolated...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 28708%
Critics Consensus: Heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base, The Day the Earth Stood Still is subpar re-imagining of the 1951 science-fiction classic.
Synopsis: Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), an extraterrestrial visitor to planet Earth, becomes the herald of upheaval on a global scale. As the...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 26852%
Critics Consensus: Dull and derivative, the rebooted Grudge wastes a talented cast and filmmaker on watered-down scares that may leave viewers nursing grievances of their own.
Synopsis: A detective investigates a murder scene that has a connection to a case that her new partner handled in the...
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#29
Adjusted Score: 26780%
Critics Consensus: The scenery and the stars are undeniably beautiful, but they can't make up for The Tourist's slow, muddled plot, or the lack of chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.
Synopsis: During an impromptu trip to Europe to mend a broken heart, math teacher Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) finds himself in...
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#30
Adjusted Score: 26556%
Critics Consensus: Though Steve Martin is game, the particulars of the Inspector Clouseau character elude him in this middling update.
Synopsis: When the coach of a French soccer team is killed, his ring featuring the legendary Pink Panther diamond goes missing....
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