The 13 Best Scary-Movie Remakes and Sequels To Watch This Halloween

At this point, almost every classic horror movie has gotten a sequel, remake, or reboot. The scary thing is that some of them are actually decent and perfect for any Halloween movie marathon.

In Wes Craven’s Scream 2, which is actually a terrific sequel, the character Randy says, “By definition alone, sequels are inferior films!” Although he makes a solid argument in the movie, some sequels and remakes such as 2018’s Halloween and The Bride of Frankenstein prove that there are notable exceptions.

As someone who is admittedly forgiving of horror movies that film snobs might find dubious, I will go to bat for any of the following sequels and remakes.

Halloween (2018)

Set 40 years after the events in John Carpenter’s seminal slasher Halloween, David Gordon Green’s imaginatively titled Halloween features the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, who has been preparing for a final confrontation with killer Michael Myers for decades at the expense of her family and own happiness.

Although the Laurie character seems to have died in the abysmal 2002 sequel Halloween: Resurrection, 2018’s Halloween hits the reset button and ignores all of the other Halloween movies except the 1978 original. Without the confusing plot baggage some of those shoddy sequels introduced to the franchise, the 2018 Halloween effectively strips the movie down to its essence: good vs. evil.

This heart-pounding, course-correcting sequel became a treat at the box office and spawned two sequels, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Evil Dead II (1987)

Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II starring Bruce Campbell as Deadite slayer Ash Williams functions as both a sequel and remake to The Evil Dead. In Evil Dead II, Ash returns to the cabin in the woods with his girlfriend and inadvertently unleashes a bunch of grotesque demons that try to possess him and swallow his soul.

Although Raimi directed both The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, the cult success of the first movie allowed him to play around with a bigger budget for the second installment. Comedy and horror are an uneasy mix, but Campbell spits out one-liners such as “Groovy” and embraces the physical comedy like he was born to do this. It’s his all-in, committed performance that makes Evil Dead II such a party and prompted Campbell to return for another sequel, Army of Darkness, and the TV series Ash vs Evil Dead.

Hail to the king, baby!

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead — the sequel to his landmark black-and-white zombie film Night of the Living Dead — follows a group of survivors who take a helicopter and hunker down in a shopping mall outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dawn of the Dead features memorable makeup effects by Tom Savini, a haunting progressive rock score by Goblin, and Romero’s scathing commentary on consumerism. When a character wonders aloud why the zombies gather outside of a shopping mall, Stephen “Flyboy” Andrews (David Emge) says, “Some kind of instinct. Memory of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives.” Romero holds up a mirror to society and suggests that the line separating the living from the walking dead is hair thin.

The cult favorite spawned several sequels and a 2004 remake by Zack Snyder, but we still prefer our rotting zombies to shuffle along instead of sprint.

The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter’s chilling creature feature The Thing is a remake of 1951’s The Thing From Another World. In the 1982 movie, a group of American researchers at a scientific station in Antarctica come into contact with a hostile, shape-shifting alien that can imitate other life forms, including humans. Kurt Russell plays R.J. MacReady, a helicopter pilot willing to burn the whole station down if the monster dies with him.

Although panned when initially released, The Thing has developed a cult following by horror fans and is now praised for its inventive-yet-gory special effects and considered one of Carpenter’s best films. A prequel, confusingly titled The Thing, arrived in 2011 and leads right into the events of the 1982 film.

The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg’s sci-fi body-horror movie The Fly is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name. Jeff Goldblum plays a brilliant but reckless scientist named Seth Brundle who, while testing his teleportation pods, accidentally splices his DNA with that of a housefly that gets into the pod with him. Brundle then slowly and horrifically transforms into a giant fly-human hybrid.

With regard to body horror, nothing tops this Cronenberg masterpiece. Goldblum’s performance is heartbreaking as the formerly awkward and shy scientist slowly loses his humanity as he loses body parts. Geena Davis is scary good as the reporter-turned-girlfriend who witnesses Brundle’s transformation and becomes panicked after realizing that she is pregnant with his child.

The Fly won an Academy Award for Best Makeup. A subpar sequel, The Fly II, failed to make a buzz in 1989.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

This 1978 Philip Kaufman-directed remake of the 1956 sci-fi classic of the same name stars Donald Sutherland as a San Francisco health inspector who discovers that people are being replaced by alien clones grown out of seed pods that arrived on Earth from outer space.

Gen Xers who saw the creepy movie as kids still get chills thinking about Sutherland in the final scene of Invasion of the Body Snatchers as he emits an otherworldly scream while exposing another character as “still human.” Rolling Stone and several other publications dubbed 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers one of the best remakes in movie history.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep is a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, both of which are based on novels by Stephen King. In Doctor Sleep, an adult Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is reluctantly drawn back to the haunted Overlook Hotel to battle a group of psychic vampires known as the True Knot who feed on the energy produced by those who “shine” with psychic abilities.

You can tell how reverent Flanagan is toward Kubrick’s film by the painstakingly meticulous re-creation of the Overlook Hotel made for Doctor Sleep down to the most minute detail. McGregor is excellent as a troubled man trying to right past wrongs, and Rebecca Ferguson is a bewitching revelation as the heartless leader of the True Knot, Rose the Hat.

If you missed this surprisingly solid sequel in theaters, check it out, and its very different alternative ending, on home video.

Candyman (2021)

Nia DaCosta’s Candyman is a requel that follows the events of 1992’s Candyman, based on a Clive Barker short story. According to an urban legend, the hook-handed ghost Candyman will appear if someone says his name five times in a mirror.

The original Candyman introduced the world to a terrifying new cinematic boogeyman played by Tony Todd. Two lackluster sequels followed until DaCosta made a smart, culturally insightful fourth film that served as a simultaneous sequel and reboot. Vanessa Williams, Virginia Madsen, and Todd all reprised their roles in some capacity from the original film.

2021’s Candyman got great reviews, especially for a horror film, and made a sweet profit at the box office.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

In this James Whale-directed sequel to 1931’s Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester plays the dual roles of Mary Shelley and the Bride. Boris Karloff returns as the monster and Colin Clive returns as Dr. Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein was universally praised and is arguably one of the rare horror sequels that is superior to the original. After the audience develops sympathy for the Frankenstein Monster, you almost feel sorry for him when the Bride rejects him and, defeated, he says, “We belong dead.” Nearly 90 years later, the iconic horror sequel still holds up. “She’s alive!”

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 gothic horror masterpiece merges the legend of Vlad the Impaler with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The movie stars Gary Oldman as Dracula, Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, Winona Ryder as Mina Murray, and Anthony Hopkins as vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing.

Although more of a reinterpretation of 1931’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi than a straightforward remake, Bram Stoker’s Dracula introduced a new generation to the classic vampire story. The chilling scene in which the vampire Lucy (Sadie Frost) descends into a crypt carrying a child is one of the most gorgeously gothic moments captured on film in history.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula won several Oscars, including Best Costume Design and Best Makeup.

Aliens (1986)

After being in stasis drifting in space for 57 years following the events in Alien, Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found and returned to a space station in Earth orbit at the beginning of Aliens. Weyland-Yutani Corporation convinces Ripley to accompany a group of Colonial Marines to investigate why the company lost contact with a colony living on the planetoid LV-426 that the crew of the Nostromo discovered in Alien. Spoiler alert: it’s because the colonists found the same derelict spacecraft filled with egg pods that doomed the crew of the Nostromo.

Whereas Ridley Scott leaned into the horror aspect in Alien, director James Cameron dialed up the action in Aliens to create one of the most intense, nerve-wracking cinematic experiences of all time. As Ripley tries to rescue a young girl named Newt, she encounters the gigantic Alien queen — the xenomorph responsible for laying all of those eggs. Ripley’s protracted final battle with the queen still holds up decades later.

Weaver was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Ripley in this first sequel that some even prefer to the moodier and slower-moving Alien.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

A decade after the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, director Wes Craven returned with the meta sequel Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. After being killed off in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, the razor-gloved dream demon Freddy Krueger tries to enter the real world by getting into the heads of actors from the franchise such as Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, and John Saxon, who all play themselves.

Craven found a way to bring not only Freddy back, but also fan-favorite actors from the series such as Langenkamp, who played Nancy Thompson in the original and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

More than just a clever stunt to resurrect a popular horror boogeyman, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare invites audiences to consider how a pop-culture phenomenon such as Freddy affects its creators, those involved in the making of the movies, and society in general. A scene in which a group of children in an audience are dressed as and cheering for Englund to come out as Freddy — a horribly burned child murderer — will make you stop and think.

Psycho II (1982)

Set 22 years after the events of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Richard Franklin’s Psycho II follows Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) after he is released from a mental hospital and reclaims ownership of the Bates Motel. Vera Miles reprises her role as Lila Loomis, and Meg Tilly plays her daughter, Mary Loomis, who starts noticing disturbing things happening at the Bates house.

Although a sequel to an iconic Hitchcock movie such as Psycho seems like something doomed to fail, Psycho II is a surprisingly atmospheric and stylish sequel that in no way tarnishes the legacy of its more-famous predecessor. The early ’80s were the heyday of slasher films and Psycho II could have easily gone in the direction of Friday the 13th for a cheap buck, but Perkins turns in a sympathetic performance as a character who has done horrible things but struggles to leave bad memories — and Mother —in the past.