10 Movie Remakes With Better Endings Than The Original
3. The Fly (1986)
Though both the 1958 and 1986 versions of The Fly are great movies, David Cronenberg's more explicit, emotionally devastating take is an improvement in pretty much every way.
The '58 film memorably concludes with Andre's (David Hedison) grotesque human-fly hybrid form caught in a spider's web, but before he can be devoured, Inspector Charras (Herbert Marshall) crushes both Andre and the spider to death with a rock.
But Cronenberg's version cranks up both the horror and the tragedy, with Seth Brundle's (Jeff Goldblum) stomach-churning final form brought to life by state-of-the-art practical effects, before he begs his partner Ronnie (Geena Davis) to put him out of his misery, which she tearfully does with a shotgun blast to the head.
The sadness is compounded by the fact that Brundle never got to meet his unborn son, while in the '58 film they were a happy family long before the transformation took place.
And best of all, Cronenberg's film just bluntly ends moments after Brundle's death, compared to the original's overly expository, on-the-nose monologue about man's dangerous quest for knowledge.