15 Underrated Movie Remakes That Deserve Another Look

ITV viewers will remember Meet Joe Black from every other Sunday afternoon throughout the noughties - a position which unfortunately turned it into background noise for even the most dedicated audiences. Its quick and firm transition to TV was in no small part due to its combination of recognisable stars (Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins), lukewarm critical reception and lack of significant box office returns, but also its ability to fill a big programming slot, running at just over three hours.

And of course the length was one of the reasons it wasn’t more widely seen or accepted by audiences who are usually suckers for this sort of thing: Death (Pitt) finds himself temporarily Earthbound, when he trades businessman Bill Parrish (Hopkins) a few days of extra life for some roaming time finding out what it’s like to be human, all while Bill’s daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) falls head over heels for him.

Based on Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Meet Joe Black actually manages to improve on the original in several key ways - not just with a bigger budget and more lavish scenes, but by making Death a lighter and more relatable subject. It’s romantic, it’s heart-warming, and if you can park the afternoon telly feeling, it’s well worth another watch.