20 Surprisingly Great Horror Movie Remakes

William Lustig's cult classic 1980 slasher Maniac has such a distinctly sleazy atmosphere that it was easy to be wary of a 30-years-later remake - one which could've so easily stripped away the original's lurid vibes.

But 2012's Maniac smartly decides to do something quite different, with director Franck Khalfoun shooting his remake almost entirely from a first-person perspective.

And fully appreciating that there's simply no point trying to imitate Joe Spinell's unforgettable original performance as serial killer Frank, the part is instead played here by a seemingly polar opposite actor - the angel-faced Elijah Wood.

While Wood isn't featured on-screen too much due to the film's POV style, his vocal performance as Frank imbues the character with a skin-crawling sense of menace.

Between this and some of the nauseatingly violent death scenes that Khalfoun cooks up, Maniac 2012 does unexpected justice to its predecessor while serving up grisly thrills for those who have no idea it's even a remake.