20 Surprisingly Great Horror Movie Remakes

When talking about hallowed horror movies, it's impossible to ignore The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - another epochal genre offering that simply didn't need a remake.

And the already thunderous skepticism was made worse by the fact that 2003's remake was written and directed by a pair of upstart filmmakers with no previous credits to their name - writer Scott Kosar and director Marcus Nispel.

Toss in a cast of a young, beautiful actors-of-the-moment and it felt like this new take was doomed from the jump, but oh how wrong we were.

While The Texas Chainsaw Massacre received mixed-to-negative reviews upon release, the response from horror fans has consistently skewed more positive, especially in recent years.

It helps that the remake brought back the original's cinematographer, Daniel Pearl, to ensure it delivered a suitably grungy aesthetic consistent with Tobe Hooper's 1974 original.

Beyond that, the remake is a brilliantly paced 98-minute belter that ramps up the intensity and benefits immensely from Jessica Biel's plucky Final Girl energy, as well as R. Lee Ermey's delicious performance as Sheriff Hoyt.

It's also an iconic film in its own right, because its stonking box office performance opened the floodgates for a glut of horror remakes throughout the 2000s - most of them nowhere near as good as this.