5 Best & 5 Worst Asian Horror Movie Remakes Ever Made

3. Godzilla (2014)

It might not be considered a ‘pure’ horror today, but there was a time when the creature feature dominated the genre and towering, scaly beasts were genuinely scary fare. One of the monster movie universe’s most recognisable characters is Godzilla and since his big screen debut in Ishiro Honda’s 1954 film, there have been several attempts at an American remake including that disappointing Roland Emmerich offering that most people would rather forget about.

It wasn’t until director Gareth Edwards tackled Godzilla in his 2014 reboot that Hollywood finally got it right. Edwards, who first demonstrated his talent for creature features in his cinematic debut Monsters, stays true to the spirit of the original film in both the look of Godzilla and focus on the human element of disaster but updates the movie for a contemporary audience with a new origin story and slick, modern effects.

It’s not without its foibles of course. It’s emphasis on eye candy cast members Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen means more interesting characters like Ken Watanabe’s scientist and Bryan Cranston’s nuclear engineer are woefully underused. Though compared to Emmerich’s 1998 movie, most accurately described as Matthew Broderick aimlessly chasing a decidedly un-scary iguana-frog hybrid, Edwards’ Godzilla definitely comes out on top.