8 Horror Movie Remakes That Are Better Than The Originals
4. The Fly (1986)
A lot of people don’t know that David Cronenberg’s gross horror-thriller is actually a remake, but this only speaks to the film's high quality and cultural impact; it completely overshadows the film on which it's based.
It's not hard to see why, either. The original The Fly has become something of a laughing stock over time; it aimed to be a straight-faced, philosophical discussion, but it's hard to take it seriously when there are moments like this peppered throughout.
As a result, the original is a flat, ridiculous B-movie, but David Cronenberg's 1986 remake was a sharp, bloody, tormented work, featuring a career-best Jeff Goldblum and sublime practical effects.
Both versions tell the twisted story of a scientist accidentally merging his body with a fly, but in the remake, there are a lot of changes that make a lot of sense.
For example, in the original, protagonist André Delambre doesn't really 'merge' with the fly... he simply acquires its head and one of its arms, and this change happens more-or-less instantly. But in the remake, you see the slow, painful transformation that Seth Brundle is put through, his form resembling that of a diseased, mutilated human, and not of an actual fly.
This ups the horror of the situation immensely, and as a result, the remake is a lot more scary and a lot more effective at conveying its message; don't mess with the unknown. Try eating your dinner while watching this. Dare you.