8 Horror Remakes That Became Classics In Their Own Right

John Carpenter’s The Thing is nothing if not brave. Released the same year as friendly-alien blockbuster E.T, it sports a full male cast, takes place in one location, is based on a cheesy B-movie popcorn flick, and then there’s that title. The box office failure should not have come as a surprise. Yet, some 36 years later and it’s hard to imagine the horror or sci-fi genre without this masterpiece.

Carpenter takes the alien invasion sub-genre and turns it on its head by tapping into cabin in the woods paranoia and seclusion opposed to large scale set-pieces. Similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, much of the tension is driven by low key scenes in which we question who is actually human. No scene is better in conveying this than the blood sampling scene, which is one of the most nail-bitingly intense scenes in horror cinema history.

Watched today and it's still as terrifying and thrilling as ever with many of the (non-CGI) effects still holding up, most of which were unlike anything seen before, or since, in any sci-fi or horror film. Bizarrely, it was completely ignored by the Academy, with the film's groundbreaking visuals receiving no nominations for make up or special effects.

The Thing was remade again in 2011, but this latest venture to the Antarctic failed to capture any of the originality, or nastiness of the 1982 version which is not only one of the greatest remakes of all time, but also one of the best horror films ever made.