9 Horror Movie Remake Deaths That Were Way Better Than The Original

Because not everything about every horror movie remake sucks.

A nightmare on Elm Street Gwen
Platinum Dunes

Whether it's remake, reboot, reimagining, reimaging, recalibration or whatever the latest buzz word of the day is, hearing that a once successful idea is being revisited is enough to induce a groan from the vast majority of horror hounds.

That's not to say that all horror do-overs are awful, of course. No, some can actually bring something fresh to the table or put a unique spin on an established IP while being respectful to what's been seen before. The problem is, the sheer amount of dross remakes out there means that it's tough not to instantly expect the worst from any such picture.

One way in which remakes have an opportunity to surpass an original film, is in the deaths that this redo serves up. You can already see what has worked and what hasn't worked about that original, and so the brutality and bloodshed can be tweaked accordingly when revisiting a tale that's already played out on the silver screen.

With all of that in mind, then, here are nine such times where horror movie remakes managed to impressively outdo their predecessors when it comes to some of their big death sequences.

9. Keith Jennings - The Omen

A nightmare on Elm Street Gwen
20th Century Fox

The decapitation of David Warner's Keith Jennings in The Omen is a moment that instantly takes you aback upon a first watch. After a sheet of glass slides out of the back of a truck, Warner's character ends up having his head sliced off by said glass.

While this is certainly a memorable death and one horror hounds often hold on a pedestal, the sad reality is that it actually looked a bit naff. Given the restrictions of the time, Richard Donner's 1977 film did the best that it could in making this decapitation look realistic, but the end result is one that clearly looks like a mannequin head has been tossed up in the air.

It may be the only way in which 2006's The Omen surpasses its namesake, yet it's hard to argue that the sheer advancement in technology doesn't make the decapitation of David Thewlis' Jennings look infinitely better than the character's fate in '76.

Of course, the demise of the 2006 iteration of Keith Jennings is slightly different to his predecessor. While his fate is still death by decapitation, that decapitation takes place when a sign swings down to sever his head from his body.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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