Halloween Special: Scary Movie Remakes

Halloween's a-comin': Time to bar the door, darken the lights, wring out the cat and scare the holy crap out of you and your main squeeze with some exquisitely crafted horror classics.

Well, good luck with that -- before you start working up your playlist, remember that if you're seeking a night of suitably piquant dread, you face a challenge as daunting as any graveyard run: the seemingly endless gauntlet of horror remakes that clogs instant view and on-demand services. Really, name a legendary horror film worthy of its screams and there's probably a more recent, and less impressive, second run out there somewhere.

A producers' motivations for cutting new drafts of scare-flicks is understandable -- they can be as legitimate as wanting to recast a classic concept for a contemporary audience, or as less-honorable as "We own the rights to this title and we're gonna squeeze every last buck out of it."

Sadly, we critics don't have any control over production slates, but we can help with some sage advice. And just because the vast field of remakes leads less to gut screams and visceral chills than to regret and recriminations, it doesn't mean they're all a loss. Pick wisely, and you can wind up with a reinvention that matches, and sometimes exceeds, the original inspiration. Want some examples? I worked up a list of horror remakes, complete with Netflix links, for Yellow Tail wine's Reserve Your Night website. Check it out here.