As of late, it feels like Hollywood has been relying more and more on remakes, reboots, and “requels” to get butts in theater seats. But studios often seem to choose the wrong movies to remake: specifically, massively-popular movies that already have legions of fans. On paper, it makes sense - an established IP is less risky, and more likely to bring in a lot of money - but the film will inevitably face harsher criticisms and constant comparisons to the (usually superior) original.
The better - albeit riskier - avenue is to find lesser-known movies with unique stories or intriguing elements, but are plagued by faulty direction, feel antiquated, or are suffering from any number of issues that are holding the film back from its full potential. In this way, a remake feels justified and deserved: a legitimate do-over rather than a more-than-obvious cash grab.
Luckily, the annals of cinema are positively brimming with “okay” movies that have the potential to be great, especially in the diverse thriller genre. Here are ten obscure, flawed thrillers that deserve the remake treatment.
Related: ‘80s Horror Movies That Could Use a Remake
10 Dead of Winter (1987)
Arthur Penn’s horror-thriller Dead of Winter stars Mary Steenburgen as Katie McGovern, a struggling actress who accepts a last-minute acting gig to help pay the bills. She is whisked away in the middle of a snowstorm to a secluded mansion in upstate New York to meet Dr. Joseph Lewis to screen test for the part. Trapped by the raging storm, and with no means of communicating with the outside world, Mary gradually realizes (far later than the audience) that something sinister is afoot, and this was one role she should’ve turned down.
Dead of Winter is filled with surprises: some of them shock, others push the boundaries of logic and pull you out of the movie. Yet the film is not without its charm, and so these sins are (partially) forgiven. A remake from the right director could patch up the plot holes, exaggerate the pulpy overtones, and turn it into something with the same breakout potential as Zach Creggar’s Barbarian or Jordan Peele’s Get Out.
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9 The Silent Partner (1978)
Daryl Duke’s tense heist thriller The Silent Partner stars Elliot Gould as Miles, an unassuming bank teller who uncovers a plot to steal $50,000 and decides to take some for himself. When said crook, the psychopathic Arthur Reikle (played by a sinister Christopher Plummer), realizes what Miles has done, he makes it his mission to get what he’s owed, no matter the cost.
Based on Anders Bodelsen novel Think of a Number, The Silent Partner unfolds like a Hitchco*ckian game of cat-and-mouse, powered by two truly incredible performances from Plummer and Gould. While the movie is great in its own right, its themes of greed and moral corruption have never felt more timely, and a remake set in our new, digital world would modernize the story while staying respectful to what made it great in the first place. In the hands of the right director (this feels perfect for David Fincher), a remake of The Silent Partner could be truly incredible.
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8 White of the Eye (1987)
Donald Cammell’s horror-thriller White of the Eye stars Cathy Moriarty as Joan White, a woman who begins to suspect her husband, Paul (David Keith), is the elusive serial killer that has been murdering rich, young women throughout their desert community of Globe, Arizona.
The true beauty of White of the Eye lies in director Donald Cammell’s visual style; for a slasher movie featuring a woman-hating serial killer, some of the shots Cammell and his cinematographer Larry McConkey manage to compose are hypnotizing. It’s evocative and atmospheric, and carries the film along when the writing fails it.
While serial killer movies were (and still are) a dime a dozen, there are elements to White of the Eye that make it stand out: Paul is a specialized audio engineer with borderline-supernatural hearing abilities; Joan’s ex-husband, Mike, may or may not have the ability to see the future; and the entire film is laced by ancient Apache legends and rituals. Unfortunately, Cammell buries all of this under tired slasher clichés, and opts for an ending that betrays the originality of the film’s first half in favor of something more conventional. If a filmmaker decided to remake this movie, and addressed these issues, there’s no doubt that they’d have something utterly original on their hands.
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7 15 Minutes (2001)
One of Robert DeNiro’s lesser-known movies (for good reason, mind you) is 15 Minutes, a crime-thriller where he stars as Eddie Fleming, a high-profile homicide detective on the trail of two vicious killers who record their murders to get famous. Edward Burns co-stars as Jordy Warsaw, an arson investigator who partners with Fleming to stop the killers.
Directed by John Herzfeld, 15 Minutes is over-the-top, excessive, and about as subtle as a sledgehammer in its commentary on media and violence. But the reason why the movie doesn’t work - aside from its not-so-subtle xenophobia, preachy messaging, and early-2000s cheesiness - is because it relishes in the type of lurid violence it accuses the media of peddling. As a result, it feels insincere and tone-deaf.
However, the central conceit of attention-seeking criminals, while far from original at this point, is timely and enticing. A more mature and grounded approach to the material - one set in today’s social media-obsessed world -could improve upon the original while also maintaining its underlying message.
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6 Black Widow (1987)
Two movies that would pair well in a “murderous spouses” double-feature would be Cammell’s White of the Eye and Bob Rafelson’s Black Widow. Not to be confused with the Marvel film, Black Widow stars Debra Winger as Alex Barnes, a federal investigator tracking down the so-called “black widow” (Theresa Russell), a murderous woman who marries lonely millionaires, kills them under the guise of an accident, then inherits their money. But no one seems to believe Barnes, and with the Widow now on her scent, she’ll have to find the link that connects all the murders if she wants to make it out alive.
While Black Widow is a decent film, director Bob Rafelson and writer Ron Base show their cards too early: there’s no mystery surrounding the Widow’s intentions or her guilt, and so Barnes’ investigation - which makes up a bulk of the film - feels limp and totally sapped of intrigue.What’s more, the film flirts with the idea of a romance between Barnes and the Widow, but quickly abandons this intriguing twist. A proper remake - one that takes the juicy premise in more subversive and erotic directions, while staying true to its noir roots - has the potential to be the next Gone Girl.
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5 The Uninvited Guest (2004)
Guillem Morales Spanish mystery-thriller The Uninvited Guest revolves around Felix, an architect who has isolated himself in one of his large, secluded builds after separating from his wife. Late one night, a man knocks on Felix’s door and asks to use his phone. Against his better judgment, Felix reluctantly lets the stranger in. But after a few minutes, Felix realizes the stranger has disappeared somewhere in his house, kick-starting his descent into a world of paranoia and madness.
The opening act of The Uninvited Guest is pretty close to perfect. But rather than going the distance and delving into the surreal pleasures the set-up promises, first-time director Guillem Morales instead chooses to focus on more conventional (and uninspired) real-world horrors. The film also ends on a rather grim note that feels unearned and played for shock value.
It’s unfair to judge a movie for what it could’ve been instead of what it is, and The Uninvited Guest is okay. But it’s also loaded with untapped potential, waiting for a director to transform it into something cerebral and transgressive.
4 Copycat (1995)
Jon Amiel’s Copycat is a mystery-thriller that stars Sigourney Weaver as Helen Hudson, an agoraphobic psychologist who must team up with Detective MJ Monoham (Holly Hunter) to take down a serial killer whose schtick is to copy infamous killers from the past.
The cast of Copycat - Weaver and Hunter are joined by Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara, Will Patton, and a surprisingly sinister Harry Connick Jr. - bring their A-game, but Amiel fails to deliver the pulpy delights promised by the gimmicky premise because of his straight-forward and overly-serious direction. A filmmaker with a biting sense of humor and strong visual style can transform Copycat from a languid drama into something delightfully unhinged.
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3 Run (1991)
The plot for Run is about as straight-forward as you’d expect from the title. The Geoff Burrowes-directed action-thriller stars Patrick Dempsey as Charlie Farrow, a law student who becomes public enemy number one after he inadvertently kills the son of Matt Halloran, a powerful Atlantic City crime boss. The FBI, local police, and even the townsfolk are under Halloran’s thumb, and they’re all eager to hand-deliver Charlie to him by any means necessary.
While Run does feature a number of fun set-pieces, which is obviously the main draw for a chase picture like this, the story that connects said setpieces is incredibly thin. The characters are pretty one-dimensional, and Burrowes doesn’t seem interested in anything that isn’t an action scene. A remake that channels the fun and energy of the original, while simultaneously beefing up the characters and overly-simple story, could be a lot of fun, especially if led by a charismatic young actor. (Tom Holland would be pricey, but he’d also be perfect for the lead).
2 Dream Lover (1986)
Dream Lover, a mid-career misstep from acclaimed filmmaker Alan J. Pakula (All the President’s Men, Klute), stars Kristy McNichol as Kathy, who after surviving a traumatizing attack in her home, turns to cutting-edge sleep research to relieve her of her incessant, debilitating nightmares. But as Kathy starts showing signs of improvement, the controversial therapy begins to take hold of her psyche, thrusting her into a world of madness and paranoia.
While Dream Lover’s premise is enticing, Pakula’s slow pacing and overall relatively flat direction completely sucks the life out of the film. The dream sequences - which are meant to be some of the film’s set pieces - feel uninspired and lacking any tension. And all of this is in service of an ending that anyone could see coming a mile away.
Of course, the promise is there. But Paluka plays it too straight, and refuses to lean into the surreal possibilities that a movie dealing in dreams and nightmares holds. In short, he doesn’t do the central conceit justice, and it’s time that a filmmaker realizes Dream Lover’s potential.
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RELATED: The 20 Best Movies About Paranoia, Ranked
1 London Fields (2018)
Author Martin Amis’ darkly humorous murder mystery London Fields is considered by many to be a minor masterpiece. Matthew Cullen’s big-screen adaptation of Amis’s acclaimed novel, on the other hand, is anything but.
Set in an alternate 1999 London on the verge of a nuclear war (referred to as “The Crisis” in the book), London Fields centers around the clairvoyant “femme fatale” Nicola Six (Amber Heard), who has a premonition that she will be murdered five minutes after the dawn of the new year. She’s narrowed the list of suspects down to three men, and engages in a complex love affair with each one to learn the identity of her soon-to-be murderer.
Despite a talented cast that includes Billy Bob Thorton, Theo James, Jim Sturgess, Gemma Chan, Cara Delevigne, and Amber Heard, director Matthew Cullen had the odds stacked against from the get-go. Amis’s novel has long been considered “unadaptable” - at least to film anyway (television is a different story). David Cronenberg tried all the way back in 2001, but eventually moved on to make A History of Violence instead. Over the subsequent years, directors would come and go until Cullen eventually signed on. Behind-the-scenes drama and litigations stalled the film’s release, and creative differences between the director and producers all but ensured the movie would fail to reach the heights of its source material. But even with all that in mind, the final product is perhaps worse than anyone could have imagined.
The argument for a remake is obvious here: it’s a chance to get the beloved book right. Although many say that London Fields could never make a good movie, Martin Amis seems to disagree (although he does concede it certainly will never be a popular one). In the hands of the right filmmaker - one who understands the subtle meta elements of the narrative better - could make a good movie out of London Fields yet.
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