4) Carrie
Though not as poorly received as some predicted it would be, coming after a Brian De Palma classic, the Carrie remake drew generally muted critical notice and only modest crowds. Kimberly Peirce’s 2013 adaptation of the Stephen King novel generally appeared to impress no one, not fans of the book nor cinema-going gorehounds.
The reason the Carrie remake is deemed so unnecessary isn’t just that it ended up being inferior to De Palma’s adaptation of the novel; it’s that this was supposed to be the version that ‘corrected’ all the previous takes and followed the book more closely.
Regrettably, due to studio interference, the theatrical version of Peirce’s film arrived significantly cut down and closer to the original movie in a bid to make it more appealing to horror movie fans.
3) The Wicker Man
The original is a British horror cult classic; it conjures up a feeling of dread like few others. The remake is a disaster, using the same basic story but adding Nic Cage in a bear costume, Nic Cage beating up women half his age, and Nic Cage getting stung into a puffy, quivering wreck by bees. At least those are original ideas. Otherwise, The Wicker Man is bereft of them.
So the film is inherently pointless. Happily, there was a side-consequence of the film being this redundant and poorly-made: the Neil LaBute/Nicolas Cage Wicker Man, with all its unintentional hilarity involving Cage and literally anyone he comes into contact with, has become an inadvertent comedy classic. So bad it looks like a B-movie parody, The Wicker Man 2006 is an accidental laugh riot. So at least it has that going for it.