Repeat Business: 30 Horror Film Franchises Getting A Restart

2. Suspiria

The refreshing notion of the Dario Argento giallo classic is that upon viewing, you find yourself terrified and you can’t pinpoint why. Suspiria’s moodscape of the bizarre and brutal casts quite the spell – and can also lead to a life-long fear of private schools.

The remake is being directed by David Gordon Green who has been attached since 2007. A somewhat odd choice for the task, Green’s low-brow comedies such as Pineapple Express and The Sitter are the cinematic antitheses to Argento’s surreal and sickening brand of horror.

Green’s Your Highness star, Natalie Portman was attached early on but has since dropped out – no points for guessing that her Oscar-winning turn in the bonkers ballet psychodrama, Black Swan may have been a deciding factor.

In the original, the story follows an American ballerina who relocates to a prestigious European ballet school only to find out there’s something sinister afoot at the hands of a gaggle of women who prefer broomsticks to public transport. Based on a script penned by Green and Chris Gebert, this new version is said to now be shedding the ballet aspect and instead pay homage to the original via shots, dialogue and the score.

In May 2012, Isabelle Fuhrman, of The Hunger Games and slappable antagonist of Orphan was announced as the lead with rumoured supporting roles for Isabelle Huppert, Michael Tyqvist, Janet McTeer and Antje Traue.

Filming was scheduled to start in September 2012.

1. Carrie

Kimberly Peirce, director of the Carrie remake has got quite the act to follow. With a stellar starring cast of Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie and Julianne Moore as her religious zealot mother, Margaret, Peirce has certainly got talent on her side. At the New York Comic-Con, where the first teaser trailer debuted, Peirce stated her allegiance to King’s source novel and her intention of creating a Carrie for a new generation.

A bloody-rags-to-sticky-britches story, the film centres on Carrie White, a socially-awkward teenager who gets her first period during a locker room shower and believes she’s dying. Following a callous prank initiated by the school bully, Carrie begins to show symptoms of a unique and powerful skill which prove unfortunate for those who thought it helpful to pelt her with tampons.

Producer Kevin Misher, on the panel at the NYCC hinted at a broader scope for the film’s finale enabled by changes in technology in the last thirty years. For those familiar with King’s novel, the differences between it and the 1976 version are considerable. It’s welcoming to hear of a remake taking advantage of advances in tech to actually assist the story as opposed to replacing it.

From the teaser trailer, teaser poster, mad viral marketing campaign and the winning panel at the NYCC, Carrie is shaping up nicely to be a serious contender for the horror to watch this year.

Carrie opens in theatres on October 18th 2013.

That’s it folks: now, which of these horror film franchises are you looking forward to seeing reanimated? Any that you want to see? Please, as per usual, let us know in the comments below.