10 Best Slasher Movie Reboots, Ranked

Key Takeaways

• Horror remakes can be worthy successors to originals, with some like
  Maniac
  and
  Friday The 13th
  rising above the original.
• Reboots like
  Black Christmas
  and
  The Hills Have Eyes
  embrace more gore while maintaining terrifying elements that appeal to audiences.
• Unique takes on iconic characters, such as in
  Child’s Play
  and
  The Invisible Man
  , keep reboots fresh while captivating new and old fans.

Movies such as Speak No Evil show that remakes and reboots of horror are not inherently bad, with some able to be worthy successors or even superior to the original. This can also be said for the subgenre of slasher horror films, in which characters are picked off throughout the film, typically in rather brutal ways.

The 1970s and 1980s were the breeding ground for many original slasher flicks and would go on to be rebooted in the 2000s and up into the 2020s. Some, such as Rob Zombie’s Halloween, would be panned by critics and audiences alike, while others turned out to be surprise gems.

10 Black Christmas (2006)

Far More Gory And Twisted Than The Original

• Director: Glen Morgan
• Release Date: December 25, 2006
• Starring: Lacey Chabert, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Katie Cassidy, Crystal Lowe

The original Black Christmas focused less on the body count and more on the eeriness of a mysterious stranger living in the attic of a sorority, picking off the women as they stay for the holiday season. However, the reboot came out during the height of gore-focused horror movies such as Saw, so Black Christmas followed suit.

For the most part, the original Black Christmas is considered superior in terms of terror and atmosphere, but the 2006 reboot is still considered a welcome companion piece to the original. However, it is not for the faint of heart as it features disgustingly gory kills with a strange emphasis on eyeballs and content within the killer’s backstory that makes most viewers feel uneasy.

9 The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

The Cannibals Are Even Scarier As Mutant Monsters

• Director: Alexander Aja
• Release Date: March 10, 2006
• Starring: Vinessa Shaw, Emilie De Ryan, Aaron Stanford, Billy Drago

The concept is pretty basic with a group of people in the middle of nowhere when killers attack them. With The Hills Have Eyes, though, it stood out for its killers being a family of cannibals that stalk and hunt people for food and the reboot stays loyal to the Wes Craven original.

The original The Hills Have Eyes was considered controversial for its disturbing and violent content, which is why the reboot goes as far as possible to be as gory as possible. The newer version of the cannibal family is depicted as mutants that formed as a result of radiation, making them far more outlandish than the original but still terrifying, making trips through the barren desert seem scarier.

8 My Bloody Valentine (2009)

Jensen Ackles Is A Great Scream King For A Killer Miner

• Director: Patrick Lussier
• Release Date: January 16, 2009
• Starring: Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Tom Atkins, Kerr Smith

After characters like Michael Myers, many masked killers were made to capitalize on the hype with different gimmicks. In the case of Harry Warden in My Bloody Valentine, there is a man in a miner’s mask and uniform going around a small town, brutally murdering people. The 2009 remake stays pretty faithful to the original, but with a few new ideas and twists to keep the movie fresh.

Supernatural fans flocked to My Bloody Valentine thanks to it starring Jensen Ackles as the main protagonist, while horror fans were surprised by it. Alongside memorable death scenes and some clever ideas, the movie is praised for looking and feeling like a love letter to 80s slasher movies while still having enough of its own identity to stand out.

7 The Invisible Man (2020)

Leigh Whannell Took A More Subtle Approach To The Invisible Killer

• Director: Leigh Whannell
• Release Date: February 24, 2020
• Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid

Leigh Whannell of Saw and Insidious fame took on the classic Universal monster reboot, which told the story from the victim’s perspective rather than the titular villain. The Invisible Man presented the scary concept of being constantly stalked by an invisible killer, instilling a person’s fear and constant paranoia.

The 2020 reboot differs from the 1933 film, making Griffin an eccentric slasher villain, arguably creating the subgenre. However, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is more suspenseful. Still, it features a brutal killing spree with a very different take on the character in terms of both personality and how invisibility is portrayed.

6 Child’s Play (2019)

The Reboot Is Ironically More Relevant As It Ages

• Director: Lars Klevberg
• Release Date: June 21, 2019
• Starring: Mark Hamill, Gabriel Bateman, Aubrey Plaza, Bryan Tyree Henry

Rather than an attempt to retell the now-iconic story of a killer’s soul trapped in a doll’s body, the Child’s Play reboot attempted to stand on its own by tapping into the fear of artificial intelligence. This time, Chucky is voiced by Mark Hamill, and he effectively portrays an AI who is warped by irresponsible people rather than taught to be a peaceful companion.

While it was controversial at first, Child’s Play surprised many with its messages about how AI is not inherently evil, it’s how people manage it that is the true problem. Also, it maintained the horror factor with some of the goriest kills in the franchise and the new Chucky being a sinister yet slightly tragic villain portrayed effectively by Mark Hamill.

5 Maniac (2012)

The First-Person Horror Movie That Surpasses The Original

• Director: Franck Khalfoun
• Release Date: May 26, 2012
• Starring: Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, Genevieve Alexandra, Joshua De La Garza

The idea of a horror movie being from the villain’s perspective is not new, but Maniac takes that idea more literally than other movies. The 2012 movie is told from the first-person perspective of a serial killer’s eyes, making for a more haunting experience with so many gruesome kills feeling more real thanks to the praised special effects and camera work.

The first-person view of Elijah Wood’s character also allows audiences to see the hallucinations and inner workings of a deranged killer, showcasing the altered reality that they live in. The reboot was also praised for its visuals and character study of the killer Frank, becoming one of the rare times a reboot is superior to the original.

4 The Last House On The Left (2009)

The Slashers Are The Revenge-Driven Heroes Of The Story

• Director: Dennis Iliadis
• Release Date: March 13, 2009
• Starring: Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Aaron Paul

Both the 1972 original and the 2009 reboot of The Last House On The Left surprise the audience with not only a disturbing assault on a young character but also how the rest of the story unfolds. In a way, it becomes a slasher movie for the villains as the parents take their revenge on those who defiled their daughter.

The reboot of The Last House On The Left leans heavily into the revenge angle, with the parents finding increasingly brutal ways to torture and murder the convicts. Revenge is often seen as a bad way to go about things, but similar to John Wick movies, the reboot makes the audience root for the slasher killings of the monstrous villains.

3 Hellraiser (2022)

The Cenobites Are The Main Villains This Time

• Director: David Bruckner
• Release Date: September 28, 2022
• Starring: Odessa A’zion, Jamie Clayton, Drew Starkey, Goran Visnjic

In Clive Barker’s original Hellraiser film, the slasher killings were by the evil human villains, with the supernatural killers known as Cenobites being secondary antagonists. When Clive Barker and David Bruckner rebooted Hellraiser for Hulu, it put the Cenobites at the forefront as they hunt anybody who solves the puzzle box, using their powers to inflict the worst tortures imaginable.

Without retreading the original, Hellraiser maintains the cosmic and gory horror of Clive Barker’s world while telling a new story with different characters. The leader of the Cenobites known as The Hell Priest was given a more book-accurate portrayal, with trans actress Jamie Clayton putting her creepy spin on the character without ever rehashing David Bradley’s original performance.

2 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Leatherface Is At His Scariest In The Familiar But Fresh Remake

• Director: Marcus Nispel
• Release Date: October 17, 2003
• Starring: Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski, R. Lee Ermey

After fifty years, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains a terrifying horror film due to its depiction of violence that was practically unheard of at the time. It not only inspired multiple horror video games, but there have been multiple attempts to reboot it and most fans agree that the 2003 version is the best one, being a straightforward retelling with new aspects thrown in.

Instead of taking advantage of a much larger budget, Marcus Nispel respected the gritty grindhouse style of the Tober Hooper version by making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a grounded horror. Leatherface is at his most brutal and terrifying, being a hulking figure with several memorable kills and chase sequences, but R. Lee Ermey steals the show as the evil Sherriff Hoyt.

1 Friday The 13th (2009)

Jason Voorhees Was Back To Basics And For The Better

• Director: Marcus Nispel
• Release Date: February 13, 2009
• Starring: Jared Padalecki, Derek Mears, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti

After The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Marcus Nispel took on another iconic slasher franchise with Friday The 13th, by combining elements of the first four original films into one. Jason Voorhees was brought back to his more grounded roots after the franchise went over the top by meeting Freddy Krueger and going into space.

Jason Voorhees in the Friday The 13th reboot is a fast and brutal hunter played by Derek Mears. This version of Jason was menacing with inventive kills, but he also had some pathos that developed him more than most Jason portrayals in the past while maintaining what fans loved about the hockey mask killer in the first place.