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Squirm (1976)
Original Version: Featuring make-up work by Rick Baker, this was the debut of director Jeff Lieberman, a horror flick in which mother Earth fights back.
That scene where the tree crashes into the dining room was done for real - Lieberman had his crew rig up a tree and smash it into the set, with the actors inside. Now that's horrific.
The Remake: Keep M Night Shyamalan far away from this and you’re already winning.
Our advice: put Roland Emmerich behind the wheel, with green-conscious Matt Damon in the lead, and we could be in for a rollicking action-stuffed eco-horror.
Note: Here, we’re talking about all the horror films that the remake machine has yet to discover. So as a general rule, films like Poltergeist , Child’s Play and Suspiria don’t count because they all have remakes currently stuck in a lovely little corner of Development Hell...
Hour Of The Wolf (1968)
Original Version: Swedish horror film helmed by master director Ingmar Bergman, starring his favourite Chess-player Max von Sydow.
The twisty-turny plot follows an artist who has a breakdown while holidaying on a remote island with his pregnant wife.
The Remake: A queasy celluloid nightmare from director Joseph Kahn, who masterminded the movie brainfuck that was 2011’s Detention .
Get ready to lose your mind.
Theatre Of Blood (1973)
Original Version: A classic Vincent Price vehicle, this horror sees Price playing Edward Lionheart, an actor who's snubbed at the Critics Circle awards and decides to take revenge on them.
The film was apparently one of Price's favourites - not least because he got to recite a little Shakespeare.
The Remake: A stage adaptation starred Jim Broadbent and was set in 1970s England.
We'd love to see him take it to the big screen.
Shocker (1989)
Original Version: One from Wes Craven's considerable back catalogue, this comedy horror feels more like a comic book than a movie - which makes it perfect for a remake in an era when comic-book movies are all the rage.
The plot follows a serial killer who's sent to the electric chair - and is able to return from the dead through electricity.
The Remake: If ever there was a horror concept that could lure Peter Jackson back to the genre, it’s Shocker , which demands a wacky sense of humour and a knowledge of big budget special effects.
Cast Jackie Earle Haley as the vengeful shocker and dump the film’s silly paternal ruminations for a fleet-footed horror that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Phase IV (1974)
Original Version: The only film that movie artist Saul Bass ever directed, this sci-fi horror has a pleasingly fifties vibe, not least when it comes to its plot, which revolves around super-intelligent ants that attempt to take down desert-dwellers.
Bass never directed a film again, but on the evidence of Phase IV that's a shame - it's got tons of atmosphere and Bass effectively creates some really tense moments.
The Remake: Before he makes Ant-Man , Edgar Wright should make time for this giant monster movie – if nothing else it would be good insect-y research.
Chuck in Simon Pegg as a bonkers desert hippie and we’re set.
Superstition (1982)
Original Version: Witchy horror starring nobody you've ever heard of and directed by the guy who also made, er, The Giant Of Thunder Mountain.
A family moves into an idyllic New England home, only to discover that their big pond was once the site for witch trials - and one of the witches is back for revenge.
The Remake: Could witch movies be the new cool trend in horror? We’ve had vampires, we’ve had zombies.
Witches are next, surely, if the success of Oz The Great And Powerful is anything to go by (less so Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters ).
Remake ingredients: scary witch, creepy house, Guillermo del Toro in the director’s chair.
Braindead (1992)
Original Version: You want gore? Look no further than this early effort from director Peter Jackson. Bursting at the seams with blood and guts, it's a bloody tour de force of tongue in cheek thrills.
The story follows a young man whose mother is bitten by a rat-monkey and comes back as a zombie.
The Remake: If anything would need to be done right in a Braindead remake, it’s the gore.
Considering the most enjoyable thing about Evil Dead ’13 was the red stuff, how about giving Fede Alvarez a pop at remaking Jackson’s most outrageous gorefest? Bring a raincoat…
M (1931)
Original Version: "I have no control over this evil thing inside me. The fire, the voices, the torment... I have to obey it. I have to run... run... endless streets... I want to escape."
A classic horror from master director Fritz Lang, M was the director's first sound film and a moody masterpiece about a child murderer. Peter Lorre is fantastic.
The Remake: Would anybody dare take on a remake of Fritz Lang’s finest film? It's not happened yet...
Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977)
Original Version: ‘Never sleep again’ was a phrase famously touted in A Nightmare On Elm Street , but it fits just as well here.
Considered one of the best 'lost' horror films of the seventies, Death Bed is about a demon spirit that has taken over a bed and eats alive anybody who lays their head there. It probably should have stayed lost…
The Remake: A found footage horror as made by Blair Witch filmmaker Daniel Myrick.
When people start going missing in a hotel room, an investigative reporter sets up a camera to see what happens when the lights go out. The results are spring-bouncingly terrifying.
Night Of The Lepus (1972)
Original Version: Hard to imagine why this one hasn't hit the remake machine yet, especially considering it involves giant freakin' rabbits.
Starring Janet Leigh, it's a knowingly-silly horror about mutant hoppers that take over an American southwest town. One of the most unintentionally funny horror films ever - the miniature work is beautiful.
The Remake: When a human strain of myxomatosis starts killing people by the thousands, intrepid scientist Sarah Polley attempts to find a cure.
But her experiments on bunnies result in giant hopping monstrosities…
