The Thing (1982) Everything about the movie is excellent. The atmosphere, practical FX, acting, etc... Plus it's like a whodunnit, which is a really nice aspect to the film.
I also have to go with The Thing (1982). The acting is outstanding and the general claustrophobic feel of the movie..and the ending is very downbeat but effective.
The Fly - I love the pacing of the film, how it instantly jumps into things with no back story (no scenes of Brundle coming up with the idea, building the machine etc), then ends right at the payoff, with no denouemet to soften the impact.
Evil Dead II - No wait, it's not a remake it's a sequel! No wait, it is a sequel! No wait, Sam Raimi said....! Ha, in lieu of what others have said about John Carpenter's The Thing and The Fly, I'm gonna go with the remake of Friday the 13th. it's gets a bad rap on here, but when i watched it in the theater it felt like an old-school F13 film.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers '78 without any qualms , dread and suspense built perfectly, paranoia abound.
Black Christmas (2006) Why? Because I look at re-makes like cover songs: If you aren't going to bring something new or your own take, then what incentive are you giving people to watch (or listen) your version over the original? Black Christmas takes the bare bones concept of the original and then runs so gleefully off the rails into fantasy and bad taste it's hard not to love. Not only is gross - I mean, the trailer gave a good indication of that - but the killer is TRULY a superhero. And it's a nice antidote to all saccharine-sweet holiday viewing.
The Blob (88) is my favorite remake. But don't get me wrong, the 50s version is bad ass too. I grew up watching The Blob on vhs, and scared the hell out of me! I soon developed a crush for Shawnee and I wanted to be Kevin Dillon. haha. an impact indeed.
Gus Van Sant's "Psycho" No, not really. It's Cronenberg's The Fly. For all the obvious and usual reasons. Though, I will and often do defend GVS's Psycho as being as good as any attempt to remake Psycho could be.
I really love the super gruesome remakes from the 80's; The Blob, The Fly and The Thing. I enjoy all three a lot, but if I had to pick, I think The Thing is absolutely my favorite. It's just an all around great movie - great script, great acting, and some of the best special effects ever.
I love the remakes of The Blob, Friday the 13th and The Thing, but I'm going to give some love to My Bloody Valentine. I think they did a really good job there.
Herzog's Nosferatu, no question. It's beautiful and distressing at the same time. When I got the recent BFI release, I watched it twice in the space of a week. I never do that. But this movie is that good. I think my favorite element of it is the music.
I'd have to go with The Thing being my favorite remake. I love the special effects and the isolated feeling it gives.
I am going with Cronenberg's The Fly as well. It's just a great movie that truly improves upon the original source material. Jeff Goldblum should have won an oscar for his performance in the film. Definitely in my top ten all time films !
It has to be The Thing. It's blows the original out of the water and that is saying a lot because the original is great.
For me, it's definitely The Thing remake. The location, characters, music, and of course special effects all combined to produce one of the greatest horror films of the last 35 years. The original is good but the remake is a masterpiece.