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The Ring (2002)

What a silly premise: beware your television set, for a ghostly young girl may crawl out of it and kill you. The Ring debuted in the fall of 2002 to a decent box office opening, yet immensely strong word of mouth propelled this thriller to blockbuster status. The tale of a reporter (Naomi Watts) who watches a videotape that supposedly kills viewers exactly seven days after commencing is one of the scariest films ever made. Director Gore Verbinski crafts a film that is surprisingly light on violence, yet achieves dread and suspense through a relentlessly atmospheric tone that never lets up. Deformed dead bodies, blurry photographs, and horses add to the terror on screen, creating an experience that truly stands out as one-of-a-kind. The Ring is easily the best remake out of the countless American attempts to re-create Japanese horror, as it is even scarier and edgier than its original source material.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Remakes of classic horror films of the 1970s/1980s and torture porn flicks have been looked at as two of the major downfalls of recent American horror. Many of these films are made with little care for the audience; rather, they focus on reveling in mediocrity, having a huge opening weekend, and then falling off the radar without as much as a further blip. The Hills Have Eyes knows exactly what its audience wants, and boy does it deliver. The film follows a happy family as they drive through the New Mexico desert and are brutally raped, murdered, and tortured in front of one another by a gang of cannibalistic mountain people. Director Alex Aja’s film takes a long time to get going, allowing much character development for the family before they begin to get picked off at an alarmingly brutal rate. Once the violence comes, it is astoundingly horrifying and relentless. The Hills Have Eyes is not for the faint-of-heart, and many people hate it because it is too exploitative and violent. Mean-spirited and sadistic, The Hills Have Eyes makes no apologies about what it is, which is exactly why the film is so brilliant.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Audiences go to horror films for two reasons: to be scared and to have fun. Drag Me to Hell, directed by horror maestro Sam Raimi, is both stunningly exciting and an absolute blast. The film tells the story of promotion-hungry, yet sweet-natured loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), who denies a gypsy woman (Lorna Raver) a loan extension, thus resulting in the gypsy being thrown from her home. After being shamed, the gypsy places a curse on Christine that brings forth a demon to torment the loan officer for three days before dragging her to hell for all eternity. Drag Me to Hellis over-the-top, yet in all the right ways. There are slimy, squirmy scares, genuine frightening moments, and laughs aplenty, which all come together to make a cohesive film that is as smart and tongue-in-cheek as it is scary. Word of warning: steer clear of this one if you are a fan of adorable kittens. Even they aren’t safe in this ridiculous, yet fantastic, horror film.