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With the release of The Invasion, the Fat Guys at the Movies couldn’t help but wonder where the creativity has gone in Hollywood. After we got over our joy that this wasn’t a sequel, we realized it was a remake of the classic 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Of course, we must wonder if Hollywood forgot that they actually remade this film twice before, once in 1978 and another time in 1993.

So that got us thinking… what have been the best remakes in cinema history? While compiling the list, we found that there were tons of remakes… just not a lot that were any good. We’re lucky we got ten.

To make the list, the film had to be an honest-to-god remake. In other words, there must be an original film (foreign or domestic) that has been filmed again as a separate non-sequel film. Films like Batman Begins has been re-imagined from original source material, but really can’t be considered a remake of Tim Burton’s 1989 film. (And don’t get us started on what exactly Evil Dead 2 is.)

Flame on!

This list was a discussion on Fat Guys at the Movies Episode 26! Check it out!

10. Scarface (1983)

Brian DePalma set out to remake the Al Capone classic Scarface from 1932, but decided to put it in a modern perspective with a Cuban drug running in Miami. He made one of the definitive gangster films of the modern age.

9. The Departed (2006)

Based on the Cantonese-language film Infernal Affairs, this modern version of cops and robbers snagged tons of awards. Martin Scorsese gives us another hit and earned himself his long-desired Oscar for this one.

8. Victor/Victoria (1982)

In his heyday, comedy director Blake Edwards remade a 1933 German film into a sexy and hysterical musical featuring his wife Julie Andrews as a woman pretending to be a female impersonator.

7. Treasure Planet (2002)

One of Disney’s classic family films is Treasure Island. The Mouse House tried to remake the film as an animated space adventure. Sadly, the movie bombed (so bad that Disney considered scrapping their other pirate film Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl), but Fat Guy Kevin Carr contends its one of the best Disney films to come down the pike this decade.

6. The Ring (2002)

Based on the original Japanese Ringu, The Ring introduced American audiences to Japanese horror. Followed up with The Grudge a couple years later, these two films held the quality high before films like Dark Water, Pulse and The Ring 2 ruined everything for Japanese imports.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

While critics and the public are divided on whether this film was any good, both Fat Guys Kevin Carr and Neil Miller agree that Tim Burton’s remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was visionary and entertaining. Johnny Depp made things work as Willy Wonka by not trying to imitate or tread upon Gene Wilder’s original performance.

4. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

When Roger Corman shot the original The Little Shop of Horrors in 1960, a feat which took only three days, little did he know that it would spawn an Off-Broadway musical that would be turned into one of the best movie musicals of the 80s. Featuring puppetry by Jim Henson and company, this film has some of the best effects pre-CGI.

3. Cape Fear (1991)

Martin Scorsese makes the list again with his chilling remake of 1961′s Cape Fear. Not only does he use the same soundtrack, he gives original stars Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum cameos. Robert DeNiro was the perfect choice as the would-be killer wooing a teenage Juliette Lewis before she went for that coked-out-whore look we all know and love today.

2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Of the three remakes of Don Siegel’s original 1956 film, this is the one that was most effective. Director Philip Kaufman shifted the invasion from a small town to big-city San Francisco and cashed in on modern-day paranoia.

1. John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)

A remake of Howard Hawkes’ original thriller, this visionary film borrowed more from John W. Campbell’s original short story “Who Goes There.” Featuring ahead-of-its-time special effects by Rob Bottin, the film lives up to anything being churned out today in Hollywood.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

House of Wax (1953), No, we’re not talking about the Paris Hilton abortion. The original 3-D House of Wax was actually a remake of the 1933 silent film Mystery of the Wax Museum. To this day, it holds up as a classic film, with or without the 3-D.

Father of the Bride (1991), With all the horror films and thrillers on this list, we can’t forget the ladies out there. Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer put together a warm and fuzzy remake of the 1950 Spencer Tracy flick.