Top 10 Best Hollywood Remakes of Foreign Movies
12/03/2012
William Monahan, the author-turned-screenwriter who took the already exceptionally good Chinese crime thriller Infernal Affairs and turned it into the Oscar-winning script The Departed, describes screenwriting as "drama in English" and said foreign movie remakes are the equivalent of Shakespeare taking foreign stories and doing his own "departures from the material." While we have a hard time comparing the vast majority of foreign movie remakes to Shakespeare, there have been several exceptional ones over the years and even a few that managed to surpass the foreign originals. Turn off the subtitles and help us choose the best English-language adaptations of foreign movies.
Your cookies are disabled. Please enable cookies and refresh to vote.
-
The Departed (2006)Based on: Infernal Affairs (China) -
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)Based on: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden) -
Let Me In (2010)Based on: Let the Right One In (Sweden) -
Insomnia (2002)Based on: Insomnia (Norway) -
The Ring (2002)Based on: Ringu (Japan) -
The Magnificent Seven (1960)Based on: Shichinin no Samurai (Japan) -
12 Monkeys (1995)Based on: La Jetee (France) -
Vanilla Sky (2001)Based on: Abre Los Ojos (Spain) -
True Lies (1994)Based on: La Totale! (France) -
Solaris (2002)Based on: Solaris (USSR) - Honorable Mention
-
Scent of a Woman (1992)Based on: Profumo di Donna (Italy) -
Some Like It Hot (1959)Based on: Fanfaren der Liebe (Germany) -
Quarantine (2008)Based on: [REC] (Spain) -
The Italian Job (2003)remake of the uk italian job -
The Birdcage (1996)Based on: La Cage aux Folles (France/Italy) - Point of No Return (1977)Based on: La Femme Nikita (France)
-
Death at a Funeral (2010)Based on: Death at a Funeral (UK) -
Brothers (2009)Based on: Brødre (Denmark) -
The Invisible (2007)Based on: Den Osynlige (Sweden) -
Pulse (2006)Based on: Kairo (Japan) -
Funny Games (2007)Based on: Funny Games (Austria) -
The Debt (2010)Based on: The Debt (Israel) -
Three Men and a Baby (1987)Based on: Trois homes et un coufflin (France) -
The Grudge (2004)Based on: Ju-on (Japan) -
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)Based on: Boudu Suave des Eaux (France) -
The Vanishing (1993)Based on: Spoorloos (Netherlands) - Reflections of Murder (1974)Based on: Les Diaboliques (France)
-
The Next Three Days (2010)Based on: Pour Elle (France) -
EDtv (1999)Based on: Louis 19, le roi de ondes (Canada) -
Dark Water (2005)Based on: Dark Water (Japan) -
One Missed Call (2008)Based on: Chakushin Ari (Japan)
reset list