The movie industry has long been a creative place of dreams and nightmares. Our adventures and trials, our hopes and fears brought to life in living colour on film. There have been some incredible ideas over the years and yet there seems to be an increasing trend for remakes. Many modern film makers pillage the back catalogue and make horrible versions of classic films. Occasionally they pluck a badly done idea and actually manage to improve on the original film, more often they produce stinking insults to the original. Here are the top five worst movie remakes of recent years.

The Pink Panther (2006)
Steve Martin entered a terminal tailspin with regards to comedy a number of years ago. He is quite simply no longer funny…at all…I mean not even slightly. The idea of him taking on the role that Peter Sellers made famous is enough to induce nausea. It was obvious before release that this would be awful and sure enough Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau completely destroyed the charm and comedy of the original.

The Wicker Man (2006)
The original film is a classic of British horror. It was eccentric, it was chilling and it had one of the greatest revelations in cinema history. This tame effort featured Nicolas Cage as the sheriff visiting Summerisle Island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. He gets caught up with the pagan community and given the run around and although this broadly follows the same story it manages to be interminably dull.

The Departed (2006)
I know many people will disagree with this being on the list but believe me the original film Scorsese pillaged, Infernal Affairs, is excellent. I think DiCaprio, Damon and Wahlberg are all seriously overrated actors and this film really doesn’t deserve the praise it got. It also makes the list just because Scorsese’s arrogant assertion that this wasn’t really a remake when it patently followed exactly the same storyline was very annoying. Simply because he knew the vast majority of people would never see the original he felt comfortable ripping it off and not giving proper credit.

The Ladykillers (2004)
The original is such a beautifully made and acted film that it was just horrible to see the action shifted to the US for a poor run through of the same material. Hanks completely fails to pull off his character and the cast doesn’t come close to the quality ensemble of Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom. It was all the more disappointing because the usually brilliant Coen Brothers made it.

The Hitcher (2007)
The original was a low budget thrill ride with a terrifically creepy performance from Rutger Hauer. Sean Bean didn’t manage to create anywhere near the same air of menace and this remake was dull and predictable with lacklustre acting and poor direction. No surprise to find that master of garbage Michael Bay’s production company were behind this.

There are a huge number of films which could have made the list. Everyone seems to hate the Psycho remake, Planet of the Apes took a lot of criticism and the number of bad horror remakes, from Friday the 13th to The Haunting and The Fog is inestimable. If you disagree with the list or have other suggestions then post a comment.