Chloe Grace Moretz has starred in a string of Hollywood horror remakes over the years, ranging from the great to the terrible. Tom & Jerry star Chloe Grace Moretz began her career at a young age and has starred in everything from wacky comedies to intense dramas. Moretz has also appeared in a large number of genre roles, ranging from 2020’s airborne horror Shadow in the Cloud to the children’s horror-comedy The Addams Family.
Unusually, Moretz has mainly made horror remakes specifically, with the actress appearing in six redos of major horror movies since her career began. The reception of these remakes ranges from excellent to execrable, although Moretz’s performances remain a high point of even the less well-received outings. Thanks to many misfires like 2010’s A Nightmare On Elm Street, horror remakes tend to fare worse with critics than the original outings, but this maxim has not proven true for all of Moretz’s work.
Most recently, Moretz’s scream queen potential was seen in director Luca Guadagnino’s (very, very loose) remake of Dario Argento’s seminal Italian horror classic Suspiria. Here is every horror remake Chloe Grace Moretz has been part of to date.
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Familiar to fans of haunted house movies, The Amityville Horror is a 1978 movie chronicling the supposedly true story of the titular haunting and the family scarred by their experiences therein (interestingly, the same story also provided the basis for the critically acclaimed The Conjuring). Both The Amityville Horror original and remake see their respective family’s beleaguered fathers slowly turn on their clans as the influence of the house makes them turn to the dark side. Fortunately, in both cases, the fathers come to their senses before going full Jack Torrance on their offspring. Chloe Grace Moretz put in an impressive turn for a then-eight-year-old actor as the helpless daughter of Ryan Reynolds’ father in the 2005 version of The Amityville Horror, but sadly, this remake was largely written off by critics as a pale imitation of the already-not-too-terrifying original.
The Eye (2008)
Starring Jessica Alba as a blind pianist blessed – and then subsequently cursed – with a cornea transplant that leaves her able to see more than she bargained for, The Eye was an almost shot-for-shot remake of the Hong Kong original that hoped to cash in on the earlier success of movies like The Ring. Unfortunately, much like the same year’s One Missed Call, this story of a violinist who is cursed with eyes that can see the dead all around failed to recapture the chilling atmosphere of the original movie. Moretz played a small role as a cancer patient and actually shaved her head for the part, showcasing the commitment that would make her a star in years to come.
Let Me In (2010)
Gruesome and oppressively bleak, the 2007 Swedish vampire drama Let The Right One In seemed like an unlikely candidate for a glossy Hollywood remake. Even more unlikely was the fact that director Matt Reeves’s reimagining retains the dark, disturbing atmosphere of the original. A coming-of-age horror that sees its teenage hero fall for a fellow teen who is not as young as she appears, the effectiveness of Let Me In‘s simple story relies entirely on the ability of its young star to play an eons-old vampire trapped in the body of a young teenager. The movie takes the soapy premise of Twilight and plays the same story dead straight for tragic horror, and fortunately, a then-13-year-old Moretz was superb as the vampire Abby. The actor’s central performance earned this risky remake the stellar reviews that Let Me In enjoyed upon release.
Dark Shadows (2012)
Every actor needs a few flops to establish themselves as a talent able to weather failure, and Moretz received hers shortly after the one-two punch of Kick-Ass and Let Me In earned her critical adulation. A collaboration with horror legend Tim Burton likely seemed like a guaranteed success for the young star, but unfortunately, 2012’s Dark Shadows proved to be far from a sure thing. Moretz plays a rebellious teenage werewolf in Burton’s re-imagining of the 70s Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, where she is lost in a massive cast that includes Michelle Pfeiffer as her mother, Johnny Depp as a vampire, and Eva Green as a witch alongside Jackie Earle Haley, Christopher Lee, and many more. Despite this impressive roll call, critics surmised that this campy misfire was less than the sum of its parts, and Moretz was left with little chance to make an impression thanks to the overstuffed, underwritten script.
Carrie (2013)
Chloe Grace Moretz was lauded by critics for her effective reimagining of eponymous telepathic teen Carrie White as a more empathetic, less otherworldly figure in this 2013 remake of Brian De Palma’s seminal Carrie. Julianne Moore won similar acclaim as her zealot mother, playing the role of Margaret White more dramatically and for less dark comedy than her predecessor in the part Piper Laurie. However, while Moore and Moretz may have earned solid reviews for their part in the Carrie remake, the movie itself didn’t fare so well. Without the theatrical flair of DePalma’s filmmaking or the over-the-top atmosphere of the original, the Carrie remake was left with little to justify its existence outside of two central performances that, while superb, didn’t make the surrounding film worth a watch.
Suspiria (2018)
From its muted color palette – which looks nothing like Dario Argento’s lush 1977 original – to its lengthy runtime, the 2018 remake of Suspiria is about as different a movie from the original as it could be. Chloe Grace Moretz plays the pivotal role of Patricia Hingle, the missing student whose disappearance prompts the beginning of a complex plot involving a trio of witches, Satanic rituals, and post-war malaise in central Europe. Moretz acquits herself to the part well despite having limited screen time. She won acclaim for the role, small as it is, while Suspiria itself was largely praised as a bold reimagining that paid effective homage to the original while being entirely its own beast.
