Who's Hotter? The Women In Original Movies vs. The Women In Their Remakes

Opening in theaters this weekend, the new version of the classic 1990, Arnold Schwarzenegger-led flick Total Recall proposes a serious question outside outside of the usual frustrated inquiries about Hollywood remakes. With all the movies being rebooted these days, are the female roles generally being played by hotter actresses in the retread, or were the original ladies the standard bearers?

Think about it. Would you rather get into a vicious smackdown with Sharon Stone, like Schwarzenegger did in the original Total Recall, or Kate Beckinsale, who pummels Colin Farrell in director Len Wiseman's remake?

Weighing those options then proposes other similarly challenging debates. As in, who played a hotter terrorized babysitter in the classic slasher flick Halloween: former sex symbol Jamie Lee Curtis, or the young star of its 2007 remake, Scout Taylor-Compton? Or, who looked better protecting a humongous primate in Mighty Joe Young: Terry Moore, with her old Hollywood glam, or the untouchable Charlize Theron?

For the answers to those questions, and several more, check out Who's Hotter? The Women in Original Movies vs. The Women in their Remakes.

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Character: Babe Bennett

Adam Sandler's 2002 fish-out-of-water comedy Mr. Deeds was a remake of 1936's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. And, fortunately, both incarnations of the story had a beautiful female lead.

Jean Arthur was radiant, no doubt, but, much like everything else she's pocketed over the years, Winona Ryder stole our heart years ago, and she's yet to give it back. Thankfully for her, we're not pressing charges.

Winner: Winona Ryder

Character: Sarah Bowman

In Hollywood, horror movie remakes are like sandwiches: Everybody wants to make one. So it should come as no surprise that, in 2008, there was a remake of George Romero's 1985 zombie gem Day of the Dead, this time directed by Steve Miner. The original film was vastly better than the remake; however, in our eyes, the 2008 version did have the hotter woman-with-a-gun.

Winner: Mena Suvari

Character: Ariel Moore

One of the only good things to come out of director Craig Brewer's 2011 Footloose remake was Julianne Hough, the gorgeous Dancing with the Stars alum who's gifted with both slick dance moves and comedic timing. Lori Singer can always take solace in the fact that her version of the musical drama came first.

Winner: Julianne Hough

Character: Melina

Twenty-two years ago, the original Total Recall was released in theaters, and moviegoers the world over were treated to, presumably, their first glimpse of a three-breasted woman. In addition to that wonderfully disfigured character, there was Melina (played by Rachel Ticotin), a feisty freedom fighter.

In the remake, Jessica Biel takes over as the new Melina. With all due respect to Ms. Ticotin, this one is a no-brainer. Did you see Biel's backside in Adam Sandler's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry? We sure did. That's one memory we'd never want "recalled."

Winner: Jessica Biel

Character: Lori Quaid

In their respective Total Recall assignments, Sharon Stone and Kate Beckinsale play Lori Quaid, the woman married to the man everyone's trying to kill. The love of Sharon's fictional life was the former Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, whereas Beckinsale's hubby is Colin Farrell.

No one would argue against the fact that Beckinsale is stunning—she's damn near flawless. On the other hand, her Total Recall predecessor is one of the sexiest women to ever grace the silver screen. With a simple cross of her legs in 1992, Sharon Stone solidified herself as a bona fide Hollywood sex symbol.

So who do we go with? Who's a sexier Lori Quaid? Is it the pristine Brit or the blonde bombshell? This one was close, but, well, see below.

Winner: Kate Beckinsale

Character: Jane Harper

Look back through Hollywood's history and you'll discover one of many truths: Jane Fonda was a dime in her prime. As for Téa Leoni, well, she has qualified as sexy since she was dodging bullets in the 1995 action blockbuster Bad Boys.

This one's tough, but, ultimately, it goes to the legend.

Winner: Jane Fonda

Character: Sara Deever

Sandy Dennis is quite attractive, and she gives a fine performance in director Robert Ellis Miller's original version of Sweet November. In fact, Miller's film is ten times better than director Pat O'Connor's Keanu Reeves-led remake of the romantic drama.

But, having said that, Charlize Theron is, and always will be, Charlize Theron. If any sane, straight man's mind was a club, Charlize would have a permanent reservation, complete with free bottle service in its VIP area.

Winner: Charlize Theron

Character: Sarah Palmer

Both Lori Hallier and Jamie King played Sarah Palmer, a small-town cutie who's forced to relive the tragic events of a Valentine's Day massacre carried out by a homicidal maniac wearing a miner's suit.

In the 1981 original, Hallier isn't even the sexiest lady on screen; that honor goes to Cynthia Dale, who plays her best friend, Patty. Even though the remake's naked co-star Betsy Rue provides the film's most provocative sequence, King, the 2009 version's top-billed actress, slightly edges her out.

Winner: Jaime King

Character: Velma Von Tussle

Let's not forget that Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, also had acting chops. The multi-talented beauty starred as Velma Von Tussle, an overbearing stage mom and producer of The Corny Collins Show, in John Waters' original version of Hairspray in 1988.

In director Adam Shankman's 2007 remake, her shoes were filled by the perpetual knockout Michelle Pfeiffer, who seems to have found the fountain of youth. Seriously, she was 49-year-old when the movie was released.

Winner: Michelle Pfeiffer

Character: Laurie Strode

While playing Laurie Strode, the perpetually shrieking babysitter terrorized by escaped mental patient Michael Myers, Jamie Lee Curtis and Scout Taylor-Compton each aptly screamed with the petrified energy of near-death victims. However, it would be blasphemy to say that anything director Rob Zombie did with his remake was better than what was done in John Carpenter's original film.

Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis

Character: Katya

For movies that are primarily set in one location and focus on a conversation between a sexy soap actress and a journalist, Miller and Schuurman were perfectly cast to hold our attention. However, while the latter is undoubtedly sexy, it's harder to pull your fixation away from Miller by the film's end. And not just because her only on-screen competition the entire time is Steve Buscemi.

Winner: Sienna Miller

Character: Ann Darrow

We can't blame King Kong in the least for being in love with the gorgeous Ann Darrow, regardless of which actress is playing her. They're both fantastic looking women, but only one is so hot that we, too, would climb the Empire State Building to scoop her up into our arms. Sometimes, you just can't be the original.

Winner: Fay Wray

Character: Jill Young

As Jill Young, both Terry Moore and Charlize Theron had to fend off evil poachers and protect a 16-foot-tall gorilla. While both ladies looked wildly attractive while defending the lovable primate, only one of them is Charlize Theron. Sorry, Terry.

Winner: Charlize Theron

Character: Lila Kolodny

In The Heartbreak Kid, both actresses play Lila, a newlywed whose husband (Charles Grodin the original; Ben Stiller in the remake) finds out on their honeymoon that he's no longer in love with her. So, the question becomes, which actress would a guy be crazier to dump? The above image answers that inquiry quite succinctly.

Winner: Malin Akerman

Character: Nancy Archer

Two 50-foot women? We can safely say that both ladies, all 100 feet of them combined, are stunning. But what it really comes down to is a preference of classy Old Hollywood hairdos (like the one on Hayes' pretty head) over the early 1990s Amazonian look (see; Hannah).

Winner: Allison Hayes

Character: Lila Crane

As Lila Crane, both Vera Miles and Julianne Moore were attacked by a knife-wielding Norman Bates as he's dressed in his dead mother's clothes. As preposterously creepy as that is, Miles and Moore somehow managed to lighten the mood with their inherent sex appeal. At the end of the day, however, we're simply suckers for redheads.

Winner: Julianne Moore

Character: Marion Crane

In their respective versions of Psycho, Janet Leigh and Anne Heche play Marion Crane, the Bates Motel patron who becomes the center of the infamous shower scene that's been spoofed and reenacted many times over. But despite their similar character, determining the choice between them is as easy as answering the question of whether Alfred Hitchcock or Gus Van Sant is the better director.

Winner: Janet Leigh

Character: Angela Vidal

Unless you're a big-time horror buff, you might not realize that 2008's Quarantine was actually a remake of [REC], a brilliant, absolutely chilling Spanish-language pic released just one year prior. Playing the exact same role, Manuela Velasco and Jennifer Carpenter convincingly freak out as Angela, a television reporter who's trapped inside of a building where a mysterious virus has turned the residents into bloodthirsty killers.

Although we've seen how hot Carpenter can be thanks to Dexter, Velasco looks like she could pass for Shakira's equally hot younger sister.

Winner: Manuela Velasco

Character: Kathy Lutz

In both Amityville Horror films, Kathy Lutz isthe matriarch of a family terrorized by demonic forces after moving into a Long Island home that was previously the site of a grisly mass-murder.

Although both are stunning actresses, only one of these ladies has played Lois Lane, and that's Miss Kidder. And if she's good enough for Superman, than she's damn sure good enough for us. Sorry, Melissa. Hope we can still be friends.

Winner: Margot Kidder

Character: Carol McCoy

Both Ali MacGraw and Kim Basinger play Carol McCoy, a woman forced to sleep with a mobster in order for her bank robber husband to be released from prison. MacGraw is a great looking woman—there's no doubt about it. Basinger, however, is timeless. She somehow managed to look just as hot in the 2012 film Charlie St. Cloud as she did in 1994's The Getaway.

Winner: Kim Basinger

Character: Lisbeth Salander

Rooney Mara and Noomi Rapace have both played the lead in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the story of a rebellious computer hacker employed to solve a murder mystery.

While Rapace channeled a sexy 1980s-esque punk in her portrayal, Mara's blend of waifish vulnerability and edgy sex appeal in David Fincher's 2011 version ultimately wins us over. That being said, if either asked, we'd go and get a lower back tattoo of a dragon faster than you can say "tramp stamp."

Winner: Rooney Mara

Character: Ulla

In The Producers, both women play Ulla, a sexy Swedish actress looking for a role in Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom's production of Springtime For Hitler. Ulla eventually nabs the part and performs a song titled "If You Got It, Flaunt It."

Ladies, we couldn't agree more. While they're both incredibly sexy, Lee Meredith just looks like she was born to play the role, and nothing Thurman does can trump the image we have of her dancing the Batusi in Pulp Fiction.

Winner: Lee Meredith

Character: Reiko/Rachel

If you weren't already aware, 2002's The Ring was actually a remake of a Japanese horror filmed titled Ringu. In any language, it's a truly terrifying story. Not to mention, each version has a hot-as-hell female lead.

In their respective films, both actresses played the same character, a woman scared senseless after discovering a cursed videotape containing a series of disturbing messages. (See, that's why no one uses VHS anymore.) While Nanako is undeniably cute, in the end, Watts' simple and classic sex appeal wins us over.

Winner: Naomi Watts

Character: Joanna Eberhart

Joanna Eberhart, a housewife hellbent on discovering why the women of Stepford, Connecticut, act like brainwashed zombies, has been played by both Katherine Ross and Nicole Kidman. Although both women are classically gorgeous, it's difficult to argue against the fact that Kidman just embodies the epitome of the perfect housewife.

Winner: Nicole Kidman

Character: Gwen Conliffe

In 1941's monster flick The Wolfman, actress Evelyn Ankers played Gwen, a conflicted woman in love with a man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) who's also a wolf. In its 2010 remake, a vehicle for Benicio Del Toro, the role was played by the gorgeous Emily Blunt. Anker's undeniable old-timey Hollywood beauty aside, we'd be hard-pressed not to cast our vote for Emily Blunt, who looked simply incredible in the role.

Winner: Emily Blunt