I generally loathe remakes. But, there is wiggle room when a film is based on a book or story. And a remake goes back to that source material instead of merely aping the previous adaptation.

Starlog reprinted "Who Goes There?" around the time John Carpenter's film came out, and he was able to get closer to that source material than Howard Hawks ever could have in the '50's. Carpenter did pay homage to the original film, but was subtle about it.

On the flip side of the coin, I've never been able to watch more than a few minutes of the 1999 version of The Haunting. You can't top Robert Wise's version with a lot CGI spooks. ;)

I have very mixed feelings about The Shining prequel Warner is scheming to make. Especially if it's going to be the backstory to Kubrick's film.