Following the recent success of the "Halloween" remake, Dimension is moving ahead on reinventing "Hellraiser," setting Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo to write and direct the remake of one of horrormeister's Clive Barker's best-known creations.

Dimension's "Halloween" remake, directed by Rob Zombie, grossed more than $57 million.

Released in 1987, "Hellraiser" told the story of an unfaithful wife who attempts to assist her dead lover in his escape from hell. The movie introduced viewers to a race of demons called Cenobites, most notably one nicknamed Pinhead -- who became one of the most enduring horror characters of the decade -- who was summoned using an antique puzzle box.

Based on Barker's critically acclaimed novella "The Hellbound Heart," "Hellraiser" was written and directed by Barker and spawned a lucrative film franchise.

Dimension is aiming to make the movie pre-strike.

Senior VP production Matthew Stein will oversee the project on behalf of Dimension.

French filmmakers Maury and Bustillo come to the project off the strength of their supernatural thriller "Inside," about a pregnant woman who loses her boyfriend in a car crash and subsequently is violently haunted by a mysterious woman. The Weinstein Co./Dimension picked up the distribution rights to their film debut this year.

The filmmakers said they had the blessing of Barker to reappropriate his story and also had a playful message to any horror fans that were ready to trash the idea of a remake, "No tears, please; it's a waste of good remaking!"

Maury and Bustillo are repped by Paradigm.

October 18, 2007


Naomi Watts will star and Martin Campbell is in negotiations to direct Universal's new version of "The Birds."

Universal is planning a reimagining of Daphne du Maurier's short story, which inspired the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock classic.

Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller will produce through their Platinum Dunes shingle, while Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman are producing for Mandalay Pictures.

Universal is not looking to rush the pic into production prior to a possible strike.

Stiles White and Juliet Snowden wrote a version of the script that is still being developed. New scribes may be brought aboard.

For the moment, Campbell's and Watts' dance cards are already filled with other projects.

Campbell is attached to Fox's runaway train actioner "Unstoppable" and crime thriller "36" at Paramount. He most recently helmed the latest James Bond installment "Casino Royale."

Watts, who will next be seen in Warner Independent's "Funny Games," is filming "The International" and will follow that up with First Look's adaptation of Amy Sutherland's "Kicked, Bitten and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premiere School for Exotic Animal Trainers."

Mandalay's David Zelon and Jonathan Krauss will oversee for Mandalay. Scott Bernstein is overseeing the pic for Universal.

This is going to blow. They can never make another Hitchcockian Birds movie.


Edgar

Remakes Remakes Remakes

The killer of greatness.

November 8, 2007


Indie film producer Tony DiDio (of both TOOLBOX MURDERS incarnations) is preparing a remake of the 1968 Jack Hill cult classic SPIDER BABY.

The original film, which stars film legend Lon Chaney Jr. and Sid (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS) Haig, centers around a family residing in an isolated mansion who suffer a degenerative disease called “The Merrye Syndrome” (which causes them to regress to the point of cannibalism; much macabre wackiness is the end result).

Haig is being courted to return for the update (to take over the role of family caretaker Bruno, originally essayed by Chaney), with Hill on board as executive producer and director Jeff Broadstreet (who previously teamed with Haig on NIGHT OF THE LIVING 3D) at the helm.

“We’re going to stick very closely to the basic story of the original film, and at the same time dig deeper into the backstory of the inbred Merrye family,” Broadstreet reveals.

The new script by NIGHT 3D’s Robert Valding “expands on the themes of unconditional love, and also the story elements of cannibalism and the mutant relatives in the basement. But this isn’t going to be the TEXAS CHAINSAW family, and it’s not going to be a monster movie.”

According to Broadstreet, the remake’s origins date back to “the end of 2005, when Sid and I were doing ADR on NOTLD 3D, and he got me thinking about it. Sid told me that he and Jack Hill had been talking about a remake and that he was interested in playing the Bruno role, which a lot of people consider to be Lon Chaney Jr.’s last memorable performance. I really thought that was a great idea. He’s now about the same age as Chaney was when they shot the original.”

Flash forward to August 2007, when a mutual friend introduced Broadstreet to Hill. “We wrote a treatment, got Jack’s input and things have moved quickly,” the filmmaker says. “I’m very excited about directing this film and bringing Jack’s highly original tale to a new audience.”

Budgeted in the $3-5-million range, the new SPIDER BABY is one of a trio of horror flicks DiDio aims to put into production within the next nine months, all intended for eventual possible theatrical release. The others are TOOLBOX MURDERS 2 (the sequel to Tobe Hooper’s well-received 2004 redux, with FX man Dean Jones on board as director) and the Andrew Chiaramonte-directed SHRIEK.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

i feel sick.
what an outrage.

Rob Zombie has a lot to answer for!

Just as the remakes seem to be getting a little less frequent he has to go and make a really successful one and now it's all fucked!

No kidding....:p I also read a rumor that he was remaking CHUD, I mean, come on that HAS to be a rumor right? For heaven's sake, WHY would he do that? ;)

I know someone who has been working on a CHUD remake for over two years now. It's an amazing script that brings a David Fincher kind of sophistication to the story-telling.

I asked him about the Rob Zombie thing and he told me that the rights-holders didn't know anything about Zombie's claim.