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Saw releasers remaking several horror classics

Evolution Entertainment has inked a deal with RKO Pictures to redo several of the latter studio’s horror classics.

The companies – Evolution has partnered up as ‘Twisted’ Pictures - will co-finance development and production of "The Body Snatcher," a 1945 Robert Wise-directed thriller that starred Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff; the 1943 pic "I Walked With a Zombie"; and the 1946 Karloff starrer "Bedlam." They've yet to select the fourth title from the RKO vault.

The deal was hatched by Evolution co-presidents Mark Burg and Oren Koules and RKO Pictures chairman-CEO Ted Hartley. They are out to writers and directors, some of whom are expected to come from Evolution Management.

Burg, Koules and Hartley will produce each picture with Twisted Pictures prexy Carl Mazzocone, with Jonathan Marshall exec producing. Movies will be budgeted at $10 million-$20 million. No distributor has been set.

In Twisted, Hartley has found producers with cash and a track record. Burg and Koules self-finance most of their genre pics. That includes the highly profitable "Saw" series, the fourth installment of which is being shot in Toronto for a fall release.

"These guys are very good at making scary pictures, and partnering like this is a great way for us to maximize the use of the RKO library and grow our company," Hartley said.

Hartley most recently dipped into the library for "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," the Cary Grant comedy that was turned into "Are We Done Yet?," the sequel to the Ice Cube pic "Are We There Yet?" RKO was also a producer of "Curtains," the original Broadway musical that stars David Hyde Pierce and drew eight Tony nominations and a win for Pierce.

For Twisted Pictures partners Burg and Koules, entry to the library gives access to a wealth of titles they feel are still viable.

"We've thought a long time about how to update these classic titles to make them commercial," Burg said. "If these films go well, we hope it leads to more."



The Wizard of Gore director speaks

According to Jeremy Kasten, the director of The Wizard of Gore, which will have it's World Premiere next week as part of the LA Film Fest, this remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ exploitation classic puts an up-to-date spin on the tale of an underground illusionist (Crispin Glover) who may be performing more than just sleight-of-hand tricks since volunteers from his audience keep turning up dead.

Kasten talked a bit about his cast and what we can expect from the remake, “Despite having an amazing cast including Crispin Glover, Bijou Phillips, Kip Pardue, Brad Dourif and Jeffrey Combs, an amazing writer in Zach Chassler and amazing locations, gruesome effects and a cast of hundreds, I still managed to utterly run this ship soooo far aground.” He also joked about how fun the film is when you’re drunk, “from what I have seen, the film is fun [when] drunk... for me and you. I’m kidding of course, I can't start drinking on the really early shoot days until after lunch.”

All kidding aside, Kasten took the film into a dark place, “Okay, the movie is f*cking disturbing… [It’s] really dark in a really interesting way.” He also explains how the film has entered into new sub-genre territory, “We have a real anti-hero at the core of this film thusly we call it Splatter-Noir. Of course we kept the basic concept of what H.G. Lewis did so brilliantly, but we really tried to elevate the genre and his story and in-so-doing I think the movie becomes MORE horrific for the ugliness at its CORE. It's EXACTLY what you hope for when you hear there's a cover (I'm loathe to use the term "remake") of The Wizard of Gore with Crispin Glover as Montag.”

Bijou Phillips is one of the stars of Gore, along with Hostel 2, which just hit theaters, Kasten jokes about who would win in a fight between the two characters, “I think the REAL Bijou Phillips could kick BOTH their asses. I have not had time to see Hostel 2 yet. I've been in traction, recovering from a little disagreement with Bijou.”

And from the sounds of it, going into Wizard of Gore will only amplify the experience.



(References - moviehole.net, bloody-disgusting.com)