Twisted Pictures

It was a busy weekend for the guys at Twisted Pictures. Not only did they announce their plans to make a big screen version of the Image comic book series Sorrow, the company also found time to debut the promotional trailer for director Rob Lieberman's new film The Tortured.

If you're not familiar with the project, it centers on two parents (Erika Christensen and Jesse Metcalfe) who conclude the justice system came up short when sentencing the man (Bill Moseley) who kidnapped and killed their son. If you guess they abduct and torture said man, give yourself a screenwriter's credit.

While it's nice to see Twisted Pictures not going the Platinum Dunes route (by making original films instead of trying to remake everything under the sun...), I'm not sure another riff on Craven's The Last House on the Left is something I'm all that interested in seeing (particularly since I just saw a Last House on the Left remake this year). That being said, watching Bill Moseley play a slimy kidnapper who gets his comeuppance might make sitting through a bunch of heavy-handed philosophizing about why good people occasionally do bad things more tolerable. Or not. Here's to hoping 'Freebird' turns up on the soundtrack during a scene of Moseley being tortured. That alone could make or break this film.

Click past the jump to see the trailer.

It's been a busy past few weeks for the Twisted Pictures crew. First there was news that they'd scored the rights to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise (followed by numerous unsupported rumors that Tobe Hooper would be back to direct a new installment), then came the disappointing release of Saw VI, and now Shock Till You Drop is reporting that the company has nabbed the rights to adapt the horror graphic novel Sorrow for the big screen.

The comic, which features the work of Rick Remender, Seth Peck, and Francesca Francavilla, is set in the town of Sorrow, Nevada. Nuclear tests run by the government back in the '50s killed the entire population--or did they? When four young folks get stranded in the town, they learn firsthand that buried things aren't always dead.

Screenwriter Michael Hidalgo has been tapped to handle the writing duties. He had this to say on the source material. "Rick, Seth and Francesco have created a throwback to '70s and '80s horror/thriller films with the perfect mix of terror and memorable characters. The idea is to make a great film that resonates with fans of the genre."

We'll bring you more on Sorrow as it inches toward production.

All it takes is one solid remake (like this one) to generate one half-hearted prequel (like this one), but now that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre property has moved over from New Line / WB / Platinum Dunes to the production company known as Twisted Pictures (creators of the Saw series) we can expect a small jolt of energy from the new producers. (I hope.) The fact that the next Chainsaw is being considered for the 3-D treatment has me feeling a little annoyed, but of course it's unfair to knock a project before it's finished. And this one's not even finished the screenplay stage.

Shock has a few words from producer Mark Burg on where he'd like to see Leatherface go for his next flick, and here's a key passage: "What we're going to do with it is bring it to 2010 ... Make it current day and come up with a new story that takes some of the basic plot points, if you will, and make it a current day movie. I don't want to make another Chainsaw in the '70s, that doesn't thrill me." Now, before you crucify the guy for daring to take the Chainsaw out of the '70s, think about it: I agree with Mr. Burg. No matter how iconic that setting is ... it's been done (and done damn well) several times already. The screenwriter on the clock is Mr. Stephen Susco, he of both American Grudge flicks and the solid indie thriller Red.

So the Platinum Dunes fellows managed to bat .500 with this legendary horror franchise. Only seems fair to give the new guys the same shot. For more on the early stages of the next Chainsaw outing, check STYD.

Everyone knows Platinum Dunes was the driving force behind 2003's Marcus Nispel directed remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (as well as its 2006 prequel), but what you might not have realized is that the studio had only signed with the film's original rights holders on a picture-by-picture basis. And now that Platinum Dunes has moved on to Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, their interest in 'ole Leatherface has waned. Enter Twisted Pictures, the company best known for milking the blood drenched bones of the Saw franchise, who have now acquired the rights to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family.

Now say what you will about Platinum Dunes two at-bats with the cannibalistic inbred Hewitt family - I actually think Nispel's film is one of the more respectful remakes of the new wave of Hollywood's catalog digging - but at least Michael Bay's company kept the film in its 1970s setting. Twisted Pictures, according to Variety, plan to not only bring the Hewitt clan to the present day, but they're going to bring all the meat-hook slamming, skin-wearing, chainsaw-revving imagery into the third dimension to boot.

Yesterday Bloody-Disgusting provided the net with a look at the first official poster for Lionsgate's sixth trip to the money factory/torture well started by James Wan and Leigh Whannell back in 2004. The poster is a cryptic image of six people fixed to a child's merry-go-round with the slug, "The game comes full circle." No doubt such an enigma has been torturing the imagination of Jigsaw's rabid fanbase since its release. After all playground equipment is generally quite safe, no? How could it possibly be a sinister trap?

Now less than 24 hours later we've got an official clip from Saw VI that helps clear up the merry-go-round bit of the poster. Having watched said clip I'm shocked to report that, surprise, all is not well in the playground. Turns out a spinny-ma-jig in Saw VI land is not a source of glee. It looks like it sucks. A lot. I got a headache just watching the thing whirl around, can't imagine what the poor schmoes on it are feeling. But, hey, I'm sure they did something really horrible to deserve it. Some sin so devilish as to warrant hellish torture like, er, denying someone a loan.

The clip is actually quite long and contains enough premise establishment that I'm left wondering what Lionsgate has in stow for the trailer, which I will be premiering later today. Then again, the mystery of exactly how or why 'the game' is now coming full circle is still up in the air. What geometric shape was the franchise before? An ellipse? Perhaps a rhombus? Guess we'll all have to wait until October 23rd to find out.