remake

Adam Gierasch's remake of cult horror flick Night of the Demons has had a long and hard road to release. If this news from Dread Central is to be believed (and I'm sure it is...) that road's about to get longer.

The film, which was supposed to have a wide theatrical release last October was then tentatively shifted to February. That didn't pan out, and now Gierasch is saying that his film should have "a decently wide release" on September 23rd. Details about who might be distributing the film are still scarce, but I think a September debut suits the title better than a February one would have.

The remake stars Diora Baird, Monica Keena, Bobbi Sue Luther, Jonathan Beach, Michael Copon, Tiffany Shepis, and Edward Furlong, and Shannon Elizabeth as the demonic Angela. The original is considered a cult classic amongst horror geeks, so here's hoping Gierasch--who also helmed the film Autopsy--can create a movie that lives up to its inspiration.

Cruise on over to Dread Central for more on this, a proposed musical tie-in for select cities, and a handful of new stills from the production.

Dreamworks has been threatening us with a Fright Night remake for quite awhile now, but those threats have mostly been empty. That could be changing, as the LA Times is reporting the project has been moved on to the high priority fast track.

As proof that this isn't just Dreamworks blowing more smoke, the article breaks news that Craig Gillespie is now in negotiations to take the reins on the remake. Reports indicate that the studio was mulling over several filmmakers, but decided Gillespie was their man and began serious negotiations on Friday. The director is best known for the romantic comedy Lars and the Real Girl and the Billy Bob Thornton vehicle Mr. Woodcock. Buffy the Vampire Slayer scribe Marti Noxon is working on the screenplay.

The original Fright Night found a teenaged horror film fan Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) teaming up with creature feature host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) to battle a vampire who's moved in next door and set his sights on Charley's girlfriend. Directed by Tom Holland, it's one of the better examples of how to mix horror and comedy without alienating either audience.

If Gillespie does sign on for the project, the next big step would appear to be casting. I don't particularly care who plays Charley in a remake, but I do care about who they get to play Peter Vincent. McDowall will be a tough act to follow--who would you cast in that pivotal role?

It appears as though things are moving forward on a planned remake of Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary. THR is reporting that Matthew Greenberg has been hired to craft a new screenplay for the project, making this the scribe's second foray into Stephen King territory. Geenberg previously brought 1408 to the big screen.

The 1989 film was an adaptation of a novel that author Stephen King refused to publish for a number of years--saying that he felt it crossed lines better left alone--about a family who discovers that a nearby pet cemetery has the ability to bring the dead back to life. When the family's youngest child is killed, the father takes the corpse to the graveyard and the kid comes back from the dead--only it's not the same kid who died, but something much darker and malevolent.

News of plans to remake Pet Sematary leave me feeling largely indifferent. Lambert's original is a fun, if ultimately average, horror film that never really lives up to the novel that inspired it. It's a middle of the pack King adaptation, and I certainly feel as though a remake has the potential to improve upon the first filmed version of the story. That being said, do we really need a retelling of this tale? All I know is that whoever winds up directing it better leave the "Gage slashes the neighbor's Achilles Tendon" scene in--because that's what everyone remembers when the topic of this film comes up.

Put on a pot of coffee and stock up on No-Doze because everyone's favorite bastard son of a hundred maniacs is about to make his big screen comeback. Platinum Dunes has unveiled the second trailer for Samuel Bayer's re-imagining of Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street--and my early reaction is that it looks decent.

The new clip comes courtesy of Trailer Addict and it showcases lots of footage we hadn't seen in the earlier spot during its two-and-a-half minute running time. The most interesting thing, to me anyway, is how many scenes they've recreated from the original film. We knew the bathtub scene was making a comeback, but the new trailer reveals that the "Freddy stretching through the wall like it was made of spandex" scene is coming back as well--with some dodgy looking CGI--and it appears Tina's gravity-defying death scene might be featured too.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, the clip does feature Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy. There was a great deal of concern about the actor's voice after the last trailer debuted--and while it sounds like they've changed it to a certain degree for this trailer, I'm still not feeling it's what it should be. Perhaps it will grow on me in the context of the full performance.

I'm not getting too excited for the film based on these previews--Platinum Dunes has suckered me into a bad remake with a good trailer before--but it's hard to deny that the project shows definite signs of promise.

Jump past the break to check out the new clip. Freddy is set to start stalking your dreams on April 30th.

Back on December 14th, the LA Times published a story stating that filmmaker Breck Eisner had signed on to direct a remake of David Cronenberg's 1979 cult classic, The Brood. There was much hemming and hawing once this news broke, because Cronenberg is a genre icon and like Dario Argento, remaking his films seems pointless because it's the director who made the titles so uniquely compelling in the first place.

As it turns out, the reports of Eisner signing to direct the remake appear to have been premature. The director is currently doing press junkets for his re-imagining of George Romero's The Crazies-and when he sat down with SyFy he had this to say about his involvement with The Brood.

"I'm not signed on [The Brood], no. I was approached about the movie, and I'm just in discussions about it."

Eisner then added that while he's not officially attached, he's still very interested in the project. "I like the writer, Cory Goodman's, script," he says. "I'm a big fan of the original. I still have yet to decide if it's something I really want to be doing. Is it a movie for me? I'm still kind of soul-searching on that one."

The director is starting to cultivate a reputation as a horror remake filmmaker. Aside from this project and his completed updating of The Crazies, Eisner was also involved in the development of a remake of The Creature From the Black Lagoon. He's no longer attached to that film.

Get your first look at some of Eisner's work on February 26th when The Crazies infects theaters across the country.

When news broke last year that CineTel Films was planning a remake of Meir Zarchi's infamous 1978 exploitation film I Spit on Your Grave it became obvious that nothing was safe from getting a reboot. Zarchi's film isn't the most extreme or disturbing movie in the world, but to mainstream audiences it's about as hardcore and awful as it gets. To learn that it was being remade was one more shred of evidence convincing me that we live in some very strange times...

Had the story ended there, it would have been weird enough. It doesn't though--THR is now reporting that the remake has been acquired by the horror and exploitation lovers over at Anchor Bay. The company has landed the distribution rights for Steven R. Monroe's film in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K. and New Zealand. The official plan is to give the title a targeted theatrical release this fall, then a full-scale DVD launch early next year. Yes, you read that right--somewhere in America, people are going to be able to walk into a theater and see an updated version of I Spit on Your Grave on the big screen. How cool is that?

According to the scant plot details we've heard so far, the remake appears to be staying faithful to the source material. A young woman from the city heads to a cabin in the country to work on her novel. She's raped and tortured by some local fellows and then sets out on a quest for bloody retribution.

So, would you go see an I Spit on Your Grave remake on the big screen? Sound off in the comment section.

With Breck Eisner's remake of George Romero's cult film The Crazies set to debut in February, many folks have started to wonder what the guy would direct next. The filmmaker was attached to direct a remake of the 1950's classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon, but that fell through earlier this year.

With that project off the docket, the LA Times' Hero Complex blog is reporting he'll be tackling a different remake for his next cinematic outing--an updating of David Cronenberg's The Brood. Cronenberg's version debuted in 1979 and featured Art Hindle, Samantha Eggar, and Oliver Reed in a tale of cult-like psychology, murderous mutant children, and the usual Cronenbergian themes of body modification.

Truthfully, remaking The Brood is a terrible idea. Cronenberg's films are all uniquely his own. The recurring themes in his work aren't something that someone else can just walk in and replicate. This is particularly true of The Brood, which is one of the filmmaker's most personal works. The dissolution of family on display in this particular movie mirrors Cronenberg's own acrimonious divorce. Somehow, I'd imagine that's going to be lost in a remake.

The announced Videdrome remake had people (rightfully) up in arms--yet news of Hollywood tinkering with something as unique as The Brood is even more troubling. Maybe Eisner can pull it off--I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until we see the finished product.

Like most horror fans, I've grown weary of remakes. I don't believe that they indicate that there's no originality left in Hollywood, but I do find them indicative of the film industry's inherent laziness. There are great scripts out there not getting made because there's less risk and more reward (and less effort) involved with just churning out updates to older movies.

This doesn't mean that I automatically assume all remakes will be awful. I try to approach the majority of them with an open mind and give them a fair shot. Occasionally, one even comes along that looks like it might be good. We saw this happen with Alexandre Aja's re-imagining of Craven's The Hills Have Eyes and it looks as though it could happen again with Breck Eisner's The Crazies.

Eisner's film is a retelling of one of the lesser seen works in George Romero's filmography. The updated version stars Timothy Olyphant as a sheriff in a small town where the population morphs into murderous maniacs after a mysterious toxin winds up in the water supply. Radha Mitchell co-stars as Olyphant's wife.

The newest trailer for the film has debuted on Yahoo Movies, and I'm pretty impressed with it. Sure, it looks a lot slicker and polished than Romero's version, but The Crazies isn't a film that worked because of its low budget cinematography (unlike Texas Chainsaw Massacre--a remake that failed because Hollywood made it look too pretty) in the first place.

We'll have to wait til February to see if the finished film is as good as the trailer, but until then I'm honestly expecting good things out of The Crazies.

Click past the jump to view the trailer for yourself.

Reviews were mixed for the Platinum Dunes remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street after a round of test-screenings. Additional scenes will be shot for the film and require additional cast members according to CHUD.

The full details are posted on the Spoiler TV website, but you can check them out after the jump. So far, the new scene we know about is set at a diner where Nancy works. There's no telling if this additional and seemingly minor scene will clear up any confusion in terms of plot but apparently the studio feels its necessary.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, directed by Samuel Bayer, stars Jackie Earle Haley (Freddy), Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, Rooney Mara, Kellan Lutz, Katie Cassidy, Connie Britton and my boyfriend Clancy Brown. Freddy Krueger is a serial child molester who is murdered and then returns as a crispy critter to terrorize teens in their dreams. The film opens in theaters April 30, 2010.

While all of you are skipping out of work to play Left 4 Dead 2 today, I'm stuck sitting here with a red-ringed Xbox 360 that's out of warranty. I'm saddened by the fact that I'm not able to spend my afternoon smacking zombies in the face with baseball bats, but my day has been brightened by this YouTube video (thanks to Kotaku for pointing it out) highlighting a new 8-bit Nintendo-styled re-interpretation of the first game.

EricRuthGames posted the clip, and at first I thought it was just a clever demo exercise by someone wanting to show off what they can do in the retro gaming style. However, reading through the information the author shares on the post, it becomes clear that this is an actual remake of Left 4 Dead, due out on January 4th of 2010.

The title will be available for free download and features 16 colors, a four channel soundtrack, and recreations all the maps, missions and zombies from Left 4 Dead. Creator Ruth goes on to explain that he's largely a one-man show (except for some friends who helped with QA testing), which is even more impressive.

While it may not have the shiny graphics and online gameplay of the original Left 4 Dead, this retro-recreation still looks worthy of a download when it makes its official debut early next year.

Jump past the break to see the trailer of the game in action.