Movies
More Details on RKO Remake ‘I Walked With a Zombie’
It was officially announced tonight that RKO’s Roseblood Movie Co. and Twisted Pictures have set Adam Marcus to direct I Walked With a Zombie, the remake of the Val Lewton RKO 1943 classic. Marcus, who directed Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, has written the script with Debra Sullivan, his writing partner on the Val Kilmer starrer Conspiracy. You can read a bit more about the project inside.
The film focuses on a private tutor who discovers a terrifying family secret while working at the ancient estate of a New Orleans businessman. The original was a forerunner of the corps of walking corpse films that followed. Hartley called the film one of the most valuable in the RKO library.
RKO’s Ted Hartley will produce with Twisted’s Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Carl Mazzocone. Andy Fickman, who recently pacted with Roseblood and Twisted to oversee four remakes, will be exec producer with Betsy Sullenger, his partner in their Oops Doughnuts production banner.
Aside from “Zombie,” Fickman is overseeing remakes of 1945’s The Body Snatcher (already remade several times), 1946’s Bedlam and 1939’s Five Came Back (remade twice before). Fickman said the filmmakers are a strong match for bringing “Zombie” back from the dead.
“Adam and Deborah have created a chilling screenplay that along with Adam’s vision would make Lewton proud,” Fickman said.
Movies
Christopher Landon to Helm Feature Adaptation of Grady Hendrix’s ‘The Final Girl Support Group’
A new feature adaptation of author Grady Hendrix‘s slasher book The Final Girl Support Group is now on the way from Paramount Pictures, and Deadline reports that it’s found its director in Christopher Landon (Drop, Happy Death Day).
The two previously collaborated on My Best Friend’s Exorcism.
In The Final Girl Support Group, “Lynette is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.”
“But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.”
I wrote in my novel review for BD, “Hendrix puts his characters through the absolute wringer. It’s a bloody, vicious voyage for the flawed heroine, both physically and emotionally. In terms of action and horror, Support Group delivers breakneck pacing and thrills.”
Five years ago, Andy Muschietti & Barbara Muschietti (Mama, It, It Chapter Two) were attached to produce a planned series adaptation for HBO Max alongside Charlize Theron. While Theron is no longer producing, the Muschiettis remain on board under their Double Dream label.
Paramount Pictures is also developing Hendrix’s sci-fi novella, BadAsstronauts.
You must be logged in to post a comment.