Movies
Twisted Pictures and RKO Preps Their Slate of Remakes
It has been talked about for months now, RKO Pictures and Twisted Pictures (Saw I-V, Dead Silence) have teamed up to bring you four remakes of classic films from the ’30s and ’40s. Previously announced are remakes of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, THE BODY SNATCHER, BEDLAM and FIVE CAME BACK. Inside you can read a bit more about the deal and what you can expect from the upcoming feature films.
Andy Fickman has made a deal with Roseblood Movie Company and Twisted Pictures to godfather four remakes from RKO’s horror heyday, including three that were produced by horrormeister Val Lewton. Fickman will direct at least one of the films.
Roseblood is the horror/thriller division of RKO Pictures, and Twisted is the horror division of Evolution Entertainment, financiers and producers of the “Saw” series. The companies will co-finance the films.
The remake properties are the Jacques Tourneur-directed “I Walked With a Zombie” (1943); the Robert Wise-directed Bela Lugosi-Boris Karloff starrer “The Body Snatcher” (1945); the Mark Robson-directed Karloff starrer “Bedlam” (1946); and the John Farrow-directed Lucille Ball-John Carradine starrer “Five Came Back” (1939).
The first three pics were produced by Lewton when he ran the horror division of the original RKO. Lewton co-wrote both “Bedlam” and “The Body Snatcher” under the pseudonym Carlos Keith.
RKO chairman Ted Hartley is producing the remakes with Twisted’s Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Carl Mazzocone. Jonathan Marshall is executive producer.
It’s the second recent multipicture deal for Fickman, who recently made a first-look deal with Disney, where he directed “The Game Plan” and is currently wrapping “Race to Witch Mountain.” Fickman became steeped in monster lore while working as a Universal tour guide and was intrigued with the way Lewton scared up fright hits on relatively small budgets.
“After Frankenstein and the Wolfman came Lewton and RKO, and what they lacked in budgets they made up for with atmosphere, imagination and great directors making horror with psychological flair,” Fickman told Daily Variety. “It was on the heels of WWII, when Nazi Germany showed that the scariest enemy might be the person who looked like your next door neighbor. It didn’t have to be some creature.”
Said RKO’s Hartley: “I have never met a filmmaker who has the level of appreciation and passion for films that Andy has for Lewton’s incredible creations.”
RKO last produced “Are We There Yet,” a remake of the 1946 RKO Cary Grant comedy “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,” and produced the upcoming “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” with Michael Douglas, to be released next year by After Dark Films.
Twisted Pictures next releases “Saw V” on Oct. 24, followed by the Nov. 7 release of the horror musical “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” starring Sarah Brightman, Paris Hilton and Paul Sorvino. Lionsgate distributes both pics.
Recent comments from producer Jason Blum suggested that a retool was in order when last year’s The Exorcist: Believer wasn’t as successful as Blumhouse and Universal hoped. That certainly seems to be the case, though, as Deadline reports tonight that Mike Flanagan is in talks to direct the next Exorcist movie.
Director David Gordon Green was initially on board to direct an entire trilogy of new movies in the franchise, with The Exorcist: Believer intended to be only the first film in that three-film sequel series. Originally set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025, sequel The Exorcist: Deceiver was delayed when Green left the project.
If talks come to fruition, Flanagan will take over, likely steering the franchise in a new direction.
The first film in the trilogy was released theatrically on October 13, 2023, with Leslie Odom Jr. starring alongside a returning Ellen Burstyn from the original classic.
In Believer, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
“But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before.”
The final moments of The Exorcist: Believer brought Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil back into the fold, seeming to suggest that the legacy character could return in future installments.
As for Flanagan, the horror filmmaker has Life of Chuck on the way. Flanagan previously helmed Stephen King adaptations Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, he’s also known for titles including Ouija: Origin of Evil and Oculus, along with The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Midnight Club and other series.
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
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