Tags: remake

ShockTillYouDrop.com received word today that Rick Baker, FX maestro behind An American Werewolf in London, has signed on to create the werewolf makeup for Mark Romanek's upcoming The Wolf Man, a remake of the classic Universal horror film. Filming on The Wolf Man begins in December. The movie, starring Benicio Del Toro as Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr's original role) and Anthony Hopkins, has a projected release date of November 14, 2008.

Production company Distant Horizon (Prey) has hired screenwriters Eddie and Chris Borey (Open Grave) to revive Sax Rohmer's pulp villain Fu Manchu for a new film, according to Variety.com. Distant Horizon will be co-producing the as-yet untitled film with Harry Alan Towers, who produced a series of Fu Manchu flicks starring Christopher Lee in the 1960s, and Maria Rohm, who acted in The Vengeance of Fu Manchu and The Blood of Fu Manchu.

The character was last seen in a cameo in Rob Zombie's fake Grindhouse trailer, "Werewolf Women of the SS", portrayed by Nicholas Cage.

Hong Kong director Fruit Chan is attached to helm the English-language remake of Hideo Nakata's Don't Look Up, according to Variety.com. In the new version, backed by Distant Horizon (Prey) and Japan's Action 5, a movie production experiences supernatural weirdness due to an old piece of film that captured a woman's murder. "I loved the original film by Hideo Nakata," Chan said. "And I was happy to take on the remake. For too long I've been labeled as an art-house director. I'm a director." Filming is expected to take place in South Africa and Romania within the next few months.(read more...)

Rob Zombie's Halloween remake hasn't been out a full week, but the director is already talking about the DVD. He confirmed to Fangoria.com that there will be a full-length documentary similar to the 30 Days in Hell feature found on the Devil's Rejects disc. "We shot one the same way," Zombie said.(read more...)

Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween (read our review) took the record for highest gross over the four-day Labor Day weekend, pulling in an estimated $31 million. The previous record was held by Transporter 2 in 2005 with just $20.1 million. Additionally, Halloween's three-day take of $26.5 million is the largest opening for a horror/suspense-thriller this year, beating 1408 and Disturbia. Halloween, released by The Weinstein Company and MGM, opened on 4,100 screens in 3,472 theaters on Friday, August 31st.

IGN.com has posted new images from Michael Haneke's remake of his own 1997 thriller Funny Games. The new version stars Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as a couple who are terrorized in their vacation home by a pair of white-gloved serial killers (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet).(read more...)

Bloody-Disgusting.com has posted two new, high-quality posters for writer-director Douglas Buck's remake of Sisters, courtesy of Buck himself. The film follows Grace, a reporter, who is investigating a psychiatrist who maintains a disturbing relationship with one of his patients, Angelique. Sisters stars Stephen Rea (The Crying Game), Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry), Lou Doillon (House of Voices), and William B. Davis ("The X-Files").

Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300) is attached to directed Warner Bros. upcoming adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man. Snyder will also produce the film, written by Alex Tse (who also wrote the screenplay for Snyder's current project, Watchmen), under his production shingle Cruel and Unusual Films. Co-producing will be Denise DiNovi (Edward Scissorhands), Frank Darabont, and Snyder's wife Deborah.

The original book was a collection of short stories narrated by a man whose living tattoos told the future. A previous adaptation from 1969 stars Rod Steiger in the title role and also features Claire Bloom.

Dimension Films is running a contest to promote Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween (opening August 31st in theaters everywhere). Go to www.zombieshalloweencontest.com and upload a photograph depicting your take on the Halloween series for a chance to win a screening of the new Halloween and a Rob Zombie prize pack (including a limited edition t-shirt, four CDs, and DVDs of Zombie's previous two films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects).(read more...)

RKO Pictures has hired writers Brian Horiuchi and Matt Lazarus to write the screenplay for an upcoming remake of the Val Lewton-produced Isle of the Dead (1945), according to HollywoodReporter.com. This comes just two months after RKO signed a deal with Twisted Pictures to produce remakes of four other Lewton properties. "Val Lewton made his name by taking the horror genre to a new place," said RKO chairman and CEO Ted Hartley. "Brian and Matt have the same kind of genre-bending sensibilities that will give this classic tale the perfect blend of contemporary themes and timeless scares."(read more...)