It’s been a great few years for horror, and that’s in large part thanks to films like Insidious, which took traditional haunted-house concepts and added a fresh twist to the proceedings. After two excellent installments in that series, with a third scheduled for 2015, it’s clear that screenwriter Leigh Whannel isn’t opposed to continuing the franchise, despite the apparent departure of stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson in Insidious: Chapter 2.
In an interview with Crave Online, super-producer Jason Blum revealed that, even after big-screen sequels to Insidious have run their course, the series may not necessarily be over. Talking about the possibility of a TV spin-off focusing on paranormal investigators Specs (Whannel) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), along with the ghost of Elise (Lin Shaye), Blum revealed:
I’d like to do that. I don’t think you can do that while we’re still making movies. Now Leigh [Whannel] is writing the third Insidious, so we have to see how far we can take the series of movies […] but I believe very strongly that once that kind of comes to a close you can do a series, and I think soon we’ll be in a place where you can have a series at the same time. Although right now people are too nervous to have that.
Blum added that the idea of a ten-episode limited series, similar to what Marvel is doing for superhero properties on Netflix, is “super cool,” though his admission that a TV series could not co-exist with a movie series likely means we won’t be seeing Insidious on the small screen until at least 2016, if at all.
His caution regarding TV series is understandable, given the middling results he’s had in the past. Last year, Blum executive-produced ABC’s The River, a found-footage project that attracted few viewers, mixed reviews and a quick cancellation. His second attempt, a Syfy reality series called Stranded, didn’t take off with viewers earlier this year.
That being said, Blum is already working under the Blumhouse Productions banner to create two original TV series. A horror/thriller series called Eye Candy, starring Victoria Justice, has already filmed a pilot, directed by Twilight‘s Catherine Hardwicke, and Blum is currently waiting to hear if a network will pick it up to series. Blumhouse Productions is also gearing up to shoot multiple episodes for another potential TV series, though Blum was unable to disclose any details about the nature of that project.
During the interview, the producer also confirmed that the long-in-the-works Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes, which many considered to be dead in the water, is actually still alive. After Crave Online’s interviewer asked about whether the project had been shelved, Blum said:
Nope. Still going, still going, still going, still going. We’re going to make that movie and it’s very cool. But I don’t quite know yet when.
It’s been a while since any advances were made on that found-footage sequel, but Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes is said to focus on an ambitious female news intern who decides to reveal the truth about the infamous Amityville incident. With Paranormal Activity still going strong, Blum isn’t finished with the found-footage format yet, and the Amityville series seems as reputable a horror franchise as any to get an infusion of shaky-cam.
One other item of note from the interview: Dark Skies will not be getting a sequel after its poor box-office performance. Given Blum’s busy schedule, it’s understandable that not every film he works on will get the sequel treatment, and few were clamoring for one to the alien-abduction chiller anyway.
Would you be interested in a TV continuation of the Insidious series? Is Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes a good idea or a big mistake? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
