4. Poltergeist
A house built on desecrated burial ground, a child who talks to ghosts, a spiritual medium drafted in to help a suffering family are horror clichés – some of which recycled recently in the thieving Paranormal Activity franchise. Before that, one of the first commercially successful films to include them was Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist.
A collaborative effort by Hooper and producer/writer Steven Spielberg, Poltergeist was a smash when released in 1982. The story of a family who move into a new house to discover it is haunted is a tale older than the amber they extract dino DNA from in Jurassic Park. It was only a matter of time before a remake was announced. Put into production by an MGM back from bankruptcy, Sam Raimi has been attached to produce alongside his Oz: The Great and Powerful writer David Lindsay-Abaire.
Abaire’s got the knack for relishing in the tumult of the family dynamic after firing off the brilliant Rabbit Hole. If he can relocate the tension from a melodrama to horror then the script’s got potential to live up to the original. Rumours recently surfaced that Raimi would also direct. While this is probably the wishful thinking of an overactive rumour mill – it’s still an exciting glimpse at what could be the second cracking collaboration on Poltergeist.
3. Martyrs
French extremist cinema has yielded tons of clever, gory and unique titles, none as outstanding and shout-at-the-TV-inducing as Martyrs though. The nearest Hollywood equivalent would most likely be the original Saw, which meshed philosophical musings about man’s existential dilemma (sort of) with gut-wrenching torture. Martyrs poses similar questions, frames them in a genius plot and ups the violence. You should rent it now, hence no more story discussion.
Unfortunately, the remake is to be directed by Daniel Stamm who helmed the insipid The Last Exorcism. When interviewed in 2010, Stamm made public his wishes to tag on a hopeful endnote onto the film to dismiss the nihilism of the original. Well that’s a bit like trying to outwit a xenomorph with a bucket of soapy water. By diluting that which lent the original strength pretty much guarantees the remake will have its backbone replaced with something less gritty. Like a jam sandwich.
On the plus side, when interviewed about the project in 2010, Stamm dismissed rumours that Kristen Stewart was to star but no other actors have been confirmed. Mark L. Smith, writer of Vacancy is also on board to pen the script.
Martyrs is still in development.
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