The idea factory is still out of business:
Atmosphere Entertainment and Relativity Media have announced that the first picture to go into production for their joint venture genre label Chiller Films will be a remake of Joe Dante's 1978 horror hit "Piranha" reports Screen Daily.
Chuck Russell ("The Scorpion King," "Nightmare On Elm Street 3"), is writing the screenplay about a prehistoric strain of fish that terrorises college students at Lake Havasu in Arizona.
"We felt that Piranha is the perfect genre picture for us to do," Atmoshpere chief Mark Canton said in a statement. "It's a classic horror thriller with high-end talent attached and with all of the ingredients to deliver a plethora of scares."
None of this so-called talent has been attached yet, of course. Even when it is, I doubt it'll be mush "higher end" than William Katt, Alexandra Paul, and Soleil Moon Frye.
Chiller Films was formed by Atmosphere Films and Relativity Media following production of Land of the Dead earlier this year. Why did they decide to form the company?
"On single-picture financing, [horror] might be easier than any other genre right now. In one-offs, you can use hedge funds, foreign sales, all kinds of strategies to maximize your ownership position. Even if horror doesn't stay as hot as it has been, there is still a fundamental audience and a comparably low-risk film investment."
Wow. Nothing like a love for the source material to get horror fans excited.
Going back to the original article, what other reasons could possible cause anyone to remake a film that's already spawned (ha ha) one James Cameron-directed sequel and the aforementioned remake?
I first had the idea to remake Piranha about three years ago, right before the current horror film resurgence," IPW chairman Marc Toberoff added. "That one word tells a story evoking universal fear. I've always felt that death by piranha was much more horrifying than death by shark."
Common sense and lousy box office returns would seem to prove otherwise, but knock yourself out.
There's an excellent article in the newest Harper's by David Mamet called "Bambi Vs. Godzilla: Why Art Loses in Hollywood."
Good stuff.
(and actually, if they made it, I would like to see "Bambi Vs. Godzilla")
(and actually, if they made it, I would like to see "Bambi Vs. Godzilla")
You serious?
It's probably also viewable online somewhere, but damned if I can find it.
Wow... viewing film as investment rather than entertainment or art is just kinda offensive. I guess it's always been that way, to some extent, but come ON! The rationale that guy you quoted is pathetic! Horror films are easier to make, therefore, we should flood the market with 'em. It doesn't matter how GOOD they are, because no matter what, we're gonna make money in the end. I could be wrong, but I imagine the studio who produced Cinema Paradiso or The Godfather or even The Shining were thinking that when they doled out the cash to shoot those movies.
Once again, you've embiggened my derision for all things Hollywood.
Ha ha. One of the reviews on Amazon for "Bambi Vs. Godzilla" says "don't waste your time. Go see a good movie like 'Kangaroo Jack!'"
Yikes.
That's one way of looking at it. Of course, BMG is all of two minutes long, while Kangaroo Jack lasts eons.
Or seems to, anyway.
The advent of CGI makes many sorts of horror films much more possible. When was the last time we saw a hyperintelligent swarm of Amazonian soldier ants? Giant mosquitos? And sure when it comes to depicting flesh-eating cockroaches, we can do better than Damnation Alley!
When was the last time we saw a hyperintelligent swarm of Amazonian soldier ants?
Empire of the Ants wasn't good enough for you?
Giant mosquitos?
Assuming you're not referring to Mansquito, I'll have to go with Proboscis, from 2000.
flesh-eating cockroaches
Take your pick:
They Crawl (2001) - Tone Loc and Mickey Rourke!
They Nest (2000) - AKA Creepy Crawlers
Does Mimic count?
No no no NO.
Empire of the Ants is CHEATING. Those are GIANT ants. That is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from ants that are the ordinary size, but there are billions of them, and they're smart and evil.
I did not know about Proboscis, and there is probably a good reason. Sounds like a renter!
No fair citing "They Nest", which was made by the same guy who did "8 Legged Freaks". Come on, that's not horror, that's comedy! The cockroach related Creepshow segment fails for the same reason.
There was a movie, maybe called "Bugs", about very cockroach-LOOKING bugs but they had collective intelligence and also spark plug butts! So they could set fires! Who needs hive-mind ant movies and evil cockroach movies when you have hive-mind evil cockroach ON FIRE movies? (Also they were hyper-dense, coming from the earth's core as they did, so if you punctured one, which require a sledgehammer and nail, it spewed for minutes! In slow motion!)
I saw it on Commander USA when I was a kid. Ah, Commander USA, purveyor of fine cinema.
There was a C- horror movie called Mosquito released a few years ago. Sci-fi airs it when they're realy desperate (which is most of the time). Bradford Dillman not only starred in the original Piranha but he also starred in another clunker called Bug. I don't know if this is the film you're referring to Jason. It was about intelligent and incendiary bugs that emerged from a fissure in the earth. They crawled into people's hair and ignited themselves thereby creating the standard human torch. Dillman's character was the only human being who could communicate with them. They'd conduct conversations with him by grouping together to form words.
Poor Brad Dillman. I always thought he was nice looking and he had a promising career until he became the C- horror movie king.
Empire of the Ants is CHEATING. Those are GIANT ants. That is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from ants that are the ordinary size, but there are billions of them, and they're smart and evil.
I've always been partial to Phase IV for my dose of smart evil ants.
I don't know if I agree that the ants in Phase IV were actually evil. Superintelligent, yes, but not necessarily malevolent.
That's not how I saw it, anyway. The movie is - to put it mildly - open to a wide range of interpretation.
Yes, the movie of which I spoke was "Bug". Armed with the title I found it on IMDB, where I learned that it was banned in Finland. For comparison, other bug movie Finnish ratings;
Empire of the Ants: K - 16
Phase IV: No certification from Finland
Mosquito:Nope
Mansquito:Nothing
They Nest:Nada
Eight Legged Freaks: K - 11
Proboscis:No
Mimic: K - 16
Creepshow:K - 18
The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977) - No
They Crawl:No
From this I conclude that Bug is the only C-bug-movie to make it as far as icy Finland, where it was promptly banned. Jeez, you'd think they'd be bored what with no sun half the year and all. And surely they'd love Kafka! Those northerners are all morose, probably it's seasonal affective disorder. Well, from my vague memories of sagas read in my college 'History of the Vikings' course, I think that it's common knowledge all Finns are dangerous sorcerors, so who knows what they like.
I wish Hollywood would get back to the "like X but with Y!" formula, instead of just "like X... again!". I submit: Vampiranha!