14 DAY TRIAL // They say these days Hollywood is all about remakes and sequels, most of them unnecessary because they fail to capture the essence of the originals and only ruin a good thing for money. Whether all moviegoers agree with that or not, a new remake is about to hit theaters in November 2010, of the 1982 cult classic horror “Poltergeist,” as ShockTillYouDrop can confirm.
MGM has been struggling to bring the franchise back to life for about two years now and, so far, it has done so with little success. Initially Juliet Snowden and Stiles White of “Boogeyman” were hired to rewrite the story so as to make it appealing to a different and perhaps younger audience, but they were soon out of the picture. “House of Sand and Fog” director Vadim Perelmen became attached to the project shortly after and, now, MGM has finally decided on a release date.
“ShockTillYouDrop has learned that MGM’s planned remake of Tobe Hooper’s classic ‘80s haunted house movie ‘Poltergeist’ has received a release date of November 24, 2010, Thanksgiving weekend. With director Vadim Perelman (‘House of Sand and Fog’) attached since last September, the production has been in development a long time with a script surfacing last year, but so far, no cast has been announced and no information about where or when they might start filming.” the movie-oriented e-zine informs.
The original story focused on a family whose house had been built on a former Indian burial ground, which made it so that strange things kept happening around the house. It spanned two sequels in the years after release, but neither managed to rise to the high standards set by it. “Poltergeist” is seen as a cult classic, occupying a special place in the hearts of many a horror movie fan, for which reason many look upon the planned remake with skepticism.
SlashFilm, for instance, is vocal about having had hopes of a new “Poltergeist” never happening for lack of interest from modern audiences. “Until a release date is announced, I sometimes tend to convince myself that these projects could easily find their way into the depths of development hell. Until there is a production start, or a release date, the movie really doesn’t exist. Well, I have some bad news.” SlashFilm editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta says of the “unnecessary remake.”