He's directed new versions of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday The 13th and Conan The Barbarian, and now Marcus Nispel is setting sail for a potential franchise of his own. He'll next get behind the cameras for Stowaway: a claustrophobic maritime horror thriller{
Nispel will also produce, and came up with the story which was subsequently thrashed into screenplay form by Scott Sandler, Connor Colebrook and Juhani Nurmi. The film is inspired by a Nordic myth Nispel remembers from his youth, and revolves around a newly-engaged woman who goes on a boat trip with her prospective in-laws, and stumbles on devastating, long-buried family secrets and a vengeful humanoid sea creature. Hate when that happens.
Nispel is currently selling the project at Cannes with a lot of very big talk. "Having revived major franchises like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday The 13th, I intend to create the beginning of a new horror franchise with Stowaway," he says. "There has not been an edgy and original R-rated monster movie in a long time; a monster that is humanoid and strikes from below dark waters is so innately scary that it will stand shoulder to shoulder with other iconic brands, and at the same time reinvent claustrophobic and maritime horror, thus appealing to a whole new generation of audiences.”
Special effects and make-up guru Mike Elizalde (Looper, X-Men: First Class, Hellboy II) will be creating the monster, but no other crew has been announced so far. Nispel's most recent movie The Asylum (variously also known as Backmask and Exeter), played at the Glasgow FrightFest in February but still awaits a wider release.