If it’s a day ending in a ‘y’, then that must mean there’s another horror remake on the way. And today doesn’t disappoint, with news that Rob Cohen is set to team up with horror remake specialists, Platinum Dunes, to breathe new life into ‘80s cult classic, The Monster Squad.
In case you don’t know much about it, the original came out in 1986, was directed by Fred Dekker, who co-wrote along with the great Shane Black, and was a goofy Goonies-style caper revolving around a group of kids in a sleepy small town who find themselves the last line of defence when classic movie monsters – including Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein and the Creature From The Black Lagoon (or Gillman, as he was called) – come to town hellbent on world domination.
It flopped upon release but has gained a steady cult following over the years. So much so that Cohen – who produced the original – will now take the reins of the remake, which he will also produce with Platinum Dunes’ Michael Bay, Drew Form and Brad Fuller. The project is currently going out to writers – shame that Shane Black is so busy with Cold Warrior and his Doc Savage film, for it would have been great to see him revisit this material.
Of course, Platinum Dunes and Cohen both have patchy track records, but this is substantially different from the sort of fare the Dunes boys have tackled in the past. It’s lighter, funnier, more irreverent – and if Cohen can bring the same sort of touch he brought to, say, Dragonheart or Fast And The Furious, then this could be fun.
Paramount will be stumping up the cash for this one, and it’s probably not too far-fetched to speculate that part of the appeal would be sticking a spanner in the works of Universal’s plans to resurrect their classic monsters (The Wolfman is already out, Frankenstein and **Dracula Year Zero **are next). How can they do this? Well, Dracula and Frankenstein, in particular, are now in the public domain…
Do not get this confused, though, with Monster Squad, another supernatural comedy that Shrek Forever After director, Mike Mitchell, is aiming to make after the animated sequel. That’s at Warner Bros. and we reckon might be changing its name fairly soon…