Three years ago, Paramount bought a spec script called Hellified from writer Andy Burg, who wrote family film Alaska way back in the day. Now the studio is getting the film moving once again, with the news that Predators co-writer Michael Finch has been hired to rewrite the movie, which sees a strike force made up of criminals sent into hell to prevent the End Of Days.
Now that's quite a cool notion, if you ask us. Heavily armed thugs vs. demons! Hellspawn vs. Hell's Angels! (Or whatever gangs one finds in jail these days) And an apocalypse to avert along the way. There are echoes of Jeff Long's book The Descent in that concept, which is no bad thing, but that involved a less mythological hell (at least until the sequel, Deeper).
The original Hellified script was heavy on the CG and involved the traditional hordes of demons and lakes of fire and Dante-tastic detail, but the plan for the re-write is to make it less expensive and transform Hell into the sort of barren, burned-out urban environment that's easily achieveable on a Hollywood backlot or in parts of Dagenham. Presumably there should still be some demons, however, so we can hope for something at least as creepy as the Hell scenes in Constantine, and wish that someone would tackle the inferno in full Hieronymus Bosch style.
Dan Bradley was originally attached to this, but he's now off the project (he's been in Red Dawn limbo but not in hell - there's a gag for all you theologists out there) and there is no replacement just yet. Still, with a new writer on board and producers Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian still in place, we suspect that Hellified could move soon.