While many are still peeling off their costumes from Halloween, or in my case still high from hosting a Q&A with The Exorcist writer William Peter Blatty, a couple of cult favorite horror movies are being revived from the dead at just the right time.
A remake of Stephen King's Pet Semetary has been in in the works for three years, and the last we heard about it was in 2011 when Alexandre Aja (Piranha) was eying the director's job. That never materialized of course but now the film is back on and it will be 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo at the helm. He'll attempt to breath new life (pun intended!) into the story of a pet burial site that has the power to bring the furry creatures back from the dead. Matt Greenberg (1408) and David Kajganich (The Invasion) wrote the screenplay, and I'm a fan of both writers' past work.
Yesterday was pretty big for fans of the 1983 slasher flick, Sleepaway Camp, which as you probably guessed is about campers who become the target of a crazed killer. Not only did Shout Factor announce that the original film will finally receive a Blu-Ray release, but New Line exec Jeff Katz has picked up the rights to develop a remake. Four sequels were released over the last thirty years, most recently the terrible 2003 effort Return to Sleepaway Camp, and none of them were really very good. So if the plan is to try and build a new franchise it has a pretty good shot at surpassing its predecessor in terms of quality.
