With the Sundance Film Festival in full effect, ex-Guns ‘n Roses guitarist Slash has been all over the news with dribbles of announcements regarding his newly launched Slasher Films. Usually an announcement like so would have my giggling at the lunacy of it all, but finding out that Slash is working on adaptation Steve Niles’ awesome “Wake the Dead” made my head spin. We just now got word on all four films in development, and they’re all quite impressive. Details inside.First and foremost, Slash has partnered with Michael Williams & Rob Eric of Scout Productions (Transsiberian, Session 9, The Fog of War, Mr. Death), and is in negotiations to acquire three new feature film packages under the shingle that will produce edgy, contemporary horror films.

The first film to be produced under the new moniker will be NOTHING TO FEAR, a horror/thriller revolving around two young sisters and their family, who accidentally discover one of the seven gateways of Hell in a small town in rural Kansas. Several directors are currently circling the project, which is scheduled to shoot in Louisiana this summer.

New to the slate is WAKE THE DEAD, a contemporary re-imagining of the “Frankenstein” story. The pic will be adapted from the graphic novel by fanboy hero Steve Niles, who is often credited as one of the writers responsible for bringing horror comics back into fashion with mainstream successes such as 30 Day of Night and “28 Days Later: The Aftermath”. Jay Russell, whose career has included The Water, My Dog Skip and Ladder 49, inverts convention and takes the helm to express his inner fanboy and terrify audiences.

Slasher Films is also negotiating to produce Vincenzo Natali’s THEOREM. Natali (Splice, Cube) known for his unique brand of intellectual horror/science-fiction, tells the story of a genius college professor who while trying to investigate the genetic compound of an ancient artifact, discovers a relic from Hell, and accidentally unlocks the equation for evil. Much like Natali’s genre classic Cube, the pic will terrify audiences with the horror of Hell unleashed on Earth. It is written by Natali and screenwriter Mike Finch (Predators, upcoming Masters of the Universe), and produced by Steve Hoban (Splice, Black Christmas, Ginger Snaps).

Rounding out the slate of Slasher Films’ new horror projects is THE OTHER KINGDOM, where the staff of a large metropolitan hospital battle for survival as an otherworldly epidemic turns people into savage paranormal killers. Pic is written and to be directed by Philip Eisner (writer – Event Horizon, The Mutant Chronicles), and produced in collaboration with Sean Daniel and Jason Brown of the Sean Daniel Company (The Wolfman, The Mummy franchise, Tombstones, Dazed and Confused).

Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield of Movie Package Company (The Messenger, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell) are handling the financing for the pictures and will Executive Produce.