Movies
Hammer Opens Script Archive In The UK
Enjoying a resurgence with The Woman In Black, venerable British horror studio Hammer has chosen the Cinema And Television History (CATH) Research Centre at the UK’s Leicester De Montfort University to house its script archive.
Deadline reports that the CATH center will catalogue and curate a collection that includes screenplays from most of the studio’s film and TV productions from 1947-1990 along with extensive corporate paperwork, correspondence and other ephemera. This is the first time the archive will be opened to public research and study.
Last month, Hammer announced a global restoration project for its library of films in partnership with Studiocanal, Pinewood and other international players and with the participation of 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros and Paramount.
The studio was founded in 1934 and has produced such films as Frankenstein Created Woman, The Plague Of The Zombies, The Witches and The Mummy. Hammer stopped production in the ’80s and returned to features in 2010 with Matt Reeves’ adaptation of Swedish hit Let Me In. Its most recent film, Daniel Radcliffe-starrer The Woman In Black, has taken in over $60 million worldwide. Since 2008, Hammer has been a division of the Exclusive Media Group.
Fangoria Studios and Panick Studios are turning horror comic Black Diamond into a film, and Variety reports that Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) will direct.
Black Diamond comic book creator Brendan Columbus will write the screenplay.
Black Diamond follows Owen and Victoria Welch on a family ski trip that spirals into a nightmare. When their son is abducted by a mysterious cult, the couple is pushed to the brink and faced with a soul-crushing ultimatum: sacrifice another child or lose their own forever.
The comic book series from Panick Entertainment is described as a “chilling folk horror thriller blending Hitchcockian psychological tension with the dread of The Wicker Man.”
“Black Diamond was my attempt to put everything I love about thrillers on the page,” Columbus tells Variety. “I want to make sure it feels like you physically can’t leave the theater or else you’ll miss the next twist or turn. With his masterful cinematic eye and his great story sense, Ernest is going to scare the hell out of everyone with this one.”
“Black Diamond immediately grabbed me because its horror is rooted in impossible human choices,” says Dickerson. “It taps into parental fear, morality, isolation, and survival in a way that is so unsettling and emotionally real. That combination will make for a very suspenseful and exciting cinematic experience.”
Ernest Dickerson is directing and executive producing the feature film. Black Diamond will notably be Ernest Dickerson’s first feature film as director since Double Play in 2017, though he has in more recent years been directing for an impressive string of television shows including “The Man in the High Castle,” “The Purge,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Bosch,” and “DMZ.”
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