Movies
Fred Dekker’s ‘Predator’ Script Completed!
Both the Alien and Predator franchises were run into the ground with the two Alien vs Predator films, both of which were no better than made-for-Syfy Channel movies.
Now, Twentieth Century Fox is dedicated to fixing the sci-fi horror franchises that both has one-shot films sequels released within the past five years.
With Ridley Scott set to shoot his Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant, next March, the studio is also focusing on repairing the Predator franchise.
Predator alumni Shane Black (who played Hawkins and was brought onto the original project to provide some oversight) is directing the fourth film that he has been co-writing with Fred Dekker, who is perhaps most well known for his work on The Monster Squad.
We haven’t heard much since April when Producer John Davis exclaimed that the next Predator would reinvent the franchise. Now, according to Dekker, the screenplay has been turned in.
Dekker posted a child’s drawing of a Predator with the caption: “A character from the new screenplay we just turned in. Art by Angus Herndon, age 7.”
I pray that, after Dekker and Black clicked “send,” the duo flexed in celebration.
Now, it’s up to the Fox execs to pull the trigger and send this baby into pre-production. But, this is Hollywood, and everything is an uphill battle. Odds are Black and Dekker get notes and are sent back to integrate them. Still, there’s progress, and with a new Alien trilogy in the pipeline it would be spectacular to know Predator was chasing its tail.
Black is also known for being the writer/director of films such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
You must be logged in to post a comment.