The basic story is that the legendary RKO has been taking slow steps to become a production house again and now they've signed up for a remake of ISLE OF THE DEAD, a classic Val Lewton produced flick about a plague that breaks out on an island. The original flick starred Boris Karloff as a Greek general who quarantined the island. As the people begin to die off there is a suspicion that there might be something other than a plague going on.
The remake is being scripted by relative unknowns Brian Horiuchi and Matt Lazarus and the early word is that the film will be set against a viral outbreak in Afghanistan. Hrmm... I can actually see a really decent remake of this film coming about, but something about updating it to the Middle East doesn't sit well with me. Maybe it's that even when the 1945 original came out, it was still a period film and that's just more of an interesting idea to me. Maybe it's the color palate that comes along with setting a film in the Middle East and I don't want another desert horror movie like the HILLS HAVE EYES remake.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll see what comes out of this deal soon enough. I'd love to see RKO's radio tower sending out good stuff again. Hopefully we'll start to see them do their own originals and not just pilfer their library.
3 comments:
I hope RKO keps this exact logo. I've been watching a ton of film noirs recently and I'm always charmed by it.
[sigh] "keeps"
Agreed, that's one of the great logos. I got a great screen capture of it in my Thing from Another World review last 'thon.
Notice how Johnny Summerislepants consents to my watching Plan 9 From Outer Space for the contest. I'll be holding him to that.
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