This is utterly bizarre. If you had said James Wan, Eli Roth, or Darren Bousman would be handling the long-threatened SUSPIRIA remake, I’d say, okay, I get that (actually, after “DON’T” – Edgar Wright seems like the perfect choice).
But David Gordon Green? Nope, did not see that one coming.
The name I’ve known for a while, but I’ll admit I’ve never seen any of his films – although most of them come highly recommended. GEORGE WASHINGTON, ALL THE REAL GIRLS, UNDERTOW, and his newest flick, the Kate Beckinsale-led SNOW ANGELS: all indies that received critical acclaim. He’s also got the upcoming Judd Apatow comedy PINEAPPLE EXPRESS in the can, and let’s just go ahead and call it a hit now… But let’s be honest: none of these exactly scream “70’s Italian horror!” do they?
That said, the man has a reputation as a master of mood, with UNDERTOW specifically having the traits of an eerie Southern gothic.
Here’s what the director said to ShockTillYouDrop: “These Italian producers came to me about it, wanting to do a pretty amazing, ambitious, artistic (version). It could be pretty wild.”
But more intriguing comments were made to MTV: “It’s an opportunity to take all artistic excellence and be inspired by what was a low budget Italian 70’s gore movie. Where the art world meets the violent and supernatural.”
“I would love to get every geek that loves torture porn and every old lady in line to see ‘Phantom of the Opera’ to come and have this insane experience.”
Apparently, Green has already written the film, which is an even bigger shock to me… All in all, this raises my eyebrows in a curious fashion, as opposed to making me smash a fist through a window (like whenever Platinum Dunes signs some random music-video hack). With this “art meets gore” state of mind, we might just have something here…