Classic RKO Remakes In the Works

Twisted Pictures, a division of Evolution Entertainment, has plans to resurrect some of the great RKO classic genre films from the 1940’s.

At the top of the list will be a re-do of the 1945 Robert Wise thriller “The Body Snatcher,” which originally starred the great Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff and was based on the short story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Another Karloff film, “Bedlam,” will get a new treatment, as will the 1943 feature film “I Walked With a Zombie.” Twisted will have a fourth classic film on their agenda which will be named later.

When “The Body Snatcher” was first introduced on film in 1945 it was not readily appreciated and languished until it was rediscovered in the 1960’s and became a cult classic. Set in Edinburg, Scotland, the story revolves around a famous surgeon, Dr. MacFarlane, who by the stealth of night has exhumed bodies of the recently deceased brought to him to be used to teach his medical students. After a large number of bodies are reported missing the police begin tightening their patrols of the local cemeteries leading the good doctor’s hired assistant named Gray to take matters into his own hands and begins killing people to provide more bodies for teaching and experimentation. When Dr. MacFarlane learns that Gray has been committing homicide to provide the bodies he needs he challenges the killer to a fight to the death. The drama and horror involved in “The Body Snatcher” made this film one of the best psychological thrillers to ever be shown on the big screen. The studio is currently casting for the film.

“Bedlam” looks at the conditions surrounding the notorious St. Mary’s of Bethlehem Asylum, while “I Walked With a Zombie” is a curious mix of horror, drama and romance about a young nurse caring for a sick plantation owner’s wife in the West Indies. She soon learns her patient is really suffering under a bizarre voodoo curse.

Evolution’s Mark Burg and RKO Pictures CEO Ted Hartly will produce. Oren Koules, co-president of Twisted Pictures will be the show runner for all the remakes.

“We thought a long time about how to update these classic titles to make them commercial,” stated Burg. “If these films go well, we hope it leads to more.”

RKO’s old film library has a ton of really good classic horror films to choose from that are screaming for quality remake attention, so if all goes as planned, look for an updated, contemporary look to some really scary stuff.