How do you convince a major studio to let you film a bleak horror movie that will cost a packet to make, and is unlikely to dodge a box-office damaging “R” rating? You get James Cameron on board, that’s how.
Guillermo Del Toro has long spoken of his desire to make an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness , whilst admitting that the sprawling sci-fi-cum-horror-cum-adventure yarn would be a tricky sell.
However, with the director’s schedule newly freed up by his departure from The Hobbit , Deadline reports that Universal has greenlit the project, with Cameron attached to produce. The film will be shot in 3D (surprise surprise), and follows an expedition of scientists who discover some age-old life-forms living in the mountains of Antarctica.
At The Mountains Of Madness will go into pre-production in the next few weeks, with a view to a 2011 shoot. Del Toro is currently re-working the script from a draft he’s been touting around the studios for years, with help from his Haunted Mansion writer Matthew Robbins.
Sounds like we’re going to be getting a genuine 3D horror movie then, as opposed to the splatter-vision hysterics of My Bloody Valentine or the upcoming Saw sequel. And who better to deliver it than Cameron and Del Toro? Think of the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth …now think of him shuffling out of the screen! *Shudder*
Mad for The Mountains , or still moping over The Hobbit ? Let us know…
In cinemas this week...
