Poltergeist

"The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see, as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

While on the set of Takashi Shimizu's upcoming supernatural airplane thriller 7500, producer Roy Lee offered up updates on potential remakes or reboots for The Ring and The Grudge. Another remake that the producer briefly discussed during Dread Central's set visit is the long-rumored Poltergeist project that has seen its share of problems over the last year.

Now this is remake news that really doesn't irk us too much. If you're going to add your own slant on a famed film, why not do so in a way in which you're bringing something new to the table while still honoring the source material (i.e., The Blob and Dawn of the Dead)?

MGM is starting to shed its recent skin of problems, and as a result some long gestating projects are finally starting to move.

Another sad moment for fans of the horror genre and beyond: The great Zelda Rubinstein has passed away at the all too young age of just 76.

Word has broken from MGM about their proposed remake of the classic film Poltergeist. The studio has slated the film for release on November 24, 2010, just in time for Thanksgiving weekend. Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) is attached to direct.

Back in March of this year Stiles White and Juliet Snowden, the writing duo responsible for the upcoming Poltergeist remake, promised to the fans, "It’s treasured; it’s valuable. We see Poltergeist as if, um, as if we’re being handed the keys to the car and we’re gonna be really careful with it."

With Knowing nabbing the #1 slot at the box office (lord only knows why), two people who are the toast of the town are the film's writers, married couple Stiles White and Juliet Snowden. Why should you care? Because they're also the duo who will be responsible for the upcoming Poltergeist and Birds remakes.

Poltergeist just cries for a remake, doesn't it? There's no way any of the young kids today can relate to a film without high-def TVs, cellphones and MTV approved actors! Yes, it totally needs an update...

Loyal reader Sam Hell dropped us a line this weekend, pointing us to some very cool DVD news for fans of old-school anthology horror shows.

Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, Heather O'Rourke Directed by Tobe Hooper Distributed by Warner Home Video

It's hard to believe that the haunted house classic, Poltergeist is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. I remember seeing this puppy in theatres way back when. Holy Christ, I feel old! In celebration of this momentous occasion, and the release of the new Poltergeist: 25

All right, just a mere day after the official announcement of Poltergeist: 25th Anniversary Edition, Warner Bros. has released the artwork for it. Good turnaround, that! Check it out below, and be happy we’re finally getting a decent release for Tobe Hooper’s big budget classic. The new disc streets on October 9th! - Johnny Butane

We gave you the news about a new Poltergeist disc yesterday (“Belial & Poltergeist to Prom Night” – August 2007), but there was one fairly important element of Warner Bros’ plans to finally deliver a special edition of the Tobe Hooper classic no one seems to have caught; it’s coming back to theaters, too!

News today came crawling out of the wicker bag over at Davis DVD that Basket Case 2 will be getting a region 1 DVD release on October 30th! No more need to pay the extra cash on multi-region video players and discs now! And kiss your bootleg copy goodbye because this new release from Synapse Films features a video transfer from the original 35mm negative!