Ketchum's Off Season Gets a Director
Source:Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
October 12, 2008
Eric Red spilled the beans on his next project at Screamfest in Hollywood last night. Following a screening of his latest directorial effort (his first since
Bad Moon)
100 Feet, Red told the audience during a Q&A session that he'd be directing an adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel
Off Season.
I caught up to Red in the theater lobby to press him for more details.
"Dallas [Jack Ketchum] and I have known each other for years and we've been talking about making this one," he said.
"It's time, it's the perfect time to do it."
Off Season - published in '81 and released in the '90s unexpurgated - tells of city folk on holiday in Maine who are terrorized by a family of cannibals. Ketchum drew his inspiration for the story from Sawney Bean legend and horror/siege flicks such as
The Hills Have Eyes and
Assault on Precinct 13.
Red isn't concerned that ideas from
Off Season, itself, have been cherry picked for a wave of modern survival horror films in the same vein.
"I think it's the classical nature of the story that makes [Off Season
] work. A great horror movie is a group of people trapped in an isolated setting against a monster. The difference with this is that it's going to be 100% convincing and hardcore and extreme. You couldn't have made the film ten years ago, but now I think you can take this as far as you can go. But we're going to stay very true to the book: Low-key, small, very shocking."
Nick Koff is on board to produce.
Ketchum's published follow-up to
Off Season,
Offspring, went before cameras this summer under the direction of Andrew Van Den Houten. Red's writing credits include
Near Dark and
The Hitcher.
Comments
Posted by: Caterpillar on October 12, 2008 at 10:19:58
Red is actually the second director attached to this adaptation. The first time around it was Philip Nutman but then financing fell through. Let's hope Red has more luck. If done right, this could be a real punch in the gut of a movie.
Posted by: PrayingMantis on October 12, 2008 at 21:46:18
When was Philip Nutman attached to direct "Off Season?"
Posted by: Caterpillar on October 13, 2008 at 04:37:28
In late 2006.
http://www.horror-asylum.com/news/article.asp?item=5837
Posted by: PrayingMantis on October 13, 2008 at 12:05:49
That's amazing since I have controlled or owned the rights to "Off Season" for close on ten years now and I had never even heard of Nutman until I saw that his name was connected to Andrew's TGND project yesterday after reading your post.
Posted by: Steven Millan on October 15, 2008 at 08:55:03
Sounds very cool,for I'm wondering how they'll succeed in pulling off all of the book's mega-splattery NC-17-esque violence(if Eric Red is able to make a completely Unrated version of it,without worries about editing it for an R rating).
Posted by: Jamie on October 15, 2008 at 15:20:42
I love the book so I'm definetly looking forward to the movie. Can't wait.
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