At the Sundance Film Festival Slash, the legendary former lead guitarist with Guns n’ Roses, announced the formation of a new company Slasher Films that will be geared toward producing “intelligent” horror, and which will begin with a slate of four films headlined by Wake the Dead, Steve Niles’ modern take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

 

Niles’ Wake the Dead, which was published by IDW back in 2003, was optioned almost immediately by Miramax’s genre arm Dimension Films (see “Dimension Wakes the Dead”). But the film lingered in “development hell” for years until Jay Russell was brought on board to direct the film in 2008 (see “Wake the Dead Gets a Director”).  Now the project looks like it has a real chance to be made at Slasher films with Russell still attached to direct.

 

Niles, whose modern vampire tale 30 Days of Night has spawned a series of films, obviously feels that he has found a kindred spirit in Slash, and is excited about the possibilities offered by their collaboration. He told the L.A. Times’ Hero Complex. “We want to recapture the quality of horror films like they made them in the ‘70s—horror where you care about the characters and the story. With Wake the Dead, Jay Russell, Slash and I hope to make a horror film that sticks with you long after you have seen it.”