New Re-Animator Dead, Gordon Works on New Lovecraft Project

According to Fangoria, well known producer of H.P. Lovecraft based films Stuart Gordon has announced the death of his proposed House of Re-Animator. Gordon stated he was unable to find funding for this latest sequel to the three proceeding Re-Animator movies, all loosely based on elements of Lovecraft's tale "Herbert West: Re-Animator." Since this latest picture was also due to infuse massive political commentary into its story--a feature that attracted criticism from Herbert West actor Jeffrey Combs and others--Gordon believes it would be too late for the film to be produced with any relevancy. It was to follow the attempts by West to revive a deceased Vice President closely modeled on Dick Cheney. An interesting aside: Fangoria reports a Texan film festival is inviting fan films based on Re-Animator to appear this May, perhaps spinning the Re-Animator following into a new, fan-propelled direction?

The other big news is that Gordon has announced he is working on his own adaption of Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep." This unlikely story has seen a great deal of amateur attempts lately, best showcased via "Strange Aeons" on the latest DVD collection of Lurker Film's Lovecraft titles. This choice may well test Gordon in new directions and give him more leeway for avenues to a successful completion of the film. Unlike Gordon's (based on Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth") and even The Dreams in the Witch House he produced as an episode of "Master's of Horror," this Lovecraft piece would require minimal special effects. In fact, the psychological strangeness of body-switching terror and weird gender relations alone make the focus for "The Thing on the Doorstep" entirely different than many of Gordon's past Lovecraftian flicks. Successfully pulling off the traits that made this a good story, of course, are more key than anything else in this production. Luckily, it also leaves open alternate routes for Stuart Gordon to market his project. If he cannot secure the energy and funding necessary to make this a full feature, he should be able to fall back on producing it as an episode for "Master's of Horror," which would undoubtedly welcome him back, when it is set to resume sometime later this year or in early 2009.

-Grim Blogger