THE ORPHANAGE remake lands new director

Director of Arlington Road comes aboard remake of the rather amazing Spanish language horror flick.

Mark Pellington hasn't directed a good movie in ten years (Arlington Road), so I'm not ready to get excited over a Hollywood remake of The Orphanage. When was the last time an English language horror remake was worthy enough to stand beside the original foreign one? The Ring eight years ago was a good movie, I guess. Quarantine last year was OK as far as they go but you wouldn't put in the same breath as Rec. And that's me done - I can't think of anymore. Variety say Pellington has replaced actor/writer/director Larry Fessenden (Wendigo, The Last Winter) who had been working on the movie for two years and was originally hand-picked by Guillermo del Toro for the English language remake. From the sounds of things they co-collaborated on the screenplay that was based on Sergio G. Sanchez's original Spanish language horror and I'm guessing - ContraFilm toppers Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson were never really keen on Fessenden as a helmer but never got round to firing him. Fessenden comes from a low grade monster horror background, so Pellington is an upgrading of sorts. He has bigger studio movie chops working with the likes of Richard Gere, Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges in the past and is no doubt a safer choice for a studio who no doubt sees this as a potential $100 million picture like The Others. I'm not behind this remake right now but if they were to cast Jodie Foster to lead - then maybe, just maybe... I might be able to come round to it.

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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.