Wake The Dead

Mary Shelly once warned of the “over-reaching” of man. In her story, Frankenstein, she told the tale of a scientist creating and bringing to life a new being – similar to a man but larger and physically better – from dead body parts. The story unfolded with the monster being shunned and feared by the local populace. However, in the end, the monster is merely misunderstood. He is truly suffering from immense solitude, hatred and remorse. When his master dies, he too ends his suffering.

This is the feel that Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) took with his graphic novel: Wake The Dead. The graphic novel is a re-imagining of the classic Frankenstein tale, where life is created from what was dead.

And now it is to become a movie! From the looks of it, the production crew is STACKED with talent.

Holding Pictures has acquired the rights to do the film, which has already hired names such as James V. Hart (August Rush, Hook, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) to pen the screenplay and Jay Russell (The Water Horse, Ladder 49, Tuck Everlasting) to direct. WETA studios, which have done previous work on The Water Horse and, of course, on the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, will be handling the visual effects for Wake The Dead.

Charlie Lyons (The Water Horse, Firewall) has been set to produce the film, and can be quoted saying, “The idea is to make a classic horror film, and what I liked was the combination of Jay, in a genre he's wanted to experiment in for some time, with Jim, who is particularly skilled at this kind of voice, and with a world created by Steve, who has become a classic in the graphic novel world."

Charlie Lyons will personally fund and finance the film through the end of principal photography, giving this creation a big chance at coming to life.