The headline says it all, folks. Director-writer team Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are nearing a deal to write and direct an English-language remake of Kim Jee-Woon’s 2010 South Korean serial killer thriller I SAW THE DEVIL, according to The Wrap.
Snoot Entertainment (THE GUEST, YOU’RE NEXT) will be producing. Evidently, Barrett is already writing the script while Wingard is meeting with actors, so this thing is fairly far along already.
Here’s the original film’s synopsis:
The embodiment of pure evil, Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. On a freezing, snowy night, his latest victim is the beautiful Juyeon, daughter of a retired police chief and pregnant fiancée of elite special agent Soo-hyun. Obsessed with revenge, Soo-hyun is determined to track down the murderer, even if doing so means becoming a monster himself. And when he finds Kyung-chul, turning him in to the authorities is the last thing on his mind, as the lines between good and evil fall away in this diabolically twisted game of cat and mouse.
Mixed feelings on this announcement, big time. On the one hand, I really dig the Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett tandem, from A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE to YOU’RE NEXT to their most recent flick, the wonderful thriller THE GUEST. On the other hand, I love I SAW THE DEVIL, and object to remaking it on principal, no matter who is involved. Why fix, or change, or reinvent, something that is damn near perfect?
Stay tuned for more info as it comes in.