After producing the cheap and profitable
Last Exorcism, Eli Roth is following up with
Psycho Killer, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote
Se7en and directed by
Zombieland producer Gavin Polone. According to
the report in
Variety. "It's the story of a nameless, masked murderer who leaves a trail of victims across the U.S. In a chance encounter on the plains of Nebraska, he kills a highway patrolman. The only witness, the patrolman's young wife -- also an officer -- sets out to hunt the killer down."
The news was enthusiastically embraced on the
Moviefone.com blogQuote:
It's also a rather fresh perspective to see a woman on the hunt, especially for 80% of the film. A large majority of female horror heroines only take matters into their hands and fight back in the film's final act. We're long overdue for a female to cheer for, someone fighting for good. The closest we've had to this in recent years is Alice of the Resident Evil series. But, as enjoyable as it is to watch Milla Jovovich run around putting bullets through zombies' heads, it's something a bit more realistic we're lacking, someone like Clarice Starling of Silence of the Lambs.
Silence of the Lambs? I suppose it's
possible the man responsible for the "torture porn" genre could make something that sweeps the Oscars - after all Jonathan Demme cut his teeth on women-in-prison movies for Roger Corman. But at least those did have strong female characters: I don't really look at
Hostel and see much evidence of this. I might be wrong - and I hope I am - but I've a feeling the film is more likely to concentrate on the hunted than the hunter. After all, it is called
Psycho Killer.
Anyway, the makers plan a late spring shoot in Michigan, with word that the female lead "is somebody audiences know but not a big star." We'll see.
