‘Don’t Look Now’ Remake Will Challenge You to Not Look Again

Just a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that James Wan is producing a remake of ‘80s horror treasure The Entity, and now another beloved vintage horror classic is getting a redo: Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 film Don’t Look Now. We seem to be in a new era of horror remakes, in which directors and studios are choosing cult titles and those which appeal to the more discerning crowd. We may finally be out of the slasher reboot woods.

Setting aside, for a moment, that a remake of this Roeg classic immediately feels lame, let’s consider that if studios are determined to remake films, at least they’re expanding their cinematic horizons. That counts for something, right? Kind of? I’m genuinely trying, here.

THR reports that StudioCanal is behind the remake of Don’t Look Now, based on Roeg’s 1973 film, which was in turn based on the Daphne du Maurier short story. The film starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as parents coping with the death of their daughter while staying in Venice, Italy. The pair meet and are informed by a psychic nun that she’s been in contact with their dead daughter, proceeding to warn them of imminent danger.

The film was famous for Roeg’s intense atmospheric style, as well as a particularly graphic sex scene between Sutherland and Christie — exactly nine frames had to be cut from the scene in order for the film to avoid an X-rating. Rumors persist to this day that Sutherland and Christie’s sex scene was not simulated.

As of now, the Don’t Look Now remake is without a writer or director. Is it too much to ask that someone offer this to Mark Romanek?