The Suicide Song to be Remade by Phoenix Pictures, possibly
by Marc Patterson
According to Variety Takashi Shimizu, director of Ju-On and the US Remake of The Grudge, is set to direct a currently untitled thriller about a cursed song that drives its listeners to suicide. Now to me what this sounds like is that Phoenix Pictures has acquired rights to remake the Japanese film THE SUICIDE SONG by director Ryuhei Matsuda. But don’t take me to the bank on that. There’s nothing in the article to confirm this. I just find it extremely peculiar that a director who’s famed for giving birth to English remakes is slated to start yet another film that has indeed been made before.
What I find particularly interesting about the Variety article is the following sentance:
Chris Philpott penned the script, based on an idea by producer Taka Ichise and Shimizu, about a haunted song that drives its listeners to suicide.
Really? This was Shimizu’s idea? What was he doing? Flipping through a Facebook of currently not remade J-Horror flicks? Sorry to be so pissy about this. It really has nothing to do with defiling a great movie, because THE SUICIDE SONG wasn’t that great, and remaking it wouldn’t be a travesty. It’s the insult that Shimizu seems to be taking someone else’s work and pawning it off as his own idea that is most irritating. And perhaps this isn’t the case, but Variety doesn’t have a reputation for being flip about their reporting. So in the meantime file this under speculation. If information comes along to confirm or correct any of this we’ll let you know.
Via: Variety
