Slash and Steve Niles will 'Wake the Dead' in film adaptation

Slash and Steve Niles will ‘Wake the Dead’ in film adaptation

Jan. 24, 2011 | 8:09 a.m.

Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame is launching a film company called Slasher Films with an initial announced slate of four films — and one of them is an adaptation of “Wake the Dead,” the Steve Niles and Chee horror tale that put a modern riff on Mary Shelley’s 19th century bookshelf classic, “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.”

I got a series of text message from Niles on Sunday from the Sundance Film Festival where the news was announced. The writer, who says his “30 Days of Night” series made the leap from comics to the silver screen, sounded positively giddy about the new venture. “We want to recapture the quality of horror like they made them in the ’70s,” Niles said via text. “Horror where you care about the characters and story. With ‘Wake the Dead,’ Jay Russell, Slash and I hope to make a horror movie that sticks with you long after you’ve seen it.”

Jay Russell will direct the film. Niles, whose writing credits also include “Criminal Macabre” and “Doc Macabre,” didn’t hide the fact that the rock-star presence in the project adds a bit of crackle to the entire endeavor.

“When Jay and I met with Slash we immediately connected on our love of horror and the way we wanted to see horror films made,” Niles wrote in a flurry of text messages. “I never dreamed in a million years I’d get to meet Slash, let alone work with him. I’m thrilled. Thanks so much man! Also Slash’s company is called Slasher Films. Film will be produced by Rob Eric and Slash. Official production company is Slasher/Scout. Rob Eric is from Scout who made ‘Session 9,’ which I loved.”

Lots more to come on this one, I suspect…

- Geoff Boucher

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