Pressman Films is considering remakes of the horror films Christmas Evil and Sister, and possibly the crime film Bad Lieutenant
Pressman Film is a production company that was founded by Ed Pressman, a prolific producer of over 90 films, including the likes of Wall Street, American Psycho, and The Crow. Sadly, Pressman passed away earlier this year at the age of 79. Now his son Sam Pressman is the CEO of Pressman Film, which recently rebooted The Crow – and landed an eight-figure domestic distribution deal for the film with Lionsgate. Moving forward, the company is working with Antoine Fuqua on a project called The Street, which was written by Goodfellas‘ Nicholas Pileggi, and planning an adaptation of the 1975 Edward Abbey novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which will be directed by Catfish‘s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. They’re also trying to figure out how they can exploit titles in the Pressman Film library… and in a recent article, Deadline mentions that endeavor might involve remakes of the 1980 holiday horror film Christmas Evil and Brian De Palma’s 1972 psychological horror thriller Sisters.
Written and directed by Lewis Jackson, Christmas Evil had the following synopsis: Comical festive frights. A toy-maker who revels in the Christmas spirit suffers a mental break when his work is met with hypocrisy and cynicism and goes on a yuletide killing spree.
The film stars Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, and Andy Fenwick.
De Palma directed Sisters from a screenplay he wrote with Louisa Rose. Here’s the synopsis: Inquisitive journalist Grace Collier is horrified when she witnesses her neighbor, fashion model Danielle Breton, violently murder a man. Panicking, she calls the police. But when the detective arrives at the scene and finds nothing amiss, Grace is forced to take matters into her own hands. Her first move is to recruit private investigator Joseph Larch, who helps her to uncover a secret about Danielle’s past that has them both seeing double.
Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, William Finley, and Lisle Wilson star.
It’s worth noting that there was already a remake of Sisters that was released in 2006 and starred Chloë Sevigny, Stephen Rea, Lou Doillon, Dallas Roberts, and JR Bourne. That one was directed by Douglas Buck, who wrote the script with John Freitas.
Sam Pressman didn’t comment on any potential remakes directly, but did say, “We’ve been doing some really cool stuff that I can’t quite divulge but there are a number of avenues that, when the writers strike is over, we’ll be able to push forward on. We’ve had a lot of fun going through the library looking for these hidden gems that can make great TV series or anime adaptations or stage plays – there are some interesting things brewing in that regard.“
Another Pressman title that’s under consideration for the reboot treatment is the 1992 crime thriller Bad Lieutenant, which previously received a 2009 companion piece of sorts called Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Abel Ferrara directed the original film (where the title character was played by Harvey Keitel), while the New Orleans version (which starred Nicolas Cage) was directed by Werner Herzog.
Are you interested in seeing new versions of Christmas Evil, Sisters, or Bad Lieutenant? Let us know what you think of these potential remakes by leaving a comment below.
