Nakata Hideo Remaking Korean HAUNTERS As Japanese MONSTER

Nakata Hideo, best known for Ringu, is remaking the Korean thriller Haunters, according to Variety. Production is set to begin later this month; Fujiwara Tatsuya and Yamada Takayuki will star.

Our own Charles Webb reviewed Haunters when it screened at the New York Film Festival in 2011:

A mysterious, evil, mind-controlling psychic young man kills and steals with his power, and only a good-hearted young man [who is] resistant to his power can stop him. Cue familiar but bland actors in the lead, maybe a pop song or two, a level of gloss on top of some dodgy CG and you've got your thin, mostly empty blockbuster. The problem with my labored (and intentionally broad) comparison is that Haunters is really, really good, elevated by leads invested in their parts, a plot that is (mostly) tightly focused and well-realized, minimal effects that serve the film, and a true heart to the movie that's frequently missing from the big summer product in nearly all territories.

While I wasn't quite so enamored of the film, directed by Kim Min-suk, it's an intriguing premise with considerable potential. Variety notes that Monster is a working title; Guillermo del Toro is developing a manga with the same English-language title as an HBO series.

Nakata's latest film, The Complex, will make its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival next week, Tuesday, July 9.