M3GAN producer James Wan says he wants to remake Chopping Mall and Night of the Creeps. Horror fans are currently getting ready for some new killer doll action, as the highly-touted M3GAN gets ready to creep out movie theaters. Penned by Malignant co-writer Akela Cooper, the movie stars Alison Williams as a roboticist who crafts an AI-powered doll to act as a companion for her orphaned niece. Given that M3GAN is a Blumhouse film co-produced by Wan, it’s no surprise that the movie’s titular robot doll quickly demonstrates a capacity for murder.
Killer robots/dolls like M3GAN have of course been a staple of horror movies for a very long time. Unsurprisingly, M3GAN producer Wan is a fan of one particular rampaging robots gem from the 1980s: the bad-movie cult classic Chopping Mall. In fact, in a recent talk with /Film, Wan named Jim Wynorski’s Chopping Mall as a horror film he’d love to take a shot at remaking. The 1986 comedy-horror film Night of the Creeps is also on Wan’s personal list of old movies he’d like to revive. Check out Wan’s remarks in the space below:
“I have many horror films that I think that are just fun that I love, and I’m pretty sure the horror community shares them with me. I love movies like ‘Chopping Mall.’ I love ‘Night of the Creeps.’ These, to me, are just sort of fun horror films that I would love to be able to dive into one day, or do them but with the way that I make my films.”
How James Wan Became A Modern-Day Horror Master
Wan has obviously kept things fresh over the course of his career, branching into the superhero genre with Aquaman and action with Furious 7, but the director continues to be primarily associated with horror. Indeed, Wan first made his name as a filmmaker with the seminal torture porn film Saw and its sequel Saw III. Wan later switched gears from gore to supernatural horror with Insidious, following up this success with The Conjuring, a movie that launched an entire horror universe filled with sequels and spinoffs.
Wan’s output from the original Saw through 2016’s Conjuring 2 indeed provided a great demonstration of his directorial versatility. And it’s this ability to shift effortlessly between sub-genres that makes Wan one of the more successful horror directors of modern times. Of course, after Conjuring 2, Wan took a break from his beloved horror genre altogether. But it was big news when he returned to fright flicks with 2021’s Malignant, a film that many consider his masterpiece. Malignant indeed seems to incorporate little pieces of every genre Wan has tackled over the years, including straight-up action. Unfortunately, Wan recently gave a disappointing update about the possibility that Malignant 2 will ever happen.
What James Wan Will Do Next
The DCU sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is next up on the release schedule for Wan. After that, it’s anyone’s guess what the genre-jumping director will attempt. Maybe he will indeed follow his bliss and seek to do a remake of one of the cult classics mentioned in his above remarks. Chopping Mall certainly would be a ripe target for a remake, given the original movie’s combination of amazing premise and disappointing execution. Night of the Creeps would also be an interesting piece of material for Wan to tackle, given the way it mashes up multiple horror genres. No matter what, the M3GAN producer will bring an interesting spin to whatever horror story he decides to sink his teeth into next.
Source: /Film