When you're a mostly unknown director who's made one art house hit and one art house flop, what do you do next? You could stick to your guns and keep making indie movies that bear your vision, or you could jump on board a sure thing that will guarantee you can pay the bills. Vadim Perelman, the director of House of Sand and Fog (the hit) and Life Before Her Eyes (the flop) is taking the Hollywood route, and will likely be the director of MGM's planned Poltergeist remake.
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting the story, giving due credit to Bloody Disgusting, which broke the news last week. Perelman will be working with screenwriters Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, who were hired last week. Fans of the original are bound to complain, but from what I gather of Perelman's work, his meditative, arty style might put an interesting spin on the classic Poltergeist story. At least we can probably assume he won't turn it into torture porn, as every other horror remake seems to try to do. Whether or not an arty Poltergeist would be just as bad, though, remains to be seen.
