It would seem that Sam Raimi recently came to the conclusion that part of why he was put on this earth was to produce various horror remakes. In addition to serving as a behind-the-scenes mind on the upcoming Evil Dead remake, it was recently revealed that Luther creator Neil Cross would be writing the script for a new adaptation of The Day of the Triffids, on which, as you can probably guess by now, Raimi is serving as a producer. But two just isn't enough for the Spider-Man filmmaker, as he is now been brought aboard yet another horrific re-do.
Raimi, according to THR, has signed on to be a part of MGM's remake of the horror classic Poltergeist. A big part of the filmmaker's responsibility on the project will be to find a director. In addition to Raimi, Nathan Kahane, Roy Lee, and Robert Tapert are all on-board to produce as well. The idea behind the rehash has been floating around for years, but is now finally starting to make some real progress. David Lindsay-Abaire, who wrote the script for Raimi's upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful, wrote the script. His other previous projects include the Oscar-nominated drama Rabbit Hole and the animated feature Robots. The story of Poltergeist follows a family living in a house built on an ancient burial ground who must rescue their daughter from vengeful spirits.
While I understand some remakes, this one makes absolutely no sense. The plot of Poltergiest is so simple that you could easily take it, give it a twist, and create a whole new kind of ghost story. What we have here is just MGM trying to come back from the dead by exploiting their best titles (see also: Robocop). Is it nice to have someone as respectable as Raimi on-board? Sure, but unless he actually decides to direct the movie himself it probably won't make much of a difference.
