The 1996 thriller Fear is the next ’90s staple to be getting the remake treatment, as Universal Pictures has announced that Straight Outta Compton co-writer Jonathan Herman has been tapped to write the film.
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The original film helped launch the career of Reese Witherspoon while helping Mark Wahlberg pivot from being known as a model and musician to being a compelling actor. In the film, a young girl strikes up a romance with a troubled teen, only for him to grow obsessed with the girl as he stopped at nothing to make him hers forever.
Deadline reports that rather than be a direct remake, the film will be told from the “female perspective.” It’s unclear if this means the remake will swap the gender of the roles or somehow lean more heavily into the female lead, which is a perspective the original film mainly focused on.
Reviving ’90s properties has been a big trend in the world of horror, with last year’s adaptation of Stephen King’s IT, which previously earned a miniseries in 1990, becoming the biggest horror movie of the year, taking in more than $700 million worldwide.
That film’s writer, Gary Dauberman, will next breathe life into a feature film adaptation of Nickelodeon’s scary story series Are You Afraid of the Dark?
“The show is about the shared experience of telling stories — especially scary ones. We’re going to celebrate that with this movie and honor the darker, scarier tone of the show, which was really groundbreaking for Nickelodeon at the time. I hope the Midnight Society approves,” Dauberman said of his film.
Another big horror hit of 1996 was The Craft, featuring a group of high school friends who begin to practice witchcraft. A continuation of the series is reportedly in the works, yet it’s currently unclear if the film will be a sequel or reboot of the original story.
One of the original film’s stars, Robin Tunney, shared with ComicBook.com she’d potentially be interested in reprising her role.
“I feel like if it came along and the script was good and I actually thought it was going to be something…I want them to find a great director. I think they’ve gone through a lot of writers. If it was something where I felt like they were going to do it well, and also find a way, because it’s been so much time, you can’t just do a sequel,” Tunney revealed. “I think on some level, it totally has to, in order to feel relevant, I think it should be maybe funnier or something.”
With it having been released over 20 years ago, Tunney would want the film to feel fresh and not merely recreating the source material.
“I feel like in order to make it seem culturally relevant, they need to do something [new] and do it quite well. They just can’t pick it up where it left off and it’s all of our kids or something,” Tunney pointed out. “Generations of people have watched it. It’s the idea of somebody just trying to monetize that and not caring if it’s good or not would be sad. I would love to do it if I thought it was going to be cool. I’m so proud of the fact that I was in a movie that has been loved by so many generations of people and watched at so many sleepovers. It’s an honor.”
Stay tuned for details about the upcoming Fear remake.
Are you interested in seeing a Fear remake or should they leave the film alone? Let us know in the comments!
[H/T Deadline]
