The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus Producing Sorority House Massacre TV Series

Today’s mad-lib is a surprising one as a new report reveals that the cult horror film franchise Sorority House Massacre is being turned into a television series and that none other than The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus will produce it. Deadline brings word of the development which hails from Utopia Distribution and has Reedus’ production banner bigbaldhead and Shout! Studios set to work on the series. To add yet another out-of-left-field item to the list, the trade reports that Hedwig and the Angry Inch Stephen Trask will be involved in the development of the series as well. Other executive producers on the project include Danielle DiGiacomo, Brent Haynes, Bob Emmer, Garson Foos, Amanda Verdon and JoAnne Colonna.

“I could not be more excited to collaborate with Robert and his incredible team at Utopia on this project,” Reedus said in a statement. “Their taste and creative vision are inspiring, and exactly in line with the kind of content that bigbaldhead set out to develop. We are thrilled to revisit this cult classic and create something truly unique.”

“When we started Utopia, it was with the intention of not only supporting filmmakers on the distribution side but, also, to expand into working with creatives to build unique, original content from the onset,” Utopia’s Robert Schwartzman’s added, “With Utopia Originals, we’re excited to hit the ground running with the Sorority House Massacre series and collaborate with the incredible teams behind it.”

The original Sorority House Massacre (not to be mistaken for The House on Sorority Row, Slumber Party Massacre, or Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama) was released in 1986 as yet another entry in the larger slasher subgenre that had taken the world by storm at the time. Written and directed by Carol Fran the film came via genre producer Roger Corman and followed much of the tropes established for the genre over the years namely: scantily clad teen victims, crazed killer escaped from a mental hospital, unlikely connection between killer and final girl, and naturally stabbing and killing many people throughout the film.

The movie was followed by two sequels, Sorority House Massacre II and Sorority House Massacre III: Hard to Die, both of which were released in 1990 and directed by noted B-Movie and exploitation filmmaker Jim Wynorski, known for projects ranging from Chopping Mall to Beastmaster 2 and SYFY’s Piranhaconda. A direct sequel to the original Sorority House Massacre, titled Cheerleader Massacre (also directed by Wynorski), was released in 2003 and saw actress Brinke Stevens reprise her role of Linda Dawn Grant. It seems very unlikely that these sequels will be acknowledged by the new TV series.