Bedlam

A lesson to remember: when objects of power and beauty fall into the wrong hands, the results can be disastrous.

Object in this case:
the Val Lewton box set.

The hands: Mark Burg and Oren Koules, producers of the Saw franchise, who have signed with RKO to produce four remakes: Bedlam, The Body Snatcher, I Walked with a Zombie, and a player to be named later. The fact that all are available in the superlative Lewton set point to someone getting the box for Christmas and finally cracking it open about two weeks ago.

The most frequent reason for a remake is financial - but the relative obscurity of Bedlam et al. among the filmgoing public indicates the unlikeliness of this as an explanation. If it were a lifelong labor of love, it's hard to criticize, but the four-at-a-time announcement indicates a scenario, not far from the earlier jest, of recent discovery. The most likely explanation seems to be that someone was impressed with the quality of the set's films and thought it canny to borrow some ideas. Perhaps judgment should be withheld - neither producer has an overreliance on sequels or remakes - but Lewton's work, especially I Walked with a Zombie, is beloved by aficionados and not considered in need of remaking. 1982's Cat People was plenty.