The process of getting the concept of a film from in the mind of someone else into the world of film is a lengthy and tiring process that is rarely completed. Some films don’t reach the stage of their initial pitches, others are scripted , but never funded, while some are able to make it through production, with actors hired and locations being scouted before being cancelled. Here are 10 horror films that never seen the light of day, but there’s still an ounce of possibility for some of these.
10. Peter Jackson’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: The Dream Lover
After releasing his debut feature movie, Bad Taste (1987), Peter Jackson tried his hand at writing an original screenplay for the seventh Nightmare on Elm Street film. The series had lost its way, and was shifting more toward comedy and less horror and Jackson and his co-writer Danny Mulheron, planned to confront this issue head on in their meta-reform with the title the film The Dream Lover.
In the Dream Lover Freddy Krueger was no longer be fearsome and the children of Springwood were able to take sleeping pills to go to The Dream World and harass the famous killer. Freddy eventually managed to kill someone, and begin getting back his power. New Line Cinema passed on the screenplay due to unknown reasons choosing to go with Michael de Lucia’s script, which was released in the year 1991 as Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. [11.
9. Darren Bousman’s Wild West Leprechaun Movie
Darren Bousman is best known for his contribution to his work in the Saw series and for many years he has been pushing to create a film in the Leprechaun franchise. The character of the title, performed in 1993 by Warwick Davis in 1993, has been on murderous sprees within Vegas or even space. In the film, Bousman wanted to take his character back to The Wild West.
“He’s going to go back back to Colorado gold rush and then antics will follow. I’ll make it happen in conjunction with Warwick Davis, and I will bring this about. I will bring this idea into existence. I’ve lobbied for every film that I’ve ever wanted to make regardless of whether it was an odd rock opera or traveling to Japan to make an upcoming TV show,” the director confidently stated.
Bousman was vocal in support of the idea since 2008 and even tweeted Lionsgate which owns the rights to this franchise but so far has not had any success. It will be interesting to see if the film that has never been made is ever brought to life. Let’s wish Bousman success. [2]
8. Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires
The final credits of Don Coscarelli’s classic Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) declare that Elvis will be back with Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires. Although the intention was as a joke, it could actually be made. Bruce Campbell, who played Elvis in the originalversion, was not interested in the film. However, Paul Giamatti signed on as Elvis’s manager Colonel Tom Parker, believing the script was “really excellent, really great.”
Bubba Nosferatu is a prequel , and would center on the relationship between Elvis and Colonel Parker and, in line with the title there would be vampires everywhere. With Campbell being eliminated, Ron Perlman was cast as Elvis but the lack of money stalled any development. “We’ll definitely see Bubba Nosferatu produced. It’s just a matter of when and when,” Giamatti said at the time of 2008. [3]
7. George A. Romero’s Resident Evil
The year 1998 was the time when Japanese gaming company Capcom employed George A. Romero, the creator of the contemporary zombie genre to write live-action ads for the sequel to the Resident Evil game, known as Biohazard 2. The game was released in Japan. While only 30 seconds in length the advertisement was the catalyst for Sony Pictures asking Romero to write the film adaptation that was due to be released in the near future.
Romero’s script was fairly close to the plot of the game’s first installment and was particularly faithful to the movie that was made in the year 2002. The film focused on the characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine and also featured many of T-virus-generated characters such as zombie sharks, zombie dogs, Plant 42, and the huge snake. Capcom director Yoshiki Okamoto has said that the “script was not very good, so Romero was dismissed.” There are those who would like to see what his vision of Romero’s would have be. [4]
6. Freddy Vs. Jason vs. Ash
After Freddy against. Jason hit theaters in 2003, a follow-up that featured Ash of The Evil Dead series was thought of. The story would have begun with Freddy being tortured by Jason in the form of a disembodied creature and then requiring to use the Necronomicon in Evil Dead II (1987) to revive himself. The Book of the Dead has previously made an role in Jason Goes to Hell (1993). Ash appears in the movie through an local S-Mart and ends up beating the other two characters, Freddy in the race against Jason.
Freddy Vs. Jason vs. Ash did not make the cut past Jeff Katz’s first treatment. The year was 2017. Robert Englund said he wanted it to happen , but that “New Line Cinema wasn’t in favor of it since I’d recently been kicked in the face at by Jason,” and they wanted Freddy to appear weak. Bruce Campbell was less enthusiastic and stated in an Reddit AMA that he was “not really interested in cross-overs.” In addition, he stated that “we could not manage any other character besides Ash” as well as “you’re split the profits in three different ways, with partners who you might not like.”
While the crossover did not make it onto the screen, it was published as a comic book. It was written by James Kuhoric and illustrated by Jason Craig, Freddy Vs. Jason vs. Ash was released in 2007-2008 followed by a sequel with the title the Nightmare Warriors, was released in the course of the year. [5]
5. Michael Myers vs. Pinhead
Another crossover that was never realized did not happen. It was Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise fighting Pinhead from the Hellraiser franchise. Dave Parker first pitched the idea to Dimension which at the time was producing both franchises around the mid-1990s. His film, which was titled Helloween revolved around a gaggle of individuals trying to destroy the Myers home on Halloween, as Michael is on his way back home Naturally. Instead, they stumble upon an item called the Lament Configuration and call Pinhead. While initially unpopular however, the success in Freddy vs. Jason convinced the company behind it that the idea could be successful.
Dimension approached the chief executives of every franchise and asked Clive Barker to write and John Carpenter to direct. The Pinhead’s actor Doug Bradley explains that “Clive was not interested in a mano-as-mano conflict. He was more interested in finding the locations where the Hellraiser and Halloween scenes could cross paths.” But, the producer Moustapha Akkad was the owner of Halloween’s rights and was against the idea stopping the project in its tracks.[6[6.
4. Ridley Scott’s The Train
Following the huge great success in Alien (1979) Director Ridley Scott and artist H. R. Giger teamed together to make a second sci-fi horror film titled the Train. The script, which was originally called “Dead Reckoning,”” script was created by Jim Uhls, who describes the film as “Alien on the train.” He claims the story revolved around an altered life form that gets loose “on an underground high-speed train. This creature is a humanoid sporting an altered genetic brain designed to serve as the “hard drive” in an artificial intelligence-related project.”
Scott had an interest in directing and contacted Giger back in 1988, to begin working with conceptual art to be used in the movie. “I was thrilled about it, and I was immediately was accepted since a great film always comes from an artist similar to Ridley Scott,” Giger declares. Giger had previously thought of the ghost train made from biomechanoid skeletons, and considered this to be a chance to make it come to life. Giger was able to spend a couple of years making art, but Scott decided to end the project following a dispute in his relationship with the director Joel Silver.
The script was bounced around and rewritten several times which transformed the creature into an extremely adaptive killer humanoid, and eventually a plant-based, aggressive organism that was never created. The ghost train concept of Giger was later used in the sci-fi horror film The Species (1995). 7
3. House of Re-Animator
In the beginning of 2000, Brian Yuzna, the producer of Re-Animator (1985) and the director of its sequels, approached the first film’s director Stuart Gordon, and co-screenwriter, Dennis Paoli, about the idea for the fourth installment. The idea is that Herbert West would be brought to the White House to reanimate the President who had passed away in the United States. It was believed for Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott would be able to return to the White House as West as well as Dan Cain, while William H. Macy was thought of as the president.
Paoli claims his that he Yuzna Paoli says that he, Yuzna Gordon were through a variety of treatments in order to make the film. The original intention was to address the political machinations that governed the Bush Administration However, an alternative that didn’t focus on any specific president was also made.
Paoli believes that it wasn’t created due to one reason “There were more value in production, and you’d need an additional budget. It was likely more difficult to make, budget-wiseand budget-wise. Additionally, it has political content. There are a lot of people aren’t willing to be touched by this.” It was plans for a movie named “The Island of Re-Animator which was loosely inspired by H. G. Wells’ work The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) However, it was also unable at “animate.” 8
2. Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness
In the year the year 2011, Guillermo del Toro thought that his adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness (1936) which tells the story of the adventures of a group in Antarctica exploring ancient ruins as well as supernatural horrors, was to be completed. “We believed we had a great and safe package. It cost $150 million, Tom Cruise and James Cameron producing, and ILM performing their effects” del Toro said. Then, Universal pulled out because they wanted the film to have an PG-13 rating and del Toro was committed to an R rating.
The studios have not been willing to risk a shot in the del Toro Lovecraftian horror film, however the director is determined to see it produced. On November 20, 2022 del Toro shared footage of an unreleased CGI test, which provides an idea of what kind of tentacled creatures he’ll include in. Afterward, he admitted that he was thinking of making it into an animation that uses stop motion. [9]
1. John Carpenter’s Creature from the Black Lagoon
With a number of highly films that have been successful, John Carpenter was offered the opportunity to choose one of Universal’s movies in 1992. And he knew precisely what he wanted to create: Creature from the Black Lagoon. This script was written by Nigel Kneale when it was originally planned as an 3D film, but was later put aside. Carpenter brought screenwriters Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod who are well-known for their comedic work, to revise the script.
Carpenter wanted to combine the concept that “the Creature being the missing link between fish and man” along with a narrative about “creationist scientists who are looking to prove that man has walked alongside dinosaurs 10,000 years before.” He had planned to give the film an “Lovecraftian look,” similar to “The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Fish mating with human.”
The director also hired Rick Baker, who won an Oscar for the makeup effects he created for The Last of the American Werewolves in London (1981), and Rick Baker, who won American Werewolf in London (1981) for the design of the creature. The Gill-man’s maquettes were made however the film was never given approval from Universal probably because of Carpenter’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) floating and making the studio feel cold feet. [10]
