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There's nothing quite like a father incensed with possible harm to his kid and fighting the odds to find and save her. But it's familiar. We've been there, and seen that. So, what would that be like with a French director who freaked out film festival audiences with Martyrs? The Hollywood Reporter posts that Pascal Laugier has been tapped to write and direct a new supernatural thriller called Details. Based on a short story by China Mieville, the film follows a dad obsessed with finding his missing daughter. However, this isn't a simple case of kidnapping -- she disappears after "stirring up dark forces." But if you want something more familiar, the man is also bringing us the Hellraiser remake.

In other news...

Are you ready? Hollywood is bringing us a romcom that will strap us in seats for a full month of romantic comedy! Okay, not quite, but The Hollywood Reporter does say that Lionsgate has picked up a spec by new writer Corinne Kingsbury called 31 Days of Larry. So far, we've got one lone word to describe it: "irreverent." Let's hope that doesn't mean a romcom starring Kevin James, as he's romanced by Adam Sandler. I'm a bit tarnished on the whole "Larry" on the big screen thing. (Not James, just anything that reminds me of that film.)

All movie fans have experienced the sensation of watching something terrible and thinking, "What is this crap? I could totally come up with something better than this!" Well, now you can put your money where your mouth is, as Details magazine is inviting people to submit movie ideas, the best of which will actually be turned into a movie.

Variety has a variety of details on the Details contest. Larry Meistrich, an indie film producer with more than 30 credits to his name (including You Can Count on Me and Sling Blade), will help Details choose the winner and oversee production of the film. All genres and concepts are welcome, and you can submit anything from a rough plot outline to a finished screenplay. There's a $10 entrance fee, but it costs that much just to watch a movie. Making a movie for 10 bucks is a total bargain! Plus, the entrance fee earns you a year's subscription to Details.

Details wants the winning idea to appeal to "intelligent, modern, metropolitan men." Hmm. Is that what Details thinks of itself? Off the top of my head, here are some movie ideas that you can use if you really want to tap into the Details mindset.

• A guy spends $1,000 on a shirt, then reads some articles about the right way to wear the shirt, then tells his friends he spent $1,000 on a shirt, and his friends laugh at him for being a douchebag.

• A magazine writer is working on a tight deadline and can't come up with anything to write about, so he makes up a saucy, non-existent trend ("Are threeways on the upswing?"), farts out 500 words on the subject, stretches it to three pages by filling it with unrelated photos of models wearing expensive underwear, and calls it a day.

• A guy lives his life doing everything he can to appeal to gays while avoiding actually saying he's trying to appeal to gays. (That one's an allegory.)

Anyone else got one? Oh, and as for specifics on how to enter the contest -- no idea. The Variety article doesn't say, and I can't find anything on the Details website, either. Thanks to Stephen in the comments for finding info on how to enter.

At first we couldn't get nine words out of Rob Zombie regarding his remake of John Carpenter's Halloween, but once you get finished reading this MTV interview piece, you'll know more than you probably need to about the rocker's re-do plans. (Forgive me if I express mild disdain throughout this report, as I think Rob Zombie has about as much chance of helming a quality Halloween remake as I have of sleeping with Milla Jovovich ... although obviously I'll keep my fingers crossed on both counts.)

To his credit, Mr. Zombie (acccurately) cites Cronenberg's The Fly and Carpenter's The Thing as two of the only worthwhile horror remakes ever made -- and those revisits worked because you had fresh-minded directors who were passionate about using a classic flick as a jumping-off point towards something DIFFERENT. So points for Zombie on that count, even if I wouldn't re-watch The Devil's Rejects or House of 1000 Corpses on a bet.

The rather extensive article also goes into Zombie's intentions regarding the Michael Meyers character, whom he hopes to flesh out as more than just a shadowy background character, some of the "wish list" actors for the Dr. Loomis character (Jeff Bridges and Ben Kingsley have been mentioned), and (of course) the dangers of remaking such a hardcore horror classic. Fans of the Halloween series, even those who are dreading Zombie's re-interpretation, will find a surprising amount of insight from Mr. Zombie -- so here's hoping the flick turns out great. I'm not holding my breath, but hey, it feels better to stay positive -- even when every gorehound instinct I have is screaming NoOoOoOoOooooo!!!

More Halloween-related coolness:

Michael Myers is Back in Theaters for Halloween

More Plot Details for Zombie's Halloween

Zombie Talks More Halloween