For those who've been wondering when those guys at Twisted Pictures were going to stand up and do something a little different from the Saw series, here it is: Something new. Something different. Ready for it? A bunch of horror remakes. What? Horror remakes are hot ... these ... days... Aren't they?

At least the Saw producers are going back farther than 1986 for their remake fodder. According to Variety, Twisted has made a deal to remake four of the dusty old RKO chillers. Which ones? These ones: I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945), Bedlam (Mark Robson, 1946) and a mystery title ... as yet unchosen! Creeeeepyyyy! Producer Mark Burg sums it up rather succinctly: "We've thought a long time about how to update these classic titles to make them commercial ... If these films go well, we hope it leads to more."

Plus hey, since the movies exist already, you barely need half a screenwriter! Still, let's give the Twisted boys a little credit. They could easily coast by on the Saw series alone, but they're trying to branch out into new territory. (Well, if making four horror remakes really counts as "new territory.") It's got to be better than the alternative: Twisted also produced the quick-vanishing Dead Silence and the still-shelved Catacombs.

It's getting closer to Halloween, and that means scary movies. Of course, I love scary movies and I watch them all year long, but I watch them with a purpose in October. Most critics don't bother with scary movies, or pre-judge them, and that has led to the recent rash of horror films being withheld from the press. It goes without saying, also, that the studios know they're making bad movies by playing it safe with their remakes and sequels, rather than rolling the dice on a new idea. Most of the current horror movies have this in common: they're remakes or sequels, they were withheld from the press, and they flopped.

Hmm. I wonder if this is a pattern that ought to be avoided in the future?

Despite being directed by Neil LaBute -- a filmmaker whose entire reputation was established by critics who singled out his great debut In the Company of Men (1997) -- The Wicker Man remake (233 screens) was withheld from those same critics, and it has officially flopped, returning only $23 million on a $40 million budget.