His first flick out of the gate was a smash hit. His second ... not so much. But young moviemaker James Wan is back for a third trip in the director's chair, and the resulting flick is Fox's Death Sentence, which is scheduled for release on August 31. At first I thought it was basically a Death Wish rehash, but it definitely looks like there might be a little Straw Dogs in there too... Then again, the IMDb tells us that Death Sentence is based on a novel by Brian Garfield ... as was the entire Death Wish series.

Based on this brand-new trailer (which comes on the heels of this new poster), the story looks pretty simple: Normal Joe's teenage son gets killed in a convenience store robbery, but the killer gets off and goes free. One act of bloodthirsty revenge then transforms into a man vs. street gang battle that's sure to get pretty nasty. Or maybe I'm just so big a Kevin Bacon fan that I'll give anything he does a break. (Actually, after The Air Up There and Trapped, the guy's certainly not infallible, but the guy's got a pretty strong track record overall.)

Adapted for the screen by first-timer Ian Jeffers (nope, not Leigh Whannell, although the Saw screenwriter does have a supporting role in the film), Death Sentence also stars John Goodman, Kelly Preston and a distressingly hairless (but still gorgeous) Aisha Tyler. I'm not much of a big prognosticator on the box office, but this one could turn out to be a solid double off the wall for Mr. Wan and Fox. These revenge flicks seem to do pretty well -- sometimes.

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.