Sam Raimi Producing Yeti Horror Movie ‘Refuge’

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Evil Dead and Spider-Man director, Sam Raimi, is going to be producing a supernatural horror called Refuge, which will be written by Tom De Ville based on a pitch by up-and-coming Brit director, Corin Hardy. The project has been set up at Mandate, where Raimi’s own Ghost House Pictures has a deal.

Refuge apparently, “centers on a remote town terrorized by a Yeti, the mythological creature native to the mountains of the Himalayas.” The pic will be produced by Jason Blum, Nathan Kahane and Steven Schneider. Blum’s Blumhouse Productions will finance a short film of Refuge before the full-length version, which both Hardy and Ville will work on as well. The idea is that Hardy can, “refine his vision,” even as the script is being worked on. I’m also guessing the producers want to see if newbie movie director Hardy can actually direct a film well enough before they give him a shot at the full feature.

Hardy is a music video director who makes use of the highly stylized stop-motion style of animation – /Film did a great commercial director spotlight on him today, if you want to get a flavor for his work. Ville has only got a few credits to his name, including the TV series’ Urban Gothic and Lexx.

Raimi (like many directors these days) has a lot currently on his plate, both as director and producer. On the directing side of things, he has the highly-anticipated Spider-Man 4 (and 5); the World of Warcraft video game adaptation; and the LONG awaited Evil Dead 4 (please, Mr. Raimi, get on that!). As a producer, he has Jack the Giant Killer (which Bryan Singer was recently announced to direct); the Paul Bettany flick, Priest at Screen Gems; and his IMDB resume lists a horror/thriller called Dibbuk Box, set for next year.

I guess Refuge is just another rung in the workload ladder of Mr. Sam Raimi…

I was glad to see Raimi get back to his true horror directing roots this year with the fantastically fun, Drag Me To Hell (probably the most fun I’ve had in theaters this year so far), and so I welcome him continuing that trend with Refuge, if only at the producing level. I don’t know if the Yeti would be the first creature I’d pick to center a horror flick around, but at least it would be a nice change of pace from all the zombies and vampires plaguing our screens as of late.

What do you think of Raimi producing Refuge? Does it sound like a good idea for a horror to you?

Refuge doesn’t currently have a release date. Stay tuned.

Sources: THR (thanks to /Film)