Writer-director Fede Alvarez really turned heads in 2013 with his remake of Sam Raimi‘s cult classic horror movie, “Evil Dead.” While the response was mixed— the film was never expected to work — the passionate panache he brought to the movie definitely set himself up as a director to watch in the near future. The 38-year-old Uruguayan filmmaker actually first became known for a short film he posted on YouTube entitled “Ataque de Pánico!” which featured giant robots attacking the South American city of Montevideo. The film got more than 7 million views and had a strong following. Sam Raimi was such a fan, he endorsed Alvarez for “Evil Dead,” and is also producing Alvarez’s next effort, the horror flick “Don’t Breathe,” which opens this summer.
READ MORE: SXSW Review: Fede Alvarez’s ‘Don’t Breathe’
In case Alvarez didn’t have enough on his plate these days, he’s now set to co-write and direct an adaptation of the popular board game “Monsterpocalypse.” Warner Bros. won a heated bidding war for the rights to the Kaiju-themed board game that is not unlike Guillermo del Toro‘s “Pacific Rim” which pits humans in robot suits against monsters. There was a previously stalled attempt at bringing the board game to the big screen back in 2010. At the time, director Tim Burton and screenwriter John August were attached to the project, but it fizzled when del Toro’s picture started gaining traction.
As del Toro’s film proved, the concept works, and monsters are just starting to creep back to the big screen. On the horizon is “Godzilla 2,” “Pacific Rim 2,” and “Kong: Skull Island,” not to mention Universal‘s brewing monster movie universe. So don’t be surprised to find Alvarez’s “Monsterpocalypse” mixing it up among them. [THR]