While Tobe Hooper has directed two of the most iconic horror films of all time — “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Poltergeist” — let’s be honest, it’s been a long while since he’s helmed anything that lands remotely in those ballparks, so we hope that his first feature film is six years finds him returning to form.
THR reports that Hooper has signed on to direct the Arabian horror flick “Djinn.” Written by David Tully, the film centers on “a young Emirati couple who return home from the U.S. and discover that their new apartment in a luxury high-rise built on the site of an abandoned fishing village is also home to malevolent beings known as Djinn.” Can’t say we’re sold on this thing yet. But Hooper will be doing a good deed while in the UAE, taking director Nayla Al Khaja under his wing, as she will act as a cultural consultant on the film, while the director will allow her to shadow him on set as she prepares to make her first film.
The djinn are a part of Arab folklore — they are supernatural creatures that live in a world parallel to ours — and they have been subjects of films before. Most recently, they were the center of the French horrror film “Stranded,” a solid film that we caught up with at Cinemania last year. Hopefully Hooper’s film won’t be whittled down in a standard ghost story and offers up something truly unique that North American auds haven’t seen before. Filming on “Djinn” starts in March.