The Two Horror Classics James Gunn Tried (And Failed) To Remake

Before he became the head of DC Studios, James Gunn made low-budget horror comedies for Troma Entertainment, the company behind disreputable splatterfests like “The Toxic Avenger” and “Class of Nuke ‘Em High.” After that, he directed “Slither,” a gross-out treat about alien slugs invading a small town and turning the residents into monsters. These days, Gunn is mostly known for superhero flicks, but his horror credentials are undeniable. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to put his own stamp on two bona fide genre classics, leaving us to wonder what could have been.

There are several unrealized Gunn projects out there, but his planned remakes of “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “It’s Alive” would have allowed him to lean into the macabre sensibilities that brought him to the dance in the first place. The former is a good, old-fashioned monster movie that paints humans as the real villains. “It’s Alive,” meanwhile, is a pitch-dark comedy about the woes of parenting and mutant babies. 

Gunn’s socially conscious and ghoulishly humored brand of storytelling could have brought some fun ideas to these premises, but it wasn’t to be. So, without further ado, let’s find out what happened to the ill-fated projects.

The original “Creature from the Black Lagoon” tells the story of a group of scientific explorers in the Amazon who encounter a humanoid fish monster known as Gill-Man. Naturally, the humans want to capture the monster and study it, but Gill-Man has other ideas. “Creature from the Black Lagoon” ranks among the best Universal Monster movies ever made, and it even inspired Guillermo del Toro’s Best Picture Oscar winner “The Shape of Water.” You’d think that Hollywood would jump at the chance to remake such a well-regarded classic, so why didn’t James Gunn’s version happen?

After penning Zack Snyder’s hit “Dawn of the Dead” remake, Gunn hoped to capitalize on Hollywood’s desire to reimagine other classic horror flicks. Unfortunately, his pitch for a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” remake was rejected, and the rest is history. Gunn hasn’t elaborated on why the idea was shut down, but he isn’t the only filmmaker who’s tried to remake Universal Pictures’ 1954 classic, only for the project to fall through. Just ask John Carpenter.

As of this writing, James Wan is working on a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” remake, but it’s still in the early stages of development. It seems that Gunn’s rejection could have been a case of bad timing, and the same can be said about his attempt to remake “It’s Alive.”

Larry Cohen’s “It’s Alive” is the ultimate horror movie for anyone who’s afraid of infants. The 1974 cult classic tells the story of a mutant baby that kills people whenever it gets scared, and the parents must contend with the horror they’ve unleashed upon the world. James Gunn approached Cohen about remaking it sometime in the 2000s, but financial setbacks prevented that dream from happening.

“James Gunn is a fan and a friend. He wanted to make a remake of ‘It’s Alive’ actually but he couldn’t raise enough money to buy the rights,” Cohen told IndieWire in 2017. “I’m sorry today I didn’t give them to him. But he’s beyond that now.”

“It’s Alive” was eventually remade by director Josef Rusnak in 2009, but the film was met with negative reviews and it’s barely discussed these days. Cohen wasn’t a fan and even discouraged people from seeing it, as he thought the film was awful. The 20009 “It’s Alive” won’t ever rank among the best American horror remakes out there, but maybe it would have if Gunn had been in a better position to raise the funds.