Sam Raimi Is Returning To Directing Horror Movies With Project Described As "Misery Meets Cast Away"

After spending the last few years only producing horror films, Sam Raimi appears ready to get back in the director's chair. The Evil Dead filmmaker is set to direct a new horror movie set on an island from writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. Specific plot details are being kept under wraps, but the project is being described as Misery meets Cast Away. I can only assume that means the movie involves Tom Hanks having his ankles broken by Kathy Bates.

THR broke the news about the new Sam Raimi horror movie. Specific details aren't known beyond the fact that the movie is set on an island, and its "Misery meets Cast Away" description. Misery is Stephen King's novel about a writer who is taken hostage by his crazed #1 fan, and Cast Away found Tom Hanks stranded on an island for years. Both of these films had very few characters at their center and took place in limited, secluded settings – a cabin for Misery, the island for Cast Away. So I'm guessing this is going to be a small movie with only a handful of individuals at its center.

Raimi returning to direct horror is kind of a big deal. The filmmaker hasn't helmed a horror movie since 2009's Drag Me to Hell, and hasn't directed a feature film since 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful. Since then he's been mostly producing horror projects, including this year's fun alligator flick Crawl and next year's The Grudge reboot. He also directed the premiere episode of Ash vs Evil Dead, the TV continuation of his Evil Dead series. While Raimi became a blockbuster filmmaker with his Spider-Man trilogy, his roots are in low-budget horror, and it'll be interesting to see what he has up his sleeve for the genre these days.

This still-untitled horror movie comes from Columbia Pictures, with a script via Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the duo who wrote Freddy vs. Jason and the Friday the 13th reboot (and also the Baywatch movie, but let's just forget about that). "I am thrilled to be reunited with Columbia Pictures and re-teaming with Sanford (Panitch, Sony's motion pictures group president) and Ange (Giannetti)," said Raimi. "I have been a fan of Shannon and Swift and we have found the perfect adventure to share with the world."