The gates of Hell are opening again. Hangtime International Pictures and Severin Films have formed a strategic partnership to secure remake rights to select genre films for theatrical, streaming and physical media. The first title on their horror slate is a reimagining of Lucio Fulci’s 1981 cult classic The Beyond.
The companies announced the deal on October 7 and plan several reboots over the next two years. Fulci’s original stars Catriona MacColl as a woman who inherits a crumbling Louisiana hotel built over one of the seven doorways to Hell. It’s the centerpiece of his unofficial “Gates of Hell” trilogy, alongside City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.
That trilogy is clearly on the new team’s mind. Hangtime Co-CEO Frank Murray says the partnership grew out of a shared commitment to genre fans and a desire to reach new horror audiences. He calls the project a rare chance for an established director to modernize The Beyond as a classic of experiential horror. He also points to “the built-in sequel opportunity afforded us by Fulci’s Gates of Hell universe.” No director has been announced.
Catriona MacColl as Liza Merrill sips a cherry-topped drink in Lucio Fulci’s original The Beyond (1981).
“In other words, The Beyond is in the hands of people who actually love it.”
Fellow Co-CEO Frida Torresblanco says Severin is the ideal partner, both as a guide through the rights process and as a knowledgeable creative sounding board. Severin co-founder, president and CEO David Gregory notes that the company has spent two decades restoring and releasing genre films with respect for their originality. He sees reimagining them for a new generation as an opportunity for the genre community.
Severin’s Italian correspondent Manlio Gomarasca and RTI Mediaset international sales manager Claudia Marra brokered the deal for the English-language remake rights. Marra says there is already a great deal of excitement around the project.
The people behind Hangtime have serious credentials. Torresblanco was a producing force behind Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and co-founded Esperanto Films with Alfonso Cuarón. Murray produced Paul Schrader’s First Reformed and worked on The Wrestler and 22 Jump Street. Severin, founded in 2006, has become the go-to boutique label for restoring Fulci, Argento, Jess Franco and decades of Italian horror. In other words, The Beyond is in the hands of people who actually love it. Whether it needed remaking is another question entirely.
