Miss Winthrop: Depp sure does have the required baleful stare. With his acting ability, I'm sure he'd pull it off wonderfully.
One wonders how they'd approach the whole production, though. Sleepy Hollow comes to mind as an example of the campy approach, if that's the right term. But, it was very creative and it worked in a comic-booky sort of way... not especially scary, except for Christopher Walken at the end as the Headless Horseman with reclaimed head... but, it was entertaining, very atmosheric and highly creative. Tim Burton could pull that off for a DS movie, fer sure, if it is decided to go full bore in that direction... instead of more in the direction of supernatural stuff in a realistic context. By this other approach, I mean something like: "...a modern-day Maine seacoast town is stricken with a rash of bizarre deaths where the victims' throats were..." etc etc. There's all different approaches, but Supernatural/Campy or Supernatural/Realistic (a contradiction in terms, lol) seem to be the two big choices and I'm sure the principals of the new production are wrestling with the same dilemna. When there is a mix of the two, on the other hand, silliness becomes a real issue because of the resulting lack of focus and direction. Badly made reality haunting-type series on TV come to mind where they expect us to be creeped out by the silly video post effects. Speaking of those haunting shows, one that does occasionally pull it off well is a Canadian production (I live in Toronto BTW) called Ghostly Encounters. The original DS rose above believability issues because we as viewers all agreed en masse to participate in a fantasy ... BECAUSE of its episodic series format, where we couldn't wait to see what happened next and cared about the characters we'd known for several years, in real time. That's something a movie has a hard time accomplishing in two hours, especially in the fantasy genre. As a creative/artistic teenager most heartily depressed by a day at public school, DS was actually the highlight of my weekday.
In the end, as with LOTRings for example, the cinema experience is bound to butt heads with the nostalgic expectations of old fans of the original production looking for a repeat of the original experience. So, as with all remakes, creativity in storyline, production and acting needs to be top-notch and needs to stand on its own... more so than if it were a purely original concept with no old-version precedent.
I feel that a new DS storyline is in order for this new movie, however, or at least with a major twist on the DS theme, just because I know all about what happens in the ones from the series. If it's a good movie on its own, it could become a franchise cinema feature series.
Speaking of Depp/Frid baleful stares, if there is an Angelique character in the works, that actress would definitely need the Lara Parker eyes or a similarly menacing face. Casting a pretty face just for marketing sake wouldn't be good, as with any movie.
ProfStokes: I see that there is a lot of acclaim for The Orphanage, which I have never heard of before now. I will have to check it out.
