Filmmaker Josh Ruben shares his pitch for a Darkman legacy sequel, drawing inspiration from A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Invisible Man
Last month, the directing duo of Adam Schindler and Brian Netto, who worked with the legendary Sam Raimi on episodes of the Raimi-produced anthology series 50 States of Fright and on the thriller Don’t Move, said that they would like to revive Darkman, the superhero action franchise that Raimi started with his 1990 film of the same name. I said at the time that if Schindler and Netto want to make a Darkman movie, they might have to duel Scare Me and Werewolves Within director Josh Ruben over the project, as Ruben is such a Darkman superfan that he even recorded a fan commentary for a Scream Factory 4K and Blu-ray release… and now, Ruben has taken to social media to share his pitch for a Darkman legacy sequel.
Scripted by Sam Raimi with Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin, and Joshua Goldin, the original Darkman has the following synopsis: When the laboratory of Dr. Peyton Westlake is blown up by gangsters, he is burned beyond recognition. Altered by an experimental medical procedure, he assumes alternate identities in his quest for revenge. Liam Neeson starred in the original film (and would be interested in returning for a legacy sequel), then the title role was taken over by Arnold Vosloo for two direct-to-video sequels. Raimi has said that Universal has been talking about making another sequel.
Over the course of several posts, Ruben revealed that his approach to telling a new Darkman story would be very different than I ever would have expected, drawing inspiration from the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street and the recent update of The Invisible Man. He wrote, “I wanted to make a legacy sequel (OK, not that original, but there’s more). I wanted to start this… reimagining? like something else. Darkman is a wild concept and we need a reset, a fresh (new) way in. So… I wanted to position this movie like a paranoid thriller about a sweet young woman tortured by recurring nightmares of a disfigured man. She gradually grows convinced that her nightmares may be manifesting into her real life. (It would be) nightmarish, trippy, colorful, fun, weird. Thing is, our lead is going to find out that her nightmare doesn’t just live in her head. She’s drawing on the real thing. Something tied to her childhood. Her mom tells her all about a paranoid era from her formative years. Kinda like the Summer of Sam. Satanic Panic. The “Stranger Danger” epidemic. Mom tells her all about the dark figure rumored to be a thing of myth – an anti-hero who did exist to wreak havoc; who terrorized unsavory types, brutalized criminals and such (Raimi did create Darkman after not being able to secure Batman rights after all). The one time Darkman was caught on camera was news footage back in 1990. He ostensibly threw an innocent businessman to his death. I compared his being run out of town like Frankenstein by an angry mob. The businessman? Louis Strack. Mom is rehashing this urban myth is because “The Dark Man” has ostensibly emerged from hiding and he’s killing again. There are witnesses. It hits a city-wide nerve of paranoia. Especially because this guy creates skin-real masks and can look like anyone. How awfully triggering for our hero… …but none more triggering than the nightmare coming home. Darkman (conveniently) kills her sweet mother. Our lead gets a brief, shadowy look at him. And our soft-spoken lead (who I loved imagining as a Kindergarten teacher) SNAPS. She vows vengeance. SHE. IS GOING. TO KILL. DARKMAN. I loved the idea of our lead having a suppressed temper and w/ it a character arc adjacent to Westlake’s in the original. The explosion broke him, made him mad. Here, tragedy breaks her. She’s no longer afraid. She’s gonna go head to head with her nightmare. A fun, mad opportunity for our actress… The order of events that follow are such that — our hero’s fury gets her into danger. She’s rescued by the REAL Darkman. Think “Scary Logan.” He’s gone gradually mad living underground all these years. He promises he didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t kill her mother. Why would he kill the woman he loves? The real Darkman is Peyton Westlake. Our hero is his daughter. They’ve never met. Julie would never put her child in that kind of danger. What starts as a stalking horror turns into a Universal monsters-esque father daughter love story… And then, a dark superhero film. Scary Batman. The snakes come out of the grass. The WORST level of villains emerge to find and kill the real Darkman – and the only thing he has left. His kid. The Darkman copycat is the daughter of Louis Strack. She works in a burn unit. He’s been providing her burn unit synthetic skin to help patients. He confided in her. Who he is and his only family left. Big mistake.“
What do you think of Josh Ruben’s Darkman legacy sequel pitch? Would you like to see his story brought to the screen, or do you think the Darkman revival should take a different approach? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
