Haley Joel Osment to Star in Frankenstein Retelling WAKE THE DEAD

After an eight year hiatus from the movies, Haley Joel Osment is making a return to acting with three independent projects.  The first two are in post-production, with no release set and truly unfortunate titles: Sassy Pants and Montana Amazon.  The third has a fine title (Wake the Dead) and should have no trouble finding distribution given the marketability.  Variety reports that Osment will play Victor Franklin, a college student who experiments with raising the dead in a present-day retelling of Frankenstein.

Wake the Dead is set up at Slasher Films, a production company launched by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.  Jay Russell (The Water Horse) will direct from a script he co-wrote with James V. Hart (August Rush), based on Steve Niles comic of the same name.  Wake the Dead is one of many upcoming projects based on the Frankenstein tale.  Hit the jump for a recap.

Now with 40% more bullets:

• Fox hired Max Landis just last week to script a new Frankenstein movie.
• Guillermo del Toro has a Frankenstein adaptation set up at Universal.
• Matt Reeves (Let Me In) will direct an adaptation of Kenneth Oppel’s This Dark Endeavor.  Reeves spoke about the project at the Saturn Awards.
• Playwright David Auburn is adapting The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein for RT Features and Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures.
• Last December, Sony Pictures was planning a contemporary adaptation of the novel.
• In February 2010, producers Ralph Winter and Terry Botwick announced they were adapting author Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein, which re-imagines the story as a murder mystery set in modern-day New Orleans.
• In June 2009, director Neil Burger (Limitless) said he was planning to remake Bride of Frankenstein.

Niles previously described the filmmakers’ approach to his comic:

“We want to recapture the quality of horror like they made them in the ’70s, horror where you care about the characters and story. With Wake the Dead, Jay Russell, Slash and I hope to make a horror movie that sticks with you long after you’ve seen it.”