Relativity Media has been trying for a while now to get the rather inspired horror comic Hack/Slash to the big screen, but they've never quite been able to get it off the ground. I'm not sure why it's been such a bumpy road, either, because the Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli-created comic, which is about the daughter of a typical horror movie slasher who dedicates her life to traveling around the country and killing other slashers like her mother, is a perfect formula just aching to be adapted. Sure, there are plenty of ways it can go wrong, but in the hands of a director who really gets slashers, it could be golden. Obviously Relativity agrees, as THR reports they've handed the potential franchise starter to Marcus Nispel.

Nispel is of course the man behind both the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th remakes, two films that ended up being far better than anyone expected them to be. (Yes, there are plenty who hate the smarter approach to Jason in F13, but I think it's a highly entertaining entry to the franchise). And one could argue that almost all of Nispel's success comes down to his distinctive look, which is a very cinematic, very heightened aesthetic that marries perfectly with a genre that revels in the presentation and subsequent destruction of the human body. He understands the importance of making the camera, and thus the audience, fall in love with its subjects, be they as sexy as Jessica Biel or as grotesque as Leatherface. And that's why he is, as far as the look of the film goes, a perfect choice to tackle Cassie Hack, a character that oozes sex and violence and is primed to be one of the most memorable final girls the genre has ever known.

As far as the tone goes, however, Nispel does open some cause for concern. The Hack/Slash comics have a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor (they regularly have fun introducing genre icons like Chucky or, as pictured, Herbert West), but Nispel has never really shown his comedic shops on film. He has them, it only takes one listen to his surprisingly funny commentary track on Conan the Barbarian Blu-ray to know that, but all his films so far are pretty much void of humor. I trust that he can pull it off, but then again, I readily admit that I like Nispel's forays into slasher territory far more than most people do.

What do you think? Is Nispel a good choice to guide Cassie Hack and her hulking sidekick Vlad cross country on the big screen? Or do you think a better choice is still out there? Oh, and Happy Friday the 13th!