EXCLUSIVE: Nicolas Pesce has been set to rewrite and direct The Grudge reboot for Ghost House Pictures. Pesce, who made his directorial debut on the critically acclaimed 2016 Sundance pic The Eyes of My Mother, will resuscitate the Takashi Shimazu-directed 2004 film that helped establish the viability of low-cost genre films. The new film is based on a script by Midnight Meat Train scribe Jeff Buhler, and it will be produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Taka Ichise. Roy Lee, Doug Davison, Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will executive produce. Erin Westerman and Romel Adam will oversee for Ghost House.

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The original cost around $10 million, grossed $187 million worldwide and hatched a sequel. It was based on Shimizu’s Japanese horror thriller Ju-On. In the original, Sarah Michelle Gellar played a nurse in Tokyo who was afflicted by a curse that created uncontrollable homicidal rage.

Pesce is in post-production on his psychological thriller Piercing, starring Mia Wasikowska and Christopher Abbott. The writer-director is represented by UTA, Washington Square Films & Nelson Davis LLP. Dan Freedman of Good Universe negotiated on behalf of producers.