Danny and Oxide Pang are probably best known for their ocular terror film The Eye and its sequel, but their real breakthrough was the off-kilter action flick Bangkok Dangerous, about a deaf-mute hitman. They’re heading back in that direction with their next project, though they’re not leaving the macabre completely behind.
The Pang Brothers will helm The Darkness, based on the Top Cow comic and not the British hair-metal band whose questionable retro appeal lasted all of four minutes. The book follows Jackie Estecado, a young playboy and mafia hitman who inherits a bizarre gift on his 21st birthday: a powerful suit of otherworldly sentient armor that manifests autonomous demons who do his bidding. The downside? Religious factions, divine beings and his own sister seek to annihilate him. Oh, and if he has sex, he’ll die. Not sure if that’s a fair trade, really.
Platinum Studios has already collected half the $28 million budget for their action-horror flick, and a videogame for Xbox 360 is also being simultaneously developed. There’s no script for the movie yet, but the Pangs will be busy finishing up their Ghost House fright film The Messengers, written by former CHUD correspondent Mark Wheaton (hey, Smilin’ Jack!).