'Hitcher' remake planned

LOS ANGELES, April 18 (UPI) -- The company that produced "The Amityville Horror" is planning a remake of the 1986 horror-thriller "The Hitcher," Daily Variety said Monday.

The paper said Platinum Dunes -- which was formed by "Armageddon" director Michael Bay and partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller -- has struck a deal with Focus Features for a remake of the movie in which C. Thomas Howell is terrorized by hitchhiker Rutger Hauer.

It will be the third project in which Platinum Dunes aims to produce low-cost remakes of relatively recent horror pictures -- following "The Amityville Horror" and the 2003 updated version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Bay told Variety he knew his company should do "The Hitcher" as soon as someone mentioned the title to him.

"I loved it as a kid, and we can add some cool twists and turn it into a rocking film," he said.

Bay said one possible twist on the original is to make the protagonist female.