The Idle Hands remake is coming! Cinemax
Not too long ago we were talking here on the site about horror films starring…Hands. The fact is that, surprisingly, there are a number of such films; some of them are excellent, and others have even reached cult status. “Idle Hands” is a great example of a silly comedy that was then entirely shot down and had relatively minor success at the box office. However, today many horror films consider it a cult film.
Perhaps for this reason, and mainly because someone from Sony Pictures just read our article, we learned of the planned remake of “Idle Hands”, with some talented names behind it. Without a doubt, we are very excited about it!
Who will remake Idle Hands?
Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk may not mean much to the average viewer, but if you look at their careers in horror, you can see that they are promising names. Wolfard is a very young Canadian actor and musician (21 years old) who has already taken part in some of the most important horror works of recent years. He played Mike Wheeler in Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”“ Richie in both “It”“ films, and Trevor in “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,“ the next generation version and the fourth film in the successful franchise.
Bryk, 25, is Wolfard’s best friend and, often, his creative partner. The two collaborated in 2020 when Bryk starred in the short film “Night Shifts,” which Wolfard directed and wrote, as well as in a relatively minor role in “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,”“ alongside the same Wolfard.
In 2023, their most significant collaboration took place, in the low-budget horror film “Hell of a Summer,“ which they co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in. It is a slasher with a masked killer who attacks the participants of a summer camp. The film had little resonance with general audiences but was screened as part of the 2023 Toronto Film Festival and received positive reviews. Following this relative success, Neon – the independent film distributor which has brought us several notable films in recent years such as “Immaculate“ starring Sidney Sweeney, the beloved “It Lived Inside“ and the famous “Longlegs“ – has announced that it plans to release the film theatrically during the summer of 2025, it is not yet known in which distribution.
A few days ago, we learned that the young duo would be writing the reimagining of “Idle Hands.”“ We don’t yet know if the duo will also direct or be part of the cast of the new film “Idle Hands,” but depending on their careers, it may indeed happen.
The film will be produced by Canadian Jason Reitman, behind him a long line of successes – for example, “Juno“ (2007), “Jennifer’s Body“ (2009), “In the air“ (2009), “Tully“ (2018), “Ghostbusters: The Afterlife“ (2021) and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire“ (2022) – As a writer, director, producer and sometimes all three.
We don’t know anything about the plot or release date of “Idle Hands” yet, but we will surely get more updates soon.
Return to Idle Hands: Super Silly and Funny
“Idle hands“ from 1999 presented the somewhat disturbed story of Anton (the excellent Devon Sawa, “Final Destination,» “Black Friday,» “The Exorcism of Molly Hartley”), a guy who is bored and relatively stagnant. The film takes up the expression “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” and shows for the umpteenth time that a passive lifestyle can kill – others, in this case.
One day, the lazy Anton discovers that his parents are dead and, according to the evidence collected at the crime scene, he is responsible. After also killing his best friends (Seth Green and Elden Henson), he realizes that his right hand is to blame. Or rather, a monstrous possession has taken possession of his hand, probably because it is unused and is making him kill everything that moves.
At first, Anton tries to occupy his evil hand, partly by knitting. When that doesn’t work, he tries to destroy it in various ways, including cutting it with a knife, running an iron over his hand, or heating it in the microwave. When all this doesn’t help, the situation becomes complicated. Above all, there’s a sexy neighbor that Anton is secretly in love with (Jessica Elba, in one of the roles that made a lot of horror fans fall in love with her, not really secretly), and whom he wants to invite to the dance without her knowing that he has an evil hand. Or a priestess seeking the hand to dispel possession and other villains.
The result is a super silly dark horror comedy with sex, drugs, rock and roll, and excellent jokes that’s mostly suitable for viewing with friends.
Is Idle Hands getting a remake?
“Idle hands“ was a real box office failure at the time (only about $4 million, against a budget of about $25 million). However, he had very good reasons: a few weeks before his release, the terrible shooting at Columbine High School took place, in which two students murdered 12 other students and a teacher in a mass shooting, in one of the most memorable shootings of recent decades.“ On screen, it received mediocre reviews at best (on Rotten Tomatoes, for example, only 16% of critics gave it a positive rating).
Despite this, many horror fans – including the author of these lines – grew up with this stupid movie and I even saw it more than once. The announcement of a remake raises expectations for something silly but fun.
Devon Sawa also published a funny post on the social network X after the announcement of the remake of “Idle Hands”. He described his 10-year-old son’s reaction to the news: “Awesome!! Finn Wolfhard from the coolest show “Stranger Things“ is making a new movie called Idle Hands!!“. When Sawa replied, “I was in ‘Idle Hands’! I’m the original Anton!”“ the child reportedly responded, “Sure, Dad. Whatever you say. Can I have a snack?”
In one of the replies to the tweet, Sawa replied that the remake “will be fun.”“ and he was excited about it. The truth? Oddly enough, so do we.
