Malcolm McDowell, of A Clockwork Orange and Halloween fame, is reportedly circling a fresh cinematic resurrection of H.P. Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator, with cameras expected to begin rolling next month in the river town of Alton.

Penned by horror veterans Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe (the minds behind The Haunting in Connecticut and Kalifornia), this new incarnation seems highly interested in dragging Lovecraft’s corpse-strewn mythology into something even nastier, more contemporary, and, if the early chatter is anything to go by, firmly rooted in Midwestern decay. Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.

Famously adapted by Stuart Gordon in 1985’s Re-Animator, Lovecraft’s 1922 horror short story follows the brilliant but mercurial physician Herbert West, whose rabid obsession and pursuit of life extension succeeds to a horrifying effect. Fun fact about the original story, it is one of the first depictions of zombies as scientifically reanimated corpses! Think of us on your next trivia night.

Though Bryan Johnson wasn’t available for the lead role, Malcolm McDowell will no doubt prove more than suitable to deliver that signature theatrical menace, intellectual arrogance, and obsessive madness the role requires.