Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has been filming in the UK for a few weeks at this point, but we still don't know what to expect from the plot. Now, director James Wan has given us a little more to go on by revealing his surprising inspiration for the DCEU sequel.
During an interview with Total Film, Wan suggested that he'd be returning to his horror roots for Aquaman 2, drawing influence from, of all things, campy '60s Italian horror film Planet of the Vampires.
“Aquaman 2 is very heavily inspired by Planet of the Vampires,” said the filmmaker. “You can take the boy out of horror but you can never take the horror out the boy.”
This is interesting for a number of reasons. While Wan's comments obviously suggest that The Lost Kingdom will feature more horror elements, Planet of the Vampires is not exactly what you'd call a fine example of the genre. It has achieved cult status because of it's schlocky charm, but it's generally considered to be a bit of a joke.
Still, we might be able to glean some information from the movie's plot, which focuses on two spaceships on an exploratory mission to the planet Aura who come under attack from the mysterious aliens who reside there. Can we assume Aquaman and his allies will encounter new, hostile life forms when they reach the Lost Kingdom of the title?
"Well, the first movie took a lot of people by surprise, right? And that’s partially because they were not familiar with the comic book, which deals in this very lurid, strange world," Wan continued. "People were taken aback that I didn’t throw all that stuff away and make a dark, heavy film. But I didn’t feel that would have been right for it. So with the second film, I feel it will be easier for people to accept where we go because I’ve already laid the foundation."
What do you guys make of Wan's comments? Are you glad to hear that the Aquaman sequel might be taking things in a slightly darker direction?
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