The potential film version of the comic book Hack/Slash has been making news for over a year now. Two reasons. One, it’s classic fanbait: hot girl plus skimpy clothes plus violence. And two, it was originally handed to screenwriter Justin Marks, the guy who became blog fodder for having a bunch of high-profile writing gigs with no produced credits. Then the Marks-penned Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li came out, and suddenly we weren’t writing about Marks nearly as often. As is so often the case, the lousiness of Street Fighter may or may not actually have anything to do with the Marks script, but with nothing else bearing his name it’s harder to give him the benefit of the doubt.

After being announced, Hack/Slash was passed from director Todd Lincoln to Fredrik Bond. Now there’s a report that a new screenwriter is on board, as well. In retrospect, when you think like a production company, hiring the same guy that is writing the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre for Twisted Pictures probably seems like a slam dunk.

Bloody Disgusting reports that Stephen Susco has been given a mandate to hack and slash. What they don’t say is whether this is a rewrite of the previous Justin Marks script, which was said to play up a Shaun of the Dead-style comedy/horror fusion, or a start from scratch effort. Given the stuff Susco has written so far and is attached to (the two Grudge remakes, Texas Chainsaw, The Butcherhouse Chronicles, the other Brian Cox movie called Red) I could see it going either way. He could be adding more serious horror to the Marks script, or starting afresh to more fundamentally change the balance of horror and humor in the adaptation.

Hack/Slash was devised by Tim Seeley and features Cassie Hack, “an attractive, yet tough-as-nails, fearless loudmouth” who was a final girl-style survivor of a violent attack and now hunts slashers and killers with her partner, Vlad. No casting has been announced so far, so feel free to continue arguing the merits and drawbacks of fancasting Eliza Dushku in the comments below.