The prospect of remaking Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes might seem sacrilege to some who obsess over the cult film from the insane director (who is solely responsible for making “Chaos Reigns!” the catch phrase of Fantastic Fest 2009), but it’s a good candidate for a remake here in the States.

This is the sort of project that gets people to go back and view the criminally under-seen original.

For a while, Steve Zaillian was signed on to produce the flick, but now he’s taking over the writing duties as well. That’s a formidable match. The science fiction element of a man accidentally traveling back in time and knocking over the dominoes that lead to a horrific crime is something that, obviously, Zaillian hasn’t had a chance to apply his impressive talents to yet. But the man knows character and he knows tension and he knows drama. Plus, as Drew over at HitFix astutely points out, his involvement as the writer could get some heavy directors (like Cronenberg) to turn their gaze to it.

As long as Vigalondo is still involved, this may be one of a handful of remakes that’s actually warranted.