After an eight year hiatus from the movies, Haley Joel Osment is making a return to acting with three independent projects.  The first two are in post-production, with no release set and truly unfortunate titles: Sassy Pants and Montana Amazon.  The third has a fine title (Wake the Dead) and should have no trouble finding distribution given the marketability.  Variety reports that Osment will play Victor Franklin, a college student who experiments with raising the dead in a present-day retelling of Frankenstein.Wake the Dead is set up at Slasher Films, a production company launched by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.  Jay Russell (The Water Horse) will direct from a script he co-wrote with James V. Hart (August Rush), based on Steve Niles comic of the same name.  Wake the Dead is one of many upcoming projects based on the Frankenstein tale.  Hit the jump for a recap.Now with 40% more bullets:

Niles previously described the filmmakers' approach to his comic:

“We want to recapture the quality of horror like they made them in the ’70s, horror where you care about the characters and story. With Wake the Dead, Jay Russell, Slash and I hope to make a horror movie that sticks with you long after you’ve seen it.”

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