Japan's Gaga Communications,which has recently made a push into production with a slate of dramas, is nowmoving into genre filmmaking with cult Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura.

Kitamura, who shot tointernational recognition with sword-fighting splatterfest Versus in 2001, is developing three projects for Gaga. Thefirst, entitled Yoroi, is anaction horror title about samurai zombies, which Kitamura is currentlyscripting from his own concept.

The film will be made in the$2m-$5m range and Gaga hopes to bring in international co-production partners onthe project. Production is tentatively scheduled to start in the first quarterof next year.

Kitamura then has twofurther projects in the works - the most advanced of which, Dimension, is a psychological thriller about a new technologythat enables people to mentally experience what is happening to others -including the moment of death.

Widely regarded as one ofthe hottest talents from Japan's new generation of directors, Kitamura mostrecently directed the last instalment in the Godzilla franchise - Godzilla: Final War - and is currently working on LoveDeath inspired by the comic 69 by Tsutomu Takahashi.

Gaga has been ramping upproduction since its parent company Usen set up a $259m contents fund withDaiwa Securities SMBC at the end of last year.