February 28, 2008

Victor Salva to Deliver Third Jeepers Creepers Outing

Victor Salva stirred up some controversy when Disney hired him to direct Powder, which was his sophomore outing, following 1989's Clownhouse. Why the controversy? Well, it was Disney hiring a confessed pedophile. Yes, you read that right. In 1988 he pled guilty to molesting a twelve year old boy (who was one of the stars of Clownhouse). Needless to say, Powder did not fare that well at the box office. With Powder it became clear that his directing career was going to survive his conviction. Not only has it continued, but he has acheived a mild level of success. The success has come primarily through a pair of Jeepers Creepers films, and now he is ramping up a third go around with the Creeper creature, as reported by Fangoria.

The first Jeepers Creepers arrived in 2001 and starred the then up and coming Justin Long and Gina Phillips. It proved to be a good genre outing, with a strong and very creepy first half followed by a more over the top finale. It was followed by a sequel in 2003. Sadly, the sequel did not live up to the original, proving to be considerably goofier and seemed to expose Salva's past, if only a little. Still, it was fun enough for an MST3K style romp.

Now, five years later, Victor Salva is back and ready to bring the Creeper back to the screen. Hey, I cannot believe that it will be any good, but I will be there to see it. I think the Creeper character has continued potential to be a very menacing screen presence. I can only hope that it will be more along the lines of the original with a lower camp value than the second contained.

There have been no tips on what the story may be, but there is one bit of casting news. Ray Wise, who featured prominently in the second film will be back for this go around. Frankly, this news makes me smile, as he has been having a pretty good run lately, particularly on the television show Reaper. Plus, now that the strike is over, the CW series will be going back into production for five more episodes to close out the season.

0 comments:

Post a Comment