‘Jeepers Creepers 3’ Is Happening, Oh Boy

There is some dark stuff intertwined with the history of Jeepers Creepers — specifically with its director, Victor Salva. And yet, somehow, some way, Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope is producing Jeepers Creepers 3, 12 years after the release of the underwhelming Jeepers Creepers 2. This is baffling for a few reasons.

THR reports that Salva will begin production in early 2016 on Jeepers Creepers 3, with Jonathan Breck returning as the titular Creeper, an entity that awakens every 23 years to hunt for 23 days, killing humans and absorbing their healthy parts to sustain his grotesque life. Brandon Smith will also return as Sergeant Davis Tubbs, the Creeper’s main foil.

What makes this news strange is that it’s been 12 years since Jeepers Creepers 2, a fairly bad sequel to the first film, which was actually quite chilling — real-life horror aside. That real-life horror would be Salva’s conviction and prison time for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy on the set of his debut film, Clownhouse. Salva was sentenced to three years in prison and served 15 months. Upon release, he directed films like Powder and Jeepers Creepers and its terrible sequel.

Coppola produced Salva’s Clownhouse, and is very aware of Salva’s crimes — and yet he continues to produce his films, which is more than a little strange. Yes, Salva served his time, and maybe Coppola sees some sort of redemption story in the director, but it’s not as if he’s making incredible films and deserves some sort of rescue. He is no Woody Allen or Roman Polanski.

All of this murky real-world drama aside, are we even that interested in a Jeepers Creepers 3? Seems like an odd horse for Coppola to hitch his cart to, but then again, this is the director who gave us the mystifyingly bad Twixt back in 2011.