Modern horror icons are incredibly hard to come by. As much as I love Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers and Leatherface, the horror community could use some fresh faces. While we have Victor Crowley from the HATCHET series he, unfortunately, never got cemented as part of pop culture status the way Freddy and Co. did. There’s Art The Clown who we first met in ALL HALLOWS EVE and followed him to the spinoff TERRIFYER. Since he’s still so new time will eventually tell where his status is within the community especially with a new sequel coming. One poor bastard who was on his way to iconic status but fell short was The Creeper from the JEEPERS CREEPERS trilogy. Played to perfection by Jonathan Breck, The Creeper is a winged demon who scours the Earth every 27 years to eat human eyes. Unfortunately, The Creeper and the franchise was created by convicted child predator Victor Salva. While the first 2 films were theatrical successes and gained a sizable following, the long lag between JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 and the awful JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 didn’t help when many fans discovered Salva’s disturbing past which influenced the production and, albeit, valid reaction to the third installment. However since there’s money to be made off an existing IP, production company Scream Media has gone forward with a fourth installment titled JEEPERS CREEPER: REBORN. In a move I haven’t seen since Roseanne Barr was completely removed from her show and the royalties from THE CONNERS, the new film doesn’t seem to have any involvement from Victor Salva- at least not creatively. This new installment serves as a series reboot with plans for an all new trilogy. The official synopsis is as follows:

When the Horror Hound festival holds its first ever event in Louisiana, it attracts hundreds of geeks, freaks and die-hard horror fans from far and wide, to howl and celebrate into the night. Among them is love-able fanboy Chase and his devoted sweetheart Laine, who is forced to come along for the ride. But as the event approaches, Laine begins to experience unexplained premonitions and disturbing visions associated with the town’s past, and in particular, local legend/urban myth The Creeper. As the festival arrives and the blood-soaked entertainment builds to a frenzy, Laine believes that something unearthly has been summoned… and that she is at the center of it.

JEEPERS CREEPERS: REBORN, which was filmed in secret late last year by director Timo Vuorensola, takes place during a horror convention in Louisiana? That’s…interesting. Did the first 2 take place in Louisiana? I honestly can’t remember. I suppose the Creeper can fly anywhere he wants anyway so it’s a moot point. But wasn’t he in Florida before? I dunno. There’s not much information surrounding the cast at this point- the movie isn’t even listed on IMDb yet. Still, plans are to release the new film in theaters (!) sometime this fall.

Will you check out the new JEEPERS CREEPERS or has Victor Salva’s connection tainted the franchise for you? Do you think The Creeper can become a horror icon if he isn’t already? Let me know in the comments.