Jeff’s Upcoming Projects - 2008 Update
Mar 4th, 2008
Several of Jeff’s films are in various stages of production. Listed below are his upcoming projects on the horizon. All of them look great and at least one will bring Jeff back to the big screen!!!
Some of these films will be released this year, other projects still have release dates yet to be determined. This post will be continually updated as I receive new information. For now, let’s take a look at all the great stuff we have to look forward to!
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In Production - Latest Projects
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Dark House
This is a new thriller by Darin Scott that recently completed filming.
Jeff plays Walston Rey, “the self-proclaimed King of Horror Haunts,” who turns a former foster home with a bloody past into a “haunted mansion for the ages” for Halloween. A young woman named Claire returns to the house in hopes of exorcising her past. When she and some of her acting students are hired to perform in Rey’s show, a new string of grisly murders begins and we discover the house may truly be haunted!
Jeff has appeared in several other projects for Scott, including Caught Up, Love and a .45, and the upcoming adaptation of the graphic novel, The Night Driver.
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Steeltown (originally titled Mineville)
Jeff will be featured in this new film directed by Beyond Re-Animator co-star Jason Barry. The film is “the untold true story of Irish immigrant workers who mined the Iron Ore that was used to build the then new city of Manhattan in 1910. This is a personal and politically driven story about two boys, from opposite ends of society, struggling against their own demons to break free of their upbringing, As a glimmer of hope appears on the horizon in the form of a wealthy, so-called Union Leader, their dreams are shattered as they watch him take control of their town and ultimately their destinies.” (synopsis courtesy of N. Barry)
The film has an official site here.
This big budget period drama will start filming late in 2009. This sounds like an absolutely incredible opportunity for Jeff to be recognized as the great actor he truly is!
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The Darkest Evil (working title)
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“Combs’ performance is nothing short of amazing. He is almost unrecognizable, and not due to crazy make-up but because he really is the creepy Wilbur Whateley.” - Leigh Scott, director of The Darkest Evil
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This is Jeff’s latest sci-fi feature that he has recently completed shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana. It is an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s classic tale, The Dunwich Horror and tells the story of several scholars headed by Henry Armitage (Dean Stockwell) who discover the secret to destroying mysterious, other-worldly beings that threaten humankind.
Jeff plays Wilbur Whateley, part of a strange, inbred family that helps unleash these beings on to the world. Griff Furst and Sarah Lieving round out the cast as two characters that battle against the villainous Whateley clan.
The original “Dunwich Horror” is a fantastically eerie tale and the director, Leigh Scott has stuck pretty close to the original storyline. For anyone interested, you can read “The Dunwich Horror” here.
The film will have a limited theatrical release(!) this fall and have a potential run on the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S. It will be released on DVD sometime in 2009.
The film will have a theatrical run in both Texas and Louisiana so far. More info to come!
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Untitled Sequel to Abominable
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“Think ALIENS and PREDATOR, but with Buddy and Preston thrown into the mix….”
- Ryan Schifrin on the sequel to Abominable
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Jeff will return as Buddy in a leading role for this recently announced sequel to Ryan Schifrin’s oldschool sasquatch film. Pre-production will begin soon with a script written by Larry Hama (Schifrin’s co-writer on his popular comic series, Spooks). Hama is known for his work on the G.I. Joe comic series, so there will be a more military component to this film.
For more exclusive info, see this post
And for more information on the original film, click here or visit the official site.
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Big Sky
Originally titled, Western Big Sky, this independent dramatic comedy adapted from the play by Robert Tobin follows the story of a group of people who, over the course of a single day, aim to change their lives for the better after years of living the same, predictable (and comfortable) existence. Jeff will play Kevin Meselet, a bullying, rowdy “oldschool” cowboy rancher with a comic edge.
There is an official website here.
The film is now in pre-production and will start shooting in Montana sometime early next spring. This is going to be very different role for Jeff! Let’s hope this gets him the notice that he deserves as a wonderful actor, no modifiers needed! 
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Completed and Coming Soon
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Parasomnia
Jeff’s third film with writer/director William Malone (House on Haunted Hill (remake) and FearDotCom being the other two*). Jeff plays Detective Garrett, a suicidal cop in this horrifying love story about an art student who falls for a woman trapped in a coma who holds a deadly secret.
There is an exclusive trailer online for the film here and there is a brand new trailer at the official site. Warning: Some graphic scenes.
I am also thrilled to report that this film is coming to theatres!!! Jeff is going to be on the big screen again! This is so exciting!
The film has an official website, complete with dozens of great photos of Jeff and a lot of info on the production itself. Writer/director William Malone is looking for a distribution deal, so let’s hope the film gets the theatrical release it deserves!
It will most likely be released later this year. More details here.
*Jeff’s first project with Malone was an episode of HBO’s Perversions of Science called “The Exile” in which he plays an amazing role as a prisoner in a futuristic setting. The “twist” to this episode is quite unexpected and chilling. Although the series hasn’t made it to DVD yet, I’m ever hopeful it will!
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Wizard of Gore
This is Jeremy Kasten’s (The Attic Expeditions, All Souls Day) “cover” of the classic H.G. Lewis splatter film. A sadistic magician, Montag the Magnificent (Crispin Glover) holds bizarre midnight stage shows and performs seemingly deadly acts on his female victims, only to have them walk offstage unharmed. Several days later, these same women show up dead with the injuries they seemed to incur at the show. A young reporter (Kip Pardue) curious about the events, starts to look into Montag’s background and reveals some horrifying truths.
Jeff plays one of Montag’s cohorts, a Circus Geek* that entertains the crowd by biting the heads off rats and eating live maggots! Fun stuff! I had the pleasure of seeing one of Jeff’s main scenes at a convention last year and he’s absolutely brilliant in the role.
You can visit the official website here and there is also a MySpace page for the film.
The film was recently screened at the Boston Underground Film Festival and won an honorable mention in the Best Feature category!
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Wizard of Gore will be released in the U.S. on DVD August 19th and in the UK on August 25th. You can already pre-order from amazon UK.
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The DVD features are as follows:
• Audio commentary
• Making of WIZARD OF GORE featurette
• Behind the Curtain: A Look at the Magic of WIZARD OF GORE featurette
• From Volunteer to Victim: The Suicide Girls in WIZARD OF GORE featurette
• Deleted scenes
• Storyboards, design sketches and personal photography
• Bloopers and gag reel
Jeff is in many of these special features, including several deleted scenes and two of the extensive behind-the-scenes featurettes, one of which shows how they created Jeff’s unique Geek makeup!
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*In an interview, Kasten promised that he would only make Jeff play a doctor once in one of his films (the amazing Dr. Ek from Kasten’s The Attic Expeditions). Jeff has also appeared in a wonderful cameo in All Souls Day as a 1950’s dad. Kasten is a fan as well, so let’s hope Jeff gets more departure roles in this great director’s upcoming features!
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Urgency
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“Jeff is GREAT — FANTASTIC in the role of Sumner and proves that he is an amazing
actor PERIOD.” - Kantz, director of Urgency
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Originally titled Fast Track, this recent thriller of Jeff’s focuses on a pharmaceutical attorney, Tony Gutierrez (Brian Austin Green), whose wife Sofia (Luciana Carro) is kidnapped and his quest to get her back safely before it’s too late.
Jeff plays Sumner Cavic, Tony’s slightly bumbling, yet absolutely hilarious neighbor. This role will really show Jeff’s amazing comic timing and wonderful physicality.
The film is now in post production and will be distributed domestically and internationally on DVD sometime in the near future. More info on the film in an upcoming exclusive post!
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The Night Driver
Jeff has lent his distinct voice to this very cool adaptation of a graphic novel that he has described as, “a dark, noir-ish Night Gallery type of thing.” Jeff plays the lead, Hurdis Jones, a traveling salesman who picks up a mysterious hitchhiker. Soon afterwards, Hurdis begins experiencing bizarre hallucinations and his trip becomes a terrifying descent into the unknown. The man once known as Hurdis Jones has become The Night Driver.
This new venture is headed by Darin Scott, who wrote and directed Jeff’s incredible film, Caught Up. You can read the preview comic here and you can purchase the graphic novel here. It looks very cool!
They are still working on the animation for this project and the final product will be out by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
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Stuck
This is Stuart Gordon’s latest thriller that follows the story of Brandi (Mena Suvari) a young nurse who hits a homeless man Tom (Stephen Rea) on her way home from a night of partying. Instead of taking him to the hospital, she leaves him trapped in her windshield, unsure of her next move. The film focuses on Brandi’s decisions for her uncertain future and Tom’s attempts to escape.
Jeff has a small voice-only cameo as an incredibly unhelpful 911 Operator. Even though the scene is fleeting, it’s still wonderful to have Jeff back on the big screen!
Stuck will be released on DVD October 7th.
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Other Projects
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The Attackmen
This is a short film by Topher Straus that follows the story of a Jewish lacrosse player’s (Nick Slatkin) struggle to find his identity through the game. The film has already won several film festival awards, including the Remi award at the Houston World Fest.
Jeff plays Mr. Simms, the strict father of the lacrosse player, who believes the game is frivolous and that his son should focus his energies on more educational pursuits. This is another departure role for Jeff that I’m really looking forward to.
The film has a MySpace page.
Nick Slatkin, the writer and star of this short film has informed me that it might not be released at all! This is sad news indeed, but I’m hoping things will change, even if it’s a limited run. The film did very well at various film festivals, so there’s always hope that it will still come to DVD sometime in the near future for us all to enjoy!
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House of Re-Animator
The possible 4th Re-Animator film in which the president (William H. Macy) unexpectedly expires and Herbert West is called in to “re-animate” his corpse to continue running the country.
According to a Fangoria interview with director Stuart Gordon in March 2008, House is sadly officially cancelled. See this post for details.
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There is a more more recent interview with Gordon in which he states:
“It doesn’t look like it is going to happen. I’ve been having second thoughts on it, because I keep reading about Oliver Stone and the movie he is doing about the Bush presidency. I am worried it is a little bit too late to start doing movies about the Bush administration. By the time this movie would come out, we would have a new President, and it would be like, ‘Who cares?’”
With this more “back to the drawing board” approach, perhaps we may get a new Re-Animator film after all! At this point, I personally don’t care what the plotline is, I’d just love to see a reunion of the original three main cast members in a film together!
Let’s just hope someday, Herbert West will ride again.