Clearly Roger Corman doesn't find being in his nineties to be any reason to slow down when it comes to making movies. Having racked up more than 400 producer credits over the last 63 years, the 91-year-old legend has several movies in the works and awaiting release, including the next installment in the PIRANHA franchise, PIRANHA JPN: TEETH OF THE PIRANHA.
While making an appearance at the Overlook Film Festival, where he accepted the "Master of Horror" award, Corman shared some details on two films he's currently developing, both of which have "Death" in the title.
The one Corman finds to be the most interesting story he's working on at the moment is DEATH SQUAD, a film inspired by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial and deadly crackdown on crime. The movie won't be about Duterte himself, though, instead moving the idea into
a post-apocalyptic world in which a tyrannical ruler orders extrajudicial killings supposedly to alleviate crime, which leads him to start killing anyone who disagrees with him.
DEATH SQUAD's lead character will be
a quasi-dictator, but not that bad a guy… he’s shaded a little bit toward the black than shades of gray. He comes to the same conclusion [as Duterte], that the judicial system is corrupt, and he’s going to kill the criminals because he knows who they are. As he gets into it, he finds there’s an opposition to what he’s doing and he starts to say, ‘Well, that guy is against me. I think he’s a criminal. Let’s kill him.’ He starts saying he’s going to kill the criminals and ends up saying I’m going to kill anybody who resists me, but in his mind, it’s the same rationale… he’s expanding his interpretation of what a killer is.”
Corman's other DEATH project is what he intends to be the final installment in the DEATH RACE franchise, following close on the heels of DEATH RACE 2050, which was just released this past January. This one would be called DEATH RACE TO THE FINISH.
Why would Corman want to end the series? He explains,
It’s been my feeling that you don’t want to push a franchise too far. You have to know when to stop. [This title] fits the storyline I’m working on. It says, ‘We’ve had a good run. It’s time to move on.’”
Corman has had an incredible, awe-inspiring career, and it's really great to see him continuing to work and remaining passionate about film. We'll be keeping track of DEATH SQUAD and DEATH RACE TO THE FINISH as they make their way through development.