Bob Clark might have been on the cusp of comeback. The director had been recently relegated to directing Karate Dog and the Baby Geniuses films, but the remake craze had brought his better works back into the spotlight. Black Christmas recently got the remake treatment, and Howard Stern has been working on a new Porky’s film with Clark. Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things is also on its way to remake life. But early this morning all of that was cut short when Clark and his son were killed in a head-on collision on the Pacific Coast Highway.
I’m not one to get misty-eyed about the deaths of celebrities and filmmakers past their prime, and to be honest, Clark probably had his best directing days behind him. But I never got a chance to interview the guy and I would have really liked to… and besides, who knows whether writing the new Porky’s would have creatively re-energized a rascally and diverse filmmaker. Who’s to say that he didn’t have one more classic, another Christmas Story, inside him yet?
Pour one out for your homie tonight and rent Turk 182 and Deathdream (now there’s a movie they should remake, updated to the Iraq War).
By the way, the guy who killed Bob Clark was driving drunk. I’m against the death penalty for anything but this – fuck everyone who drives drunk, putting innocent people at risk. You’re scum of the Earth and should be eliminated.