Man and Hell Battle Jesus in Kevin Smith's 'Helena Handbag'

Remember when Kevin Smith was doing all that talk about retiring? Well, it doesn't seem to be happening, not that anybody really thought he would follow through. Instead he seems to be adding one project after another, all of which are the variety you won't find in major studios. The hockey flick Hit Somebody seems to be in a holding pattern as Smith ponders a TV series; and he's got the weird Human Centipede-esque horror Tusk that he's just about wrapped up. And while he took to his Facebook page to announce plans to shoot Clerks III in May 2014. he's already got the next film lined up.

Smith will write and direct Helena Handbag (get it? "Hell in a handbag"?) which takes him back into religious territory for the third time after Dogma and Red State. Only neither of those movies sound quite as far out as this, with Smith describing the story as ”mankind teaming up with Hell to save existence from extinction at the hands of a Rapturing giant Jesus." Smith and Scott Mosier came up with the idea themselves based on SModCast episode #52, titled "The (C)Rapture".

Basically ever since Smith took on that hired gun gig directing the dreadful Cop Out he's been taking on projects that are off the beaten path. It began with Red State, and now Smith is inclined only to make movies unique to him, saying on his Facebook post that he's “only ever gonna make a flick that only I would/could ever make."

Smith says the low-budget Helena Handbag is still "a ways off" which means it will likely arrive after Clerks III.  [TheWrap]