Review of Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) by Thequietgamer — 11 Oct 2018

There is a vein of self-awareness running through Jeepers Creepers that makes some of the sillier stuff in it easier to swallow. Like how the Creeper dances over a moving car as if it's in a Japanese martial art movie or Justin Long's stupefied looks of sheer terror that are quite amusing to behold. You can tell real-life monster Victor Salva knows his horror movies. There are knowing winks to genre trappings and some clever spins on typically frustrating plot-devices that make them noticeably less irritating. Such as managing to make the two protagonist's misguided exploration of events they could easily have walked away from safely feel much less stupid because of their altruistic motives.

This feels a lot like a Stephen King story. More so than some of the actual adaptations of his work. We get some well-drawn characters, a unique threat in a great setting, and one psychic old lady. Gina Philips and Justin Long make believable siblings thanks to some excellent back-and-forth banter. Their conversations about parents and relationship trouble back at school makes them feel like real people and not your typical horror fodder. Every gruesome new detail revealed about it's sickening antagonist makes it all the more distinctive and intriguing.

The movie is never frightening though. As original and demented as it's title creature is in behavior and motive, it's appearance simply isn't scary. Sometimes shining a light on the monsters makes them even more terrifying as you get to witness all their horrific qualities in full force. Jeepers Creepers has the opposite effect. The more I saw of the Creeper, the less menacing it became.

Luckily as the Creeper becomes less freaky, the action continues to ramp up and we begin to see just how unstoppable the creature really is. Some gruesome and grotesque moments combined with the strong cast make for a very entertaining horror film that isn't afraid to poke fun at longtime tropes. What really won me over was the writing. The plot is better than average and has some great character work. Helping make up for a monster that ultimately isn't as unsettling as it first seemed.

7.