Review of Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) by John S — 13 Jul 2009

I find that horror movie sequels that don't tie-in to the originals are best viewed as separate entities entirely. Not only does this allow the film to stand on its own merits, it also (in the case of Jeepers Creepers 2) keeps the film from dragging its (far superior) predecessor down.

And, I gotta say, this movie does not stand well on its own.

It starts off well enough, with the foreboding and genuinely creepy tagline:

Every 23rd Spring.

For 23 days.

It gets to eat.

While the origins of these rules are never explained, they make for a nice, dark tone to set the movie to. Unfortunately, this tone is kept for only the first seven minutes or so. But, at least for those first seven minutes, it's actually a good film.

We open on a sun-filled cornfield, where a blond-headed, freckle-faced farm boy named Billy is setting up scarecrows. 'Day 22' appears ominously across the screen as the boys father, Jack, yells at him to put 'em up proper this time around, as many of them had fallen over.