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| Jeepers Creepers 2 |
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  (4/10)
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Runtime: 103 |
| Public Rating: 6.71 (112 votes) |
Director: Victor Salva |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Horror |
Year: 2003 |
| Writer(s): Victor Salva |
| Distributor: MGM |
| Reviewed by: Nate Anderson |
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"Well, excuse me, but we just went down a notch on the food chain!"
When I first saw the original Jeepers Creepers, I was expecting a fairly dull movie with maybe a couple of scares. Instead, I found myself genuinely thrilled and scared during the movie. I think a large portion of it had to do with really caring about the two main characters, Darry (Justin Long) and his sister Trish (Gina Philips). The same can not be said here.
The movie starts off with a young boy hanging scarecrows in a field (If this is supposed to be the spring, why is all the corn brown? It should be green. These people have problems that the scarecrows are not going to be able to help.) Anyway, soon enough, the boy is carted off by the Creeper (Johnathan Breck) while being chased through the corn by his father, Jack Taggart (Ray Wise) and his older brother Jack Jr. (Luke Edwards). The Creeper eventually flies off with the boy leaving the other two devastated and eventually wanting revenge.
The bulk of the movie takes place on a school bus filled with jocks and cheerleaders, along with the required geek and assorted others, including coaches and the bus driver. Basically they're all there to be picked off one by one by the creeper. The problem is, we don't get a chance to get to know the characters well enough to really care if they live or die. There was only one character I liked, The Bus Driver (Diane Delano) is killed far too early on. In fact, all the adults are the first ones to go. From there, we basically get to watch the kids fall apart and eventually turn on one another while trying to fend off the very hungry Creeper.
The idea of trapping character in one spot while trying to fend off a monster is not really a new idea, but can be a really intense one, if executed properly. There is, of course, the now classic Night of the Living Dead and it imitators, and the oft-forgotten but equally intense Cujo about a rabid dog that traps a woman and her son in their car. These movies developed their characters along with the plot to where you actually came to care about them. Jeepers Creepers 2 does not. The characters seem to blur together to the point you have dificulty telling them apart. The only memorable one is Minxie (Nicki Lynn Aycox) and that's only because she's the one that has Darry, the brother from the original, appear in her dream to tell her about the Creeper. After the information is passed on, she pretty much blends in with the rest of the group again.
During all this, Jack and Jack Jr. are building a harpoon like gun to mount on the back of their truck and go Creeper hunting. It isn't until these two guys find the kids that the movie really picks up. Too bad it's about an hour or more into the film at that point.
Overall, the film has a good premise and a lot of potential, but the script here lacks where the original was strong...in the characters. What's really dissapointing is the fact that both Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers 2 were written and directed by the same guy. What a shame. And of course, the film is left open for yet another sequel. Not that it's a surprise or anything.
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