HALLOWEEN FAVORITES: JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)

JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)

Jeepers Creepers tells the ill-fated story of twin siblings Darry (Justin Long) and Trish (Gina Philips) who are headed home through rural countryside on break from college. On the way they encounter a sinister truck who toys with them and nearly runs them off the road. They later see it again, parked by an abandoned church and the cloaked driver looks like he is dumping something resembling a body into an old storm drain. The twins decide to investigate to see if someone needs help and find a cache of preserved bodies hidden underground. Their discovery triggers a pursuit by what turns out to be an unstoppable mythical creature called The Creeper (Jonathan Breck) who comes out once every 23 years to feed for 23 days to regenerate it’s body with parts from it’s victims… and one of the twins is it’s next meal.

Jeepers Creepers is a fun and spooky Saturday night horror best enjoyed with a brew or two. There are some good scares and some nice FX work and the film moves at a very brisk pace. Writer/Director Victor Silva has an understanding of the visual style a film like this needs and the film looks great and he doesn’t waste time as the story begins right away and never slows down. He builds some suspenseful sequences and gives us some very spooky moments. The Creeper is a very cool creature that is given a very threatening presence and that is always a plus in a film like this. Philips and Long have a great chemistry and work very well together and their brother and sister are very likable and are sympathetic in their plight and we care if this hellish creature catches up to them.

The film is not perfect. There are some lapses in logic… such as how did this elusive creature get a specialized license plate from the DMV?… and the psychic character, Jezelle (Patricia Belcher) brings things down a bit. Her part is badly written exposition and serves only to fill us in on information about our Creeper that we wouldn’t know otherwise. It’s understood why the character is there but, is a bit too obvious and Belcher isn’t winning any awards here either as her performance is weak and forced. Veteran actress Eileen Brennan appears in a small role as an ill-fated cat lady and she would have been far more effective in the role of the psychic, Jezelle then Belcher. There are a lot of suspenseful pursuits and a bloody police station attack that leads to a truly unsettling climax that helps keep the film’s effectiveness despite it’s flaws and leaves one fairly spooked and entertained by the time the credits finally roll. And you should watch through the credits, too.

Not a great movie, but, still a fun Halloween treat or a good part of a weekend spook-fest with friends. The Creeper returned in a sub-par sequel involving a bus full of high school kids and there have been rumors for years of Silva making a third film, supposedly titled Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral but, nothing has yet to materialize. The Creeper is a cool monster who has been sadly underused.

3 Creepers!