New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Justin Long and Gina Phillips are fine in their roles, but when it comes to horror, the success lies less in the acting and more in the screenplay, which starts running on fumes after the opening sequence.

Director and writer Victor Salva uses few “jump scares,” thankfully, and plays off more on tension. The atmosphere is appropriately dreary, and the kills are gory, but not profusely. Salva’s main problem with Jeepers Creepers is the poor pacing. The time speeds up and slows down so quickly, that you start wondering if this movie takes place over one night or an entire weekend.

Salva’s script turns from a fairly witty endeavor into a horror movie cliché checklist: Crazy old lady? Check. Hick locals? Check. Idiot cops? Check. Non-working cell phone? Check. Wise, token black woman? Check.

My biggest gripe with the film, though, was that the Creeper attacks every time the song “Jeepers Creepers” comes on. While old songs can certainly be creepy, the upbeat tune is more silly than scary. Music can make or break a scene, and in this case, it is the latter.

Still, for 90 minutes, you could do worse. Jeepers Creepers, while dumb, is never boring, which is the worst thing I think a horror movie can be.

Budgeted at a scant $10 million, Jeepers Creepers opened to $13.1 million ($18.5 million adjusted) and $15.8 million over the whole long weekend. With $37.9 million ($53.6 million today) in the end, the film didn’t have any legs to go “Jeepers Creepers!” about. Overseas was a non-factor.

With a typical no-name cast and crew, Jeepers Creepers did have one notable exception of talent when it came to the credits – Francis Ford Coppola. Credited as an executive producer, I am not sure exactly what Coppola’s involvement was, but director Victor Salva said that he was the one who championed a sequel. After purposely making the Creeper’s eating schedule take place every 23 years so there would be no second installment, Coppola found a loophole, suggesting that the next film could take place within the same 23 days as a direct continuation.

Costing a little more and making a little less, Jeepers Creepers II surprisingly did not spawn a threequel. Why? Because it was backed by the two worst film companies possible: the bankrupt MGM and the defunct United Artists. Funding immediately ceased on the next installment that was to be shot back-to-back with a fourth. However, with MGM in a slightly better situation today, Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral (I’m shocked that with so many ‘e’s in the title, that the ‘3’ wasn’t somehow incorporated) is scheduled for a 2013 debut according to IMDb. Salva said that the third film is to segue into a potential TV series, although I can’t see how that can possibly work (unless each episode is a day in the 23 day feeding cycle, which could be pretty cool).

However, nearly a decade later, I am not sure if anybody is really looking forward to another sequel in a franchise that is certainly past its prime (as if it even really ever had one). Critics responded to Jeepers Creepers better than other teen-led flicks like Final Destination, Urban Legend, and I Know What You Did Last Summer at the time. Ranking at 45% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, most of the critics noted the film’s promising opening that only deflates as the running time ticks on.

Not scary good, scary bad, or scary at all, Jeepers Creepers is as generic as the rest. But at least with a satisfying ending that serves more purpose than as a sequel set-up, the creepiness factor is high enough to be worth the rental.

Verdict: Not With Us

4 out of 10

Continued:       1       2