Jeepers Creepers (2001).
Jeepers Creepers isn't the type of movie I would have watched if not for Jay. I prefer my horror in the form of hauntings and possessions. Even though it wouldn't have been my first choice, I did end up loving Jeepers. It's one of those high-action horrors that are less scary and more exciting, a bit like Dawn of the Dead.
"It has such an original story. You know, that's the problem with horror today. There really isn't anything you can do that hasn't been done before. When you get something like Jeepers, it blows everything else out of the water. This movie is beautifully shot. I hadn't heard of Victor Salva before but he did a great job. Both Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers 2 were superb films.
"The first time I watched it, I was absolutely riveted. You can't look away. Because you don't know what to expect, you can't prepare yourself for it. There are clever little humorous bits. You never see where it's going. Even at the end, when it takes Darry (Justin Long). You see him at the end and you think he might be okay - but he's really not. My favourite part is when Trish (Gina Philips) is running The Creeper (Jonathan Breck) over. Who wouldn't do that? It makes the next time you see The Creeper even more unsettling because he has to eat to repair himself."
Justin Long is a fantastic actor. He's very expressive. I thought we'd be seeing a lot more of him than we have. In Jeepers, he shows a great range. At the beginning of the movie, I hated his character because he was just this annoying little douchebag who could barely even see over the steering wheel. But, when they get to The Creeper's (er...) House of Pain, you can see the transformation take place. The Darry that crawls out of that pit isn't the same one that fell in. He's broken in a major way. Only a great actor can pull that off successfully.
(As for Victor Salva, the less said the better.)
"The two characters I liked best were Jezelle and The Cat Lady. I recognised Eileen Brennan (from Private Benjamin), which just made it perfect. She always had that slightly unhinged, ready to snap way about her. Brilliant cameo."
Jeepers Creepers is an action-packed movie set against the inane banality of travelling with family - though Darry and Trish don't look much like siblings. Their endless bickering and name-calling is spot on, though! It's spring break but you can see how hot it is in that car. It has that hot, sweaty, sluggish feel to it. You can practically feel the heat pressing in around you, which adds to the sense of claustrophobia that gets worse when Darry goes down that pipe.
"It does have some good frights in it, and some tense moments. We've all seen monster movies - but not like this. When you try to combine monster movies and slasher movies, it doesn't always go well. But Jeepers Creepers isn't just a slasher movie. That's not what the Creep is; he's an ancient."
The Creeper's House of Pain gives you a horrific, trapped feeling that only gets worse when you realize the damned pit is lined with human bodies. I think that's the moment their little road trip goes from well-that-was-weird to holy-fucking-shit-we're-screwed.
There's some good foreshadowing as Jeepers gets into full swing. When Trish and her brother are talking about the disappearance of a girl that happened decades before, she says, "I used to think this is the highway I would die on," which turns out to be a red herring but builds a feeling of doom around the characters. Then, there's The Creeper's license plate: BEATINGU.
And, no, it's not "Beating U."
Our first sight of The Creeper through the trees is fleeting. At that moment, you can't quite tell how fucked up he is. His appearance sort of... unfolds as the movie goes on. More and more of him is revealed, including a wicked pair of wings that play into the sequel in a big way. The Creeper's appearance is grotesque but not really terrifying.
Funny enough, I don't find The Creeper scary! (I know, right? Almost everything frightens me.) He always looks like he's having so much damned fun slaughtering people and slurping them up that I can't be afraid of him. If anything, he makes me smile.
"There hadn't been anything like The Creepr before. This guy can fly and he can also regenerate by eating the parts he needs. So clever. It was so before its time."
With The Creeper's House of Pain (which sounds like some kind of fucked up show in the Red Light District), and his periodic reappearance, I have to wonder about the locals. There's no way you live by that pit and not know something's wrong down there. Especially if you're out in the middle of nowhere because bored kids will go a-wandering. How does a town keep a secret like that? But, that's not really the point...
"You'd be surprised what people are willing to overlook as they go about their daily lives...
"The fact that The Creeper only shows up to feed every 23 years is an interesting concept. Instead of limiting the franchise, it actually gives it additional scope. You can put the franchise anywhere in its history. You can take it back to cowboy times, Roman times, any time. What's to say he HAS to sleep every twenty three years? There could be consequences if he doesn't. There are so many possibilities. You can go anywhere and do anything with it. It's a shame they waited so long after the second one to go back to it. It had been begging for another sequel. "
When Darry and Trish ask the locals for help, they don't get it straight away. The police, in particular, seem reluctant to do their jobs (though that's too often the case.) As Darry gets more and more frightened, his desperation becomes contagious. His situation feels helpless. No one believes him, not even his sister.
The action in Jeepers Creepers is creeping in some places and almost frantic in others. One of my favourite action scenes occurs when the police are following Darry and Trish and you see The Creeper in the rear-view mirror. The way he lands on top of the cop car and surfs that thing is just cool as fuck.
Honestly, The Creeper is just too cool.
The cinematography in Jeepers is brilliant. It creeps (pardon the pun) around, as if peering around objects and characters, trying to see what's behind them. The camera cranes and so do you. It's a movement born of fear and very effective.
I wonder about the necessity of Jezelle Gay Hartman's (Patricia Belcher) character. Yes, she explains what The Creeper is and what he does but, really, any of the townspeople could have done that. Her premonitions are weird and don't really serve to move things along. If anything, they slow it down. Personally, as much as I liked the movie, I think it would have worked better without all the psychic stuff.
"Jeepers Creepers is a romp. There's humour, action, scares... it's a good all around film and the sequel was just as good."
Of the two Jeepers movies (yeah, I'm not going to acknowledge the third one), I actually like the second one better. You have a wider cast to, er, play with and more complicated dynamics because of it. More people means more panic and a greater chance of everything going terribly wrong. I think it flows better than the first one.
Which of the Jeepers movies do you prefer? Do let me know and don't forget to come back tomorrow to see what movie will kick off the week's festivities.
