Jeepers Creepers (2001)

Two very (and I emphasize the word) VERY stupid kids while on the way to spring break stumble upon a cave decorated with decayed bodies next to an abandoned church , but soon they begin to discover that there’s an evil demonic force behind it. Now the demonic force is after them and will stop at nothing to get what it wants. Every once in a while in a world full of rip-offs, cookie-cutter horrors, and timid supernatural movies passing itself off as horror, a movie comes along and spreads some light on the horror genre, once again renewing my interest and faith in the horror genre. This is one of those movies.

I was dying to watch this movie ever since it came out, and when I bought it on video I was not disappointed. First off we’ll start with the plot, the entire plot is so original and terrifying and plays out like a bad dream, two people or a group of people, on an abandoned road discover something evil and now they can’t escape it. It happened in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, it happened in “Hitcher”, it happened in “Joyride”, and it happened in “Duel”. This concept is just played out better here. There’s barely any theme songs or score in this movie except when the creature appears and when the famous tune “Jeepers Creepers” plays and signals when the demon is near. My, my what a terrifying movie. A lot of the movie resembles past horror movies, which I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but it made for a good treat.

The creature is very terrifying because they barely ever show it throughout the movie. All we ever really see are dim outlines and shadows of it, but we know it’s there. Only until the end do we see the creature fully and you will not be disappointed. This creature can evolve, it’s super fast, smart as hell, can walk on walls, can fly, and has a mysterious origin that is never explained in the movie (Thank goodness), it does it all! The entire movies presence and atmosphere is all in the right place. The shadows, light, and dim and desolate setting give us a perfect view into these two kids unstoppable nightmare that never seems to end.

The two lead characters are very good and they have great chemistry together. In the first thirty minutes of the film, we get to know something about these two and realize that they have complex personalities, and something that this movie does that most horror movies never do is make the characters likable, which sets us, the audience up for a big let-down in the end. I won’t give anything away, but don’t get too attached to these two. This was executive produced by legendary movie director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now), and boy does he know what projects to get on. Expect a sequel to come out in a little while, which involves the creeper again with a different cast. I’ve read the premise for the sequel and must say that I can’t wait. Could this be another new horror movie franchise? Could the creeper be a new horror movie icon? We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

The problem with this film is that it tends to have some good things going for it, yet never follows through with it. We have a song that signals when the creeper is near, yet the filmmakers don’t rely on it and make it cool. It only happens one time in this, which disappointed me a lot, because that was a great concept. Another problem with this is the cheese factor. Boy, does this movie have its moments of cheese. Some of the special-effects and scenes in this are badly done which almost ruins the entire movie for me. But it didn’t ruin it completely. All in all, this was an all-around fun romp, and, in my opinion, one of the most terrifying horror movies to come along in years. A great creepy horror flick with B-movie status, I loved it and I suggest you give it a shot.