Horror movies are only something I found an interest in somewhat recently. Not all of them, mind you, but the ones that are either well-done or rely more of psychological scares than gore and jumpscares. Build a good atmosphere and I might believe anything. Besides, something had to break up all the musicals I’ve been watching, and if there’s one thing we can say about something like Jeepers Creepers and movies like it, it’s that they are about as far from a classical musical as you can get.
Can something like Jeepers Creepers still be an entertaining move? Well, I decided to find out.
Siblings Trish (Gina Philips) and Darry (Justin Long) are coming home from college for Spring Break, driving through the middle of nowhere. They’re nearly run off the road by an old truck, driver unseen, and later see a figure in a long coat with a broad-brimmed hat, colored a dark gray, tossing what looks like bodies down a pipe. The two decide to investigate, and that’s where their problems begin. The driver that they keep seeing is the Creeper, a being that returns to life every 23 years to stalk and kill humans, selecting victims using criteria only he knows. And the Creeper likes at least one of them. How can the two escape a creature that can’t seem to die?
OK, bottom line, this isn’t exactly high art. It’s a genre flick, so I will judge it as one. It starts off strong, establishing Philips and Long as a pair of bickering siblings rather effectively. The mystery is only gradually explained, and even then not entirely. The audience never really knows how the Creeper selects his victims. Heck, the “every 23 years thing” only comes up late in the movie, but it’s part of the franchise’s overall mythology, so I see no harm in bringing it up.
Director Victor Salva actually manages to make the most of his camera. The opening scenes, as the Creeper’s truck nearly pushes the siblings’ own car off the road, is very effectively managed, and this is the sort of movie where something sneaking up in the background is a very real possibility, so keeping an eye on whatever’s coming up in the car’s rear window is worth a look at all times. And as for the Creeper itself, the movie only gradually reveals what he looks like. He’s a silent monster, moving with an odd grace courtesy of actor Jonathan Breck. As unstoppable monsters go, he’s a unique one, more insect or lizard than man, and something that is clearly misunderstood by all the human members of the cast. It makes for an effective genre movie. Again, not high art, but it is the sort of movie you can enjoy if you just sit back and switch your brain off.
Grade: B
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