|
While
driving home from college through the back roads
of rural Florida, brother and sister Darry and Trish
(Justin Long and Gina Philips, respectively) are
nearly run off the road by an unseen driver in a
huge, rusty old truck. Later, the two spot the truck
again. This time, it's parked by an abandoned church
as its owner — a shadowy figure dressed in tattered
clothes — dumps bodies wrapped in sheets down a
large drain pipe. The two investigate (in one of
the film's rare instances of logical lapses) and
discover the driver's horrible secret. Now "the
Creeper" is after them; one of them has something
he wants.
Although teen-centered, Victor Salva's Jeepers
Creepers — a surprisingly taut and well-crafted
horror thriller — is refreshingly free of the self-referential
smugness typified by '90s-era "retro-horror" such
as Scream or I
Know What You Did Last Summer. While brother
and sister banter back and forth, their dialogue
seems much more realistic — they talk like teens,
sound like teens, and generally behave in a believably
savvy yet post-adolescent manner. Credit must go
to young actors Long and Philips, who both emote
convincingly, and writer/director Salva for crafting
two characters who win the hearts of the audience.
In most slasher flicks, the audience generally finds
itself rooting for the masked killer (by the time
Scream 3 rolled around,
we wished someone would give Neve Campbell the chop
and get the whole thing over with); here, Salva
manipulates us to care about this brother and sister
pair, making the downbeat ending all the more shocking
and powerful. Salva mounts some effective scare
scenes (some cheap and stale favorites from the
horror canon, others refreshing and surprising),
particularly through the first half of the film.
Unfortunately, the second half retreads pretty
much everything we've come to expect from a killer-hunting-the-young-stars
movie. This is not to say that it's done poorly,
just very familiarly. Much of the problem can be
attributed to the revelation of "the Creeper". Our
antagonist is most effective — and yes, creepy —
in his early scenes, but the more we see of him,
the more he turns into your average stuntman in
a rubber suit (albeit a well-designed one). In his
commentary, Salva talks about how once he saw the
final Creeper guise, he wanted more and more of
him unveiled in the film. This was a mistake. By
taking away the mystery of the Creeper, Salva has
reduced his creation to just another monster.
There are also a couple of diversionary scenes/plotlines
that add little to the story: one involving a throwaway
psychic character, and another featuring veteran
actress Eileen Brennan as "the Cat Lady". The role
was written with Brennan in mind, and it's great
to see her, but at heart she's just another crazy-old-bat
the film could have done without.
Not
without faults, Jeepers Creepers
does manage to overcome its flaws and sizes up as
a worthwhile, suspenseful B-level nail-biter. We're
not to keen on the idea of a sequel, though.
|
MGM
offers Jeepers Creepers
in a well-put together "Special Edition",
which includes both the widescreen and TV-formatted
versions. The film itself sparkles (even the pan-and-scan
isn't as dreadful as some cropped jobs) and looks
gorgeous.
There's a wealth of special features including
an informative commentary by Salva, who heaps praise
on just about everyone connected with the film. He
makes no pretenses about how proud he is of his film,
and positively gushes about most scenes. Six documentary
featurettes (do NOT watch them before viewing the
film), extended/deleted scenes, photo galleries, and
the theatrical trailer round out the package.
2/23/02 |
