Jeepers Creepers

MGM, VHS, DVD, 2001, R, 1 hr. 30 min.

You would think someone like Francis Ford Coppola (executive producer) could be a little more selective in the types of films he gets involved with…

 Jeepers Creepers is the story of brother and sister Trish (Gina Philips) and Darry (Justin Long) Jenner, who are taking the long way home from college one weekend down a long, deserted country road. While driving, they are accosted by a big dilapidated truck. Later on down the road, they see the driver of the truck throwing what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe. Darry gets the brilliant idea to go back to the sewer pipe to determine if it was a body that was thrown down it and if the person is alive. Predictably, Darry accidentally drops down the pipe and ends up in a cavern where he discovers hundreds of bodies. This sets the stage for the killer to begin stalking and hunting Darry and Trish.

Surprisingly, I have read a few good reviews about this film – and I don’t understand why. I concede that at times Jeepers Creepers is creepy, but not because of story or substance, but because of the shots of all the mutilated bodies. But the film is not overly suspenseful or scary and is purely predictable.

The movie’s scenes are scattered and certain scenes seem to be thrown in for no apparent reason. For example, Darry and Trish meet up with a crazy cat lady (Eileen Brennan) who dies almost immediately. You get the impression that the cats are there for a metaphorical reason, but that reason is never fleshed out. There are a few scenes where the Trish and Darry talk about their parents and Trish’s worries that their parents are not happy together – but why this is brought up is a mystery. It doesn’t serve to develop the brotherly/sisterly relationship of the two, so it seems like there is more to the story that we never know about. There are also crows flying around that are supposed to have a significance, but really don’t. The director, Victor Salva (also the director of another bad movie, Powder), seemed to constantly be striving for symbolism, but never quite pulled it off.

The existence of the killer is never explained or the reason why it kills. And if everyone, by the end of the movie, knows that it is at the bottom of the sewer pipe, why don’t they go after it and its last victim?

Philips and Long are not convincing as brother and sister, but that might have to do with the fact that Philips can’t act her way out of a paper bag in this movie. She has potential, but it’s like she knew this was going to be a horrible movie and simply stopped trying to act.

 If there is one thing this movie teaches, it’s that you can’t trust what you read on the back of the DVD box. The box quotes the Los Angeles Times as saying that the movie’s opening sequence was the scariest of any horror picture in recent memory. I can’t challenge that enough. Maybe that made me expect too much, but the opening is forgettable. And it’s also hard to distinguish the opening from the rest of the movie because it feels like the move never really gets going.

DVD Special Features:

• Deleted and Extended scenes including alternate opening and ending sequences
• Director's audio commentary
• "Behind the Peepers" - a collection of 6 mini-featurettes on the making of the film
• Photo gallery
• Trailer

Note: The DVD is formatted with both the 16:9 widescreen and 4:3 standard TV formats. The special features are only available on the 16:9 side of the DVD.

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http://www.mgm.com/jeeperscreepers/

Reviewed by: Hauntmistress 3/01/2002