Tuesday, October 21, 2008

31 Days of Halloween - Day 21 Movie 2




"Jeepers Creepers 2" picks up a few days after the first movie. The Creeper is near the end of his 23 days of feeding before he goes back into some sort of hibernation for 23 years. Posing as a scarecrow, he whisks away the youngest of two sons of a farmer (Ray Wise), then starts picking off the members of a high school basketball team that he has trapped in a school bus until the farmer and his surviving son arrive to exact some vengeance.

This sequel doesn't come anywhere near equaling the original. There is no real mystery here. The Creeper can be seen in full hillbilly man-bat form, and looks like a man in leathery make-up. Even though he is indestructable, making him overly familiar in this, he just seems soft as opposed to the merciless threat he was in the original film. His use of homemade ninja stars takes away even more credibility . Expanding the cast to a bus load of pseudo characters who are given quasi issues and backstories which don't go anywhere doesn't help matters. The only character that's given rudimentary development (which has no purpose) is the the most despicable one in the group. Sure, the brother and sister in the first movie bickered almost constantly, but their love for one another always came through and I was rooting for their survival. Here, I wasn't concerned about anyone's welfare.

This is one of those movies though that is well crafted enough that it keeps you involved, and every time I found myself thinking this movie was a turd, something happened that changed my mind. When the farmer and his son have their battle with the Creeper, its as visually exciting as it is preposterous. There were a lot of cool moments, but no "oh shit" moments which is what I was hoping for.

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