Reel Horror

Jeepers Creepers 2 (Special Edition) asin: B0000E2R6P

When I heard that there was going to be a sequel to "Jeepers Creepers" I wasn't surprised. The first film made a nice showing at the box office and was generally well received. I, myself, enjoyed the first one. I felt it had a nice throw back to the monsters of old feel. However, a sequel always makes me skeptical.

I, actually, had the chance to read an advanced copy of the script (except for the last five pages) before casting even started. I read the script in under an hour and thought that it had promise. I will mention some of the scenes later. So, this Friday night I went to see how that script transfered to the screen.

In short, it didn't. This is how not to make a horror movie. There are three important elements needed to make a good horror movie.

1. Characters the audience care about.

They don't all have to be "nice" characters, but we need to care if they die. Otherwise, we have nothing invested in the movie.

2. A scary monster, killer, alien, ect...

The first film did a great job of making the creature scary. Good lighting and camera work left the audience wondering what the creature really looked like. This time around it was all creature or should I say all plastic creature. The hat and coat gone, the monster was left open to his latex glory.

3. A Plot.

Now "Jeepers Creepers 2" did have a plot but it was horrible. A bunch of high school basketball players trapped in a bus on a deserted highway. They fight amongst themselves while the creature picks them off.

A film can survive if it has at least two out of the above three but this film was missing the all. None of the characters were properly developed. It's hard to even tell who the lead is since they all have very little viable screen time. The character who turns out to be the "lead" is an egotistical, bigot who screams and yells at everyone. There is actually a scene where this character tries to pick a fight with his coach five minutes after the creature eats the bus driver and the assistant coach.

I feel this is all due to some heavy cutting of the original script. Characters who were important to the script were cut to two or three scenes. Hell, the person I thought was the main character in the script just disappears. He is never heard from again. Two scenes I was looking forward to seeing were also cut.

A scene, in which, the creature uses the dead body of the coach as a puppet to lure the players out of the bus, was cut completely. He actually has his hand in the back of the coachs head and movies his lips.

Another where a farmer has fashioned a homemade harpoon gun and shoots the creature and impales him on a barn silo. A great scene in the script. The creature is stuck to the side of this barn and frantically tries to pull out the harpoon. Instead, we get the same farmer and his gun but he just shoots it a couple times.

I wouldn't wish anyone to see this movie. I really wanted to like. I wanted it to be good.