MovieFreak.com - "Jeepers Creepers 2" Special Edition DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

When their bus is crippled on the side of a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discover an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive. Staring hungrily at them through the school bus windows, the "Creeper" returns again and again. But when the teammates discover that it's selective about whom it attacks, it will test their ability to stick together.

I moderately enjoyed the first Jeepers Creepers film, but only up to a point. The first 40 minutes were pretty creepy and suspenseful, such as the mysterious truck and the police escort in the middle of the night. However, after a certain point director Victor Salva didn't offer up a lot of interesting story to finish the film. In this sequel Salva returns to the Creeper character, played by Jonathan Breck, as he still hunts for prey during those 23 days of Spring.

Lacking the intensity and purpose of the first film, Jeepers Creepers 2 is a disappointment. The story is absolutely simplistic and offers nothing of value to the viewer. Aside from a few well-done scares and action pieces, the film has not a lot to offer. So much of the story revolves around the high schoolers acting scared and looking 25. The focus of the first film was clearly on its two characters, but the sequel just has too many of them and they're not interesting. The actors portraying these people do a decent job, but their material is so generic. Dialogue is mostly boring and unimaginative, however, Salva's script creates some conflict between the characters concerning a basketball game the team lost. The film's location is also a bit lackluster, taking place in and around a school bus for much of the time.

Also, the Creeper was featured in the story a lot more. Viewers got to see his "house of pain", but the sequel does nothing revealing with the character. It mainly gnaws its teeth, drools, rips off its head and replaces it, flies around in the night, and kills off one student at a time. That's fine for creating scares and jolts, even a little bit of horror, but the main reason this sequel exists is because of the Creeper. On the other hand, I kind of liked the subplot of Ray Wise's character who loses his son to the Creeper and is out to kill the creature. Wise is the only character I liked and his performance is quite good, if mostly muted.

The film's last scene is a bit of a stretch, supposedly taking place 23 years later with the Ray Wise character awaiting the Creeper's awakening despite it being killed off all those years ago, or so Salva wants the viewers to believe. I'm certainly not up for a third Creeper film, and I doubt anyone else would be either. Still, Salva chooses to end the film in a "what if" kind of way. Let's hope it will never get made so people like me won't have to review it and readers like you won't have to read about how bad it is.

MGM presents Jeepers Creepers 2 in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The print looks alive and well, colors are bright and well-saturated, while sharpness and detail appear in a good light. However, there are some concerns in this presentation, mainly evidence of slight edge enhancement in daytime scenes, as well as several areas showing compression artifacts. Dark tones are good, but not very impressive or crisp. In effect, MGM's presentation is only a decent affair.

MGM presents Jeepers Creepers 2 in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. This is a fairly good track. Listeners will notice good sound reproduction with clear dialogue that's easy to understand, a well-defined and accentuated score by Bennett Salvay, good dynamic range, and some good activity by the surrounds. Rear speakers are active during the big moments, but ambience is lost during the more quieter moments as there is not much definition. Overall, a pretty decent presentation by MGM.

Yes, this is a special edition, alright. Some extras are good, others are okay. Let's start at the beginning.

There are two commentary tracks, one with Victor Salva and a lot of cast members, and the second with
"Creeper" Jonathan Breck, production illustrator Brad Parker and special make-up effects guy Brian Penikas. The first one is pretty cluttered and full of laughs by the actors, and I didn't find out a lot of interesting things, but that's more due to the fact that I don't much care. The second track is technical, and might interest those looking into learning about make-up or stuff like that.

Next are four featurettes. The "Lights, Camera, Creeper" featurette runs about 40 minutes and is actually a "making of" documentary covering many aspects of the production, such as casting and development. Creeper Creation is pretty self-explanatory, Digital Effects by the Orphanage is a special effects scene progression montage, and Creeper Composer focuses on the film's score.

Also on hand is the 26-minute "A Day in Hell" documentary that follows Salva around on the set during the 41st day of the production. There's some revealing footage here, but it becomes somewhat repetitive after a while. It's done well, but I skipped forward a few times.

Rounding out are storyboard renditions for 2 deleted scenes, two photo galleries, the film's original theatrical trailer, and a few promo trailers for other MGM fare.

You can select to view the film with optional English, French and Spanish subtitles. The 104-minute feature is organized into thirty-two chapters. A paper insert lists scene selections and cast list.

I really didn't care for much of the thin story or the characters, but some of the action was entertaining. A few scares are scattered here and there, but ultimately this is just another underperforming sequel. MGM's video is decent, audio sounds pretty good, and the extras are fine overall. A rental should suffice for fans of the genre.

THE MOVIE	5
THE VIDEO	7
THE AUDIO	8
THE EXTRAS	6
OVERALL (not an average)	6