|
 Jeepers
Creepers (2001) Starring:
Justin Long, Gina Philips, Jonathan Breck
Director: Victor Salva
Rating:
PG-13
Studio:
United Artists
Review
Posted: 9.20.01
Spoilers:
Some
Rating:
2.5/4
Note: 4
stars for the first hour, 0 stars for the last twenty minutes.
By
Greg Malmborg.
It
is extremely frustrating to leave a movie knowing it could have
been great. Jeepers
Creepers could have been great.
It could have been a classic horror film, but,
unfortunately, it is not. The
first hour or so of Jeepers Creepers is so tremendously
strong that the incomprehensible last twenty minutes is
unforgivable. I left very
disappointed.
Movies
fare much better when the strongest parts are towards the end
because you leave the theater feeling satisfied.
It is far more difficult to leave the theater satisfied
when the ending is terrible, no matter how great the rest of the
film was. This is the
case with Jeepers Creepers.
The
first forty minutes of the movie are tense, taut, and scary.
It creates such a strong atmosphere of creepiness and
fear. The story begins
with a brother and sister driving on a long deserted highway,
seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
Darryl, the brother, is driving his sister, Trish, home
from college. Along the
way, they spot a hooded figure off the side of the road dumping,
what appears to be, bodies into a drainpipe.
The figure, noticing them, jumps in his truck and
proceeds to run them off the road.
In classic horror movie style, the two siblings decide to
go back and see if the bodies he was dumping were still alive
and needed help. After
discovering some sort of lair in the base of the pipes (which
are located near an old abandoned church) in a few very scary
and frightening scenarios, they soon discover that the man they
saw was actually not a man at all.
Victor Salva films these opening sequences masterfully;
the beast has yet to be revealed but the audience feels it
lurking around every corner. It
creates a wonderful sense of impending doom and horror.
Once
the creature is revealed, besides a few scenes that work great
(Trish viciously driving over and over the creature’s body for
one), the story begins to lose the grip it had on the audience.
It continues on a downward trajectory all the way until
the last regretful scene. The
plot leaves way too many holes, never explaining key happenings.
Logic is completely thrown out.
It even resorts to using a psychic to try and explain
things, which is an absolute mistake.
That made it seem like the filmmakers were even losing
themselves in this story. It
is such a shame they couldn’t keep this film together.
The
two young actors, Justin Long and Gina Philips, play a
convincing, earnest brother and sister.
But they even look lost in the last act. Victor Salva has created a great, stylish horror film.
Problem is, that only lasted an hour. TOP |
