Jeepers Creepers
Trish (Philips) and Darry (Long), brother and sister, are returning from college when they encounter a strange truck, which runs them off the road. This leads them to discover a dark man patrolling the remote highways looking for victims.
Trish (Philips) and Darry (Long), brother and sister, are returning from college when they encounter a strange truck, which runs them off the road. This leads them to discover a dark man patrolling the remote highways looking for victims. As they try to escape, they find that their hunter has got their scent, and is on their trail.
I'm not a huge horror fan. I love the Scream movies, where the real terror is generated by the reality of a human threat. Supernatural monster movies don't really flick my switch, but knowing little about this movie I thought it was worth a look. The movie starts as a mysterious, suspenseful thriller, and becomes a very scary slasher-flick, which at times had me jumping out of my seat. The music and direction are first rate, and the Creeper is a scary silhouette never more than two-steps away from our heroes. Check out the first encounter with the Creeper's van - brilliant.
Unfortunately after about 50 minutes it starts a descent in to the supernatural monster movie that bugs the hell out of me, and wipes out the eerie, uncomfortable feeling that had been built up so well in the first hour. The imagery and tension are still really well played, but the old demon thing has lost its potency in a post X-Files and Buffy, and the film really peters out in the last third, culminating in one of the weakest endings (blatantly selling the sequel) that I have ever seen. I'm really disappointed with this cop out as it spoils the hard work shown in the first one. Despite this there are great performances from Gina Philips and Justin Long in the lead roles.
The image is okay, very grainy in places, but copes with the night-time scenes well. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is brilliant - lots of use of the rear channels and some awesome bass really add to the tension, particularly during the van and police station scenes. The disk itself is surprisingly full of extras. Director Salva's commentary covers great detail about the production, script, development and actors, a very good commentary with plenty of background information on the movie. The Behind the Peepers documentary is impressive - nearly sixty minutes looking at all aspects of making the movie - casting, effects, score etc., and features behind the scenes footage, cast videos, interviews, production drawings, the lot. It is very interesting and one of the best making of documentaries I have seen, and certainly the best on a single disk release. Added to this are a host of deleted and extended scenes, including an alternative opening. Lots of longer versions and a much worse ending than the one actually used. TV spots and a photo gallery complete the package.
So a disappointing movie that loses its way halfway through. Still fun though and worth a watch, and a demonstration disk for how to fit extras on to a single disk release.
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