In 2003, Middle Easterners learned to fear the sky as drone bombing began in earnest. Meanwhile, fans of monster-slashers in the Western world learned the same in the safety of the movie theater thanks to “Jeepers Creepers 2,” featuring the return of the winged Creeper (Jonathan Breck, reprising his role from the 2001 original).
Death from above
That political commentary is accidental, but I thought I’d mention it because there are no other parallels to reality in this cranked-out sequel. We’re still in the first film’s 23-day period wherein the hibernating Creeper comes out to hunt every 23 years.
I mentioned in my review of the original that writer-director Victor Salva stages set pieces well and struggles with writing everything else. That’s true again, but what makes the sequel worse is the characters. Instead of the appealing sibling bond of Justin Long (who reprises his role in a cameo) and Gina Philips, we get a busload of high schoolers.
“Jeepers Creepers 2” (2003)
Director: Victor Salva
Writer: Victor Salva
Stars: Ray Wise, Jonathan Breck, Nicki Aycox
They are a basketball team — and a few cheerleaders — who have just won the state championship (in Florida, the internet tells me). If these were actual teenagers acting awkward and hormonal, it could’ve been fun. Unfortunately, these are your standard cinematic 20- or 30-something actors playing teenagers but coming off as self-centered and unappealing adults.
As such, when the Creeper swoops down for a kill, we’re fascinated by how it might play out but we’re not worried about the victim. We see them as meat almost as much as the Creeper does – although, (mildly) interestingly, he doesn’t merely eat for subsistence.
Safe CGI ‘gore’
For one thing, the Creeper hunts to acquire body parts to use both for his weapons and for regeneration in the style of “The Thing” — except with CGI, thus making the shots both smoother and less memorable. In the film’s best gore-horror moment, the Creeper regenerates a head after consuming a basketball player’s head.
For another thing, he hunts based on smelling fear. Furthering the “Thing” parallel, the teens get even more paranoid about each other once the Creeper starts pointing fingers at them. One cool thing about “JC2” is that Silva is not afraid to hold the camera on the creature for long periods. Indeed, the way this monster hangs about in plain sight (starting as a false scarecrow) is part of his M.O.
If the “Naked Gun” sequel hadn’t already gotten there, this could be called “Jeepers Creepers 2: The Smell of Fear.” It’s not inappropriate to invoke comedy, because Salva certainly sees this all as darkly humorous.
Throughout “JC2,” I had a smirk on my face rather than a scared expression. Silva perhaps finds it funny to put minimal thought into characters and their behavior.
Sometimes his writing comes off as lazy: The way everyone learns about the mythology is that Nicki Aycox’s cheerleader happens to have a psychic dream that spells it out to her. And the gay-panic fear among of the basketball players is very 2003, but also rather lazy in either a comedic or dramatic sense.
The film ‘Wises’ up
On the other hand, Ray Wise comes off well by channeling “Army of Darkness’ ” Bruce Campbell. At first I thought the “Twin Peaks” actor was just cashing a paycheck, but he achieves a vibe of dry dark humor better than anyone else. Wise’s character loses a son when the Creeper swoops into his cornfield, and then he wordlessly builds a weapon to get revenge.
In multiple sequences, he has the Creeper on a harpoon-and-rope like he’s fishing in the sky – not something you see in any ole flick. But the stuff between the action sequences is merely a chance to catch our breath. The Creeper is regrouping off-screen, so it’s like a time-out for both teams.
In that down time, “Jeepers Creepers 2” could have become memorable by punching up the characters … adding comedic dialog … something. Instead, it’s a forgettable creature feature. I doubt any 2003 viewer would’ve minded waiting 23 years for the next one.
(Unfortunately, “Jeepers Creepers III” dive-bombed us in 2017 and “Jeepers Creepers: Reborn” is slated for later this month.)