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JEEPERS CREEPERS
JEEPERS
CREEPERS DVD FEATURES
Region Reviewed: Region 1
Number of Discs: 1
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1
Picture: 2.35:1
Anamorphic
Special
Features: Screen-specific
audio commentary with director Victor Salva, Cast and
crew biographies, Deleted scenes, Stills gallery, Interactive
menu, Scene access
Jeepers Creepers Plot:
Filled with heart-stopping jolts, mind-bending twists and
nonstop suspense, this fast-paced thriller pits two unsuspecting
teens against an open-road killer with more on his mind than
just road rage!
Jeepers Creepers Review:
Fall is the time of year when students return to school, the
leaves fall from the trees, and as sure as the weather changes,
we see a horror films in the local multiplex as there is always
a crop of filmgoers anxious to be scared out of their wits by
the latest Hollywood dealings. Sadly there have been very few
good horror films released recently, as most of the efforts
have borrowed heavily from previous films in the genre and have
offered little in the way of originality.
The teen horror films had waned in popularity in years past
as most of the new offerings had their debut on home video rather
than in the theaters. That all changed with the runaway success
of Scream, and as a result, a new batch of horror
films was unleashed to capture some of the newly vibrant horror
film box office.
The lure of horror films is easy to understand for a film studio
as they are generally cheap to make, and if the film is a modest
success, then a line of sequels is likely to follow ensuring
big returns from video and cable revenue sales. With this is
mind, writer/director Victor Salva has created a new horror
film that prior to being released, began to get some interesting
buzz in the horror circles, for his film named Jeepers
Creepers.
The film is inspired by a real life incident where a couple
of motorists investigated a mysterious situation only to make
a shocking discovery. Jeepers tells the tale of
a Darry and Patricia(Justin Long, Gina Philips) who are a brother
and sister on the way home from college for Spring Break. Patricia
wants to take the longer scenic route and the two siblings are
soon driving down a long desolate highway towards terror.
During the trip, Darry and Patricia are almost run off the road
by a maniacal truck, which invokes memories of the classic film
Duel by Steven Spielberg many years ago. Shaken
but undaunted the two continue on their journey only to pass
the truck further down the road. The truck is now parked next
to an abandoned building, and the two notice a cloaked figure
dumping what appears to be a body wrapped in a sheet down a
large drain. The cloaked figure notices the two driving by,
and the chase begins anew with the two students being run off
the road. It is at this point, that the film loses a good bit
of its premise, as reason and common sense seem to be missing
from the title characters and their situations. One would think
after two close calls, Darry and Patricia would consider themselves
lucky and get themselves home as fast as they could in what
any naturalist would call self preservation. Instead, Darry
convinces his sister that they need to return to the old building
and discover what was dropped down the old pipe despite the
dangers.
Against better judgement, Darry and Patricia return to the old
building and make a ghastly discovery. What follows next is
a muddled and uninspired attempt of the two travelers trying
to escape the nightmare they stumbled into. It is the situations
that follow that alienate the audience from the story and the
characters as the two siblings keep waiting around for the police,
the investigation, and all manner of mayhem, instead of letting
it go and getting out of the area safely. There are segments
when all manner of ghastly things are unfolding, and the two
sit and watch the carnage unfold even when his sister says that
they need to leave, the two remain rigid statues waiting to
see what will happen next.
The evil of the story is said to be a Demon that returns every
23rd spring to feed. It seems that it scares people in order
to get their scents as only when frightened can it smell if
a person has what it needs to survive. Often this is done by
the demon consuming the person in question in an attempt to
scare them.
What could have been an interesting film quickly becomes a series
of situations that were inspired by other films. We have the
police station standoff from The Terminator the
zany psychic from the Poltergeist films, and a setting
that is taken straight from the Texas Chainsaw series.
The film could have been a very good horror film, but the premise
is destroyed by a lack of originality and a pacing that is dead
slow. There is little tension in large parts of the film and
the backstory of the Demon is sadly given little attention.
It has been announced that a sequel to the film is already in
pre-production as I figured it would be based on the ending
of the film. It seems that we ill be seeing a series of Jeepers
films that I can only hope will expand on the missing elements
of the story, and perhaps capture the potential that this film
teased audiences with. For now though, Jeepers Creepers
is as an empty shell of unfilled potential and promise, just
like the remains of the Demons victims.
The DVD features a large assortment of features ranging from
a making of segment, deleted scenes, alternate ending and opening,
directors commentary and much more. Sadly, while interesting,
they offer little to enhance the movie. The sound and video
of the film are first rate and the detail of the print was better
than in the theatrical version.
Jeepers Creepers Disc Review: The
DVD features a large assortment of features ranging from a making
of segment, deleted scenes, alternate ending and opening, directors
commentary and much more. Sadly, while interesting, they offer
little to enhance the movie. The sound and video of the film
are first rate and the detail of the print was better than in
the theatrical version.