Danny and Trish are driving home for a college break, but are on the way attacked by a car, and almost pushed off the road. When driving past an old church, they see the same old car, and a man wearing a trench coat dumping something that looks like wrapped up bodies with blood staines on them down a pipe. Shortly after they decide to head back to the church, and look down the pipe in case of finding something, or someone. Accidentally, Danny falls down the pipe, and what he discovers down in the old church basement is truly a terrifying sight. And if things weren't bad enough, now the thing that lives in the church is after them.
The fact is that the first 30 minutes or so of Jeepers Creepers makes for a great horror movie experience. It has a lot of tension, a lot of mystery, and has some really good scares to offer. But the minute you actually get to see the Creeper, all is ruined. Well, it's not that bad, and all is actually far from ruined, but it's not half as good as early on in the movie. The very tension in the beginning is so thick it feels like you could cut it with a knife, and tension like that is kinda rare, and always appreciated.
What makes it eerie early on is the fact that you don't know anything about the Creeper. The movie starts out with Danny and Trish, two bickering siblings, driving their way home for a break, and all of a sudden, this driver comes out of nowhere and almost pushes them off the road. They are both shocked of course, but eventually figures it was just some crazy driver. But it doesn't take long before they see the old rusty car again, parked outside an old church and a man dumping something that looks like bodies down a pipe. After a while they head back to the old church to check out what the man was dumping, if it were actually bodies, and if so, could any of the victims still be alive? This scene delivers a lot of tension as well, since you know that the guy who dumped the bodies could show up at any time. Eventually Danny falls down the pipe (congrats, very smart move) and finds something horrible down there.
 
So far so good, but after that, the movie basically turns into a big chase, were Danny and Trish are being chased by this ancient demon called the Creeper. Apparently, this man-creature comes out every thirteen years or so to feed, and now it's time for that again, and the siblings finds themselves being chased by this horrible thing. Now, the Creeper isn't really that horrible after all, he looks a bit like the Djinn in Wishmaster, but with wings. As soon as he shows himself, the scares automatically goes out the window, and instead it turns into some standard kind of monster horror flick that is not very memorable in the end.
The acting is good with Gina Philips and Justin Long playing the two siblings who are being chased by the Creeper, and they do it very well. Other than that, the movie looks slick and has some decent gore to offer. The score's not that great, and the "Jeepers Creepers" song quickly becomes a bit of a drag to listen to. But overall, it's not that bad, and it's an ok horror movie that starts off really good, but after a while starts going down-hill a bit, fortunately never so much so it's no longer watchable. Because that it is.
Jeepers Creepers is not a bad horror flick, it's just that the first 30 minutes or so are really good, but unfortunately it just becomes worse after that. It's still works though, and provides some entertainment for sure, it's just that the eerie feel and the scares it had to it early on are missing in the rest of the flick. Watchable.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Here Comes the Boogeyman
MOVIE YEAR: 2001
DIRECTOR: Victor Salva
WRITING CREDITS: Victor Salva
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Gina Philips, Justin Long, Jonathan Breck
COUNTRY: USA, Germany
RUNTIME: 90 min
RATING: 6/10
Jeepers Creepers Website/IMDB Click here
Jeepers Creepers Trailer Click here
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