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Jeepers Creepers
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Final Verdict: [Just... Bad]
Jeepers Creepers
Horror / English / 2001
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Saw it in a Top 10 list somewhere I think.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Cats.
The first, I dunno, 20 maybe minutes of this movie are solid. The setting and characters are relatively realistic and the event which kicks off the rest of the horror movie; driving past what appears to be a murderer dumping his bodies and promptly being chased down, are plausible circumstances for a real-life thriller.
After the first 20 maybe minutes though, our narrative quality takes a sharp downturn. Mystery Man runs Brother and Sister off the road, but neglects to turn back and ensure an end to their prospective meddling. Brother and Sister then take this opportunity to GO BACK TO THE CRIME SCENE even though Mystery Man could return at any time and they're currently at the disadvantage of a wrecked car. They also know the bodies were dumped into a pipe, no information how deep the pipe is, so it's entirely possible (and as it so happens is true) that they could be wasting their time or possibly trapping themselves in the pipe.
That exactly happens, they find a ceiling carpet of bodies, pushing by suspension of disbelief to near breaking point, and they leave, with nothing to show for it. Exactly as they started. They contact the cops, the murder house is set aflame offscreen, never to be seen again, and sudden Mystery Man appears on top of the escort police car and bodily drags both cops out to kill them. Suspension of disbelief shattered, we got a magic baddie only to be later confirmed that it's some sort of organ stealing monster with wings and some lady who gets hardly any attention at all for what's essentially the tertiary protagonist winds up being some random prophet of events to come.
Put aside a completely random run-in with a shotgun-wielding Cat Lady you got a showdown at the police station in which the ****** looking monster is revealed and Brother is kidnapped to be the eyeless husk at an early end credits. Mm. Lovely.
So, in short, the tone, characters, story, bad guy, all pretty much get shot to hell by the second and third act. Just like a Final Destination movie, absolutely nothing of consequence is explained, the monster is some lame amalgamation of horror baddy costume ideas, the Fortuneteller adds absolutely nothing to the movie besides the completely disposable stinger ending, and the tie into the song "Jeepers Creepers" is a profoundly under-utilized asset I can only think either sounded clever to an amateur writer or was decided on as some thoroughly cheap marketing tool to chuck in the trailers and make this movie is some way memorable.
The gore we get is certainly macabre, but... it feels like they played it safe with that too. Not that I'd want it, but this strikes me as the sort of movie that had maybe a couple creative guys on it, but was possibly derailed into some dullard's attempt at "marketability". Virtually everything intended to look horrific is cast in near pitch black rooms. Maybe that would have been the best time to sneak in those garbage cuts to what's obviously supposed to be the same shot, but it's clearly from a separate part of the recording.
To be honest, it wasn't awful, in fact the beginning was pretty interesting. But it quickly became boring and just as quickly ended with plenty of loose ends and an all around, "Hrm. K. Watched that now." feeling.
The first, I dunno, 20 maybe minutes of this movie are solid. The setting and characters are relatively realistic and the event which kicks off the rest of the horror movie; driving past what appears to be a murderer dumping his bodies and promptly being chased down, are plausible circumstances for a real-life thriller.
After the first 20 maybe minutes though, our narrative quality takes a sharp downturn. Mystery Man runs Brother and Sister off the road, but neglects to turn back and ensure an end to their prospective meddling. Brother and Sister then take this opportunity to GO BACK TO THE CRIME SCENE even though Mystery Man could return at any time and they're currently at the disadvantage of a wrecked car. They also know the bodies were dumped into a pipe, no information how deep the pipe is, so it's entirely possible (and as it so happens is true) that they could be wasting their time or possibly trapping themselves in the pipe.
That exactly happens, they find a ceiling carpet of bodies, pushing by suspension of disbelief to near breaking point, and they leave, with nothing to show for it. Exactly as they started. They contact the cops, the murder house is set aflame offscreen, never to be seen again, and sudden Mystery Man appears on top of the escort police car and bodily drags both cops out to kill them. Suspension of disbelief shattered, we got a magic baddie only to be later confirmed that it's some sort of organ stealing monster with wings and some lady who gets hardly any attention at all for what's essentially the tertiary protagonist winds up being some random prophet of events to come.
Put aside a completely random run-in with a shotgun-wielding Cat Lady you got a showdown at the police station in which the ****** looking monster is revealed and Brother is kidnapped to be the eyeless husk at an early end credits. Mm. Lovely.
So, in short, the tone, characters, story, bad guy, all pretty much get shot to hell by the second and third act. Just like a Final Destination movie, absolutely nothing of consequence is explained, the monster is some lame amalgamation of horror baddy costume ideas, the Fortuneteller adds absolutely nothing to the movie besides the completely disposable stinger ending, and the tie into the song "Jeepers Creepers" is a profoundly under-utilized asset I can only think either sounded clever to an amateur writer or was decided on as some thoroughly cheap marketing tool to chuck in the trailers and make this movie is some way memorable.
The gore we get is certainly macabre, but... it feels like they played it safe with that too. Not that I'd want it, but this strikes me as the sort of movie that had maybe a couple creative guys on it, but was possibly derailed into some dullard's attempt at "marketability". Virtually everything intended to look horrific is cast in near pitch black rooms. Maybe that would have been the best time to sneak in those garbage cuts to what's obviously supposed to be the same shot, but it's clearly from a separate part of the recording.
To be honest, it wasn't awful, in fact the beginning was pretty interesting. But it quickly became boring and just as quickly ended with plenty of loose ends and an all around, "Hrm. K. Watched that now." feeling.