Jeepers Creepers (2001)

Victor Salva

Germany, USA

90 min, color, English

With a stupid name like this and without any stars in its cast, Jeepers Creepers seems destined to end in the low-rent B movie section of your local video store. I almost missed it too and this would have been a regrettable mistake for it turns out that this no-frills flick is perhaps one of the best horror films of the last several years. Don't get me wrong: it has no aspirations but to frighten and entertain, no pretensions to be "genuine" or "original" in the way that other critically-acclaimed monstrosity was (TBWP), no sexual allure like the Scream trilogy (and let's hope it will be just a trilogy), or the "moody" (read: boring) atmosphere of The Others. No, Jeepers Creepers is a straight-faced descent into hell, a relentless nightmare ride without sanctuary, without safe haven, and without refuge in sanity. The less one knows about the plot, the better, and so I will provide no clues as to its actual content.

With a picturesque drive through scenic back country, Darius (Justin Long) and his sister Patricia (Gina Philips) are on their way home for college vacation. As any self-respecting brother and sister, they spend more time making fun of each other, getting upset, but never really quarreling. The less-than-idyllic journey is rudely interrupted when an aggressively driven black truck with blackened windows and a license plate "BEATNGU" almost slams into their car before speeding off ahead. A little later, the two siblings witness the driver at the side of the road, stuffing what appear to be bodies wrapped in cloth down an old pipe. Unfortunately, the driver has seen them too and goes after them, running them off the road.

At this point one's credulity is stretched when Darius insists on going back to look at the pipe over the vehement objections of Trish. The lame excuse that it might uncover the fate of a missing couple (it does, most gruesomely) is not very convincing. Even less rational is the decision to creep down the pipe, which has predictably disastrous results. Still, if one swallows that little bit of jump-starting, the rest of the film flows naturally, getting tense, creepy, and quite scary very fast. Even when the identity of the dark figure is revealed, the usual relaxation that usually accompanies such knowledge is completely missing, replaced by the realization that one of the characters is truly doomed.

Jeepers Creepers is a welcome entry in the now-neglected genre of B movie scares and with its haunting scenes reminds me what it was like back in the days when people took horror seriously.

November 17, 2001