El demonio

Putting aside the not terribly good title, this is a most effective horror movie with an urban legend kind of plot. Very natural and realistic performances by the two leads, Justin Long & Gina Philips, help a lot, and the director knows what he is doing. They portray a brother and sister who are on a long drive home at the wrong time. Long is a very likeable fellow to watch and has done a lot of things since this, but I've never liked him better than here. Many very frightening scenes and some are quite cringe worthy. This may sound odd considering the gore involved, but this is a fun movie to watch. However, if you get weak in the knees at horror films, maybe not. Quite a bit above average.

Jeepers Creepers was a fresh and unique movie when it came out. It was creepy, had some good jump scares and enough gorey horror content to satisfy the youthful audience at the time who demanded to see it. Jeepers Creepers has stood the test of time and gone on to become one of horror's greatest franchises. The movies are often talked about (for the good and the bad) and debated (mostly about the director) but, at the end of the day, this franchise's first entry will be remembered for many years to come.

Every 23 years for 23 days, the creeper gets to feast. It's an interesting concept, and a double-edged sword: it creates an urgency for the creeper as it stalks its prey, but it also causes extreme limitations in terms of sequel planning because the creeper is only around for that limited period of time (it's like Disney with their moratorium program; get it before it's gone for years to come!). The acting in this movie is about what you would expect from a slasher. It's campy, but nobody approaches one of those movies expecting a Shakespearean production. Where Salva's first horror effort, Clownhouse, was boring and fell flat, when Salva approached Jeepers Creepers, he really had his finger on the pulse of America. He knew that people wanted to see, what they were scared of, and what would make for a good movie. A lot of elements in this movie are dated (particularly the effects), but on the whole this movie is still fun to watch and stood up relatively well. I prefer the second one to the original, but this will always be one of the true greats of horror.

I found parts of this movie, mainly the beginning to be very promising. I really thought that it was going to be an 'on the edge of your seat' horror film and the opening had all the tension and weirdness that one needs to set that kind of atmosphere. But as the movie progressed, even though it never sunk to being bad or even mediocre (no Friday the 13th B.S. here), I think it became a little bit of a disappointment because it didn't live up to the promise that it made in the beginning. And although I like to let my mind fill in the blanks, there was a lot that went unexplained that made it so that I wasn't really satisfied by the time it finished. I didn't recognize the names of the actors or the director, and they were neither here nor there for me - that's not to say that I thought the performances were bad, they definitely were fitting and on the mark for the genre. It's just that they didn't really stick out for me.

All of the above being said, if the movie was on cable on a cold winter night, I'd probably relent and watch it again - it's certainly better than most in it's category, but would I recommend it as a 'great' film? No, probably not.

While the movie has a few glaringly laughable scenes of characters reacting stupidly (particularly the main actress), it gets off to a great start right away and a consistent feeling of dread, catalyzed by curiosity, which keeps you immersed. Justin Long is excellent in a serious role despite my preference of him being funny, though there is some of that, too. In fact the bits of satire here and there must be appreciated. Certain realisms such as how Justin's character reacts to a horrifying scene in the beginning was depicted really well and laudable especially in the face of other situations portrayed terribly. Effects were pretty good, albeit a bit cringe at times, but the low budget and gritty feel to the flick definitely added an unease to its horror vibe. Moreover, the creativity; this isn't a slasher flick, but a hybrid sort of creature feature. The ending, I really gotta give props for - unexpected, and it made me like it even more. I'd have given it a 7 before the ending.

I've been reading the reviews for this film and have found myself sighing continually. Why? Because too many people take films like this far too literally. Like the reviewer who questions the characters decision to go back to the church. Hello, this is a horror film and if they weren't stupid we wouldn't have a movie. What were you expecting? Kubrick? Jeepers Creepers does exactly what it says on the tin. It's creepy, it's silly, and, if you can get over yourselves for a minute, lots of fun. Leave your brain at the door and have fun.

Niz