Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Jeepers Creepers 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Spare Parts

Reviewed by Michael Reuben September 19, 2013

Whatever one's opinion of the 2001 Labor Day weekend hit, Jeepers Creepers —and I wasn't a fan—its box office success virtually guaranteed a sequel. It was executive producer Francis Ford Coppola who suggested the idea of setting the sequel in the days immediately following the first film, during the same 23-day feeding cycle of the film's titular monster. Originally, writer/director Victor Salva had envisioned that any follow-up would occur 23 years in the future, when the Creeper emerged to feed anew, which is reportedly the plot of the third film set to debut later this year. Coppola's idea was a good one. It allowed Salva to get his sequel up and running without wasting time on backstory. The crowds coming to see Jeepers Creepers 2 in 2003 didn't need any. They already knew who the Creeper was.

This may be heresy, and it certainly isn't the prevailing view at Rotten Tomatoes, but I find Salva's sequel to be superior to the original. Neither film is a particularly scary creature feature, but the sequel has the advantage of more varied action, a larger cast and superior effects, particularly in the rendering of the Creeper himself. It also benefits from the presence of actor Ray Wise, whose distinctively off-kilter performances have elevated material as diverse as Twin Peaks, Rising Sun and Mad Men (although even he couldn't save Salva's 2011 clunker, Rosewood Lane). Wise's performance as an Ahab- like hunter of the Creeper, complete with harpoon, is one of the sequel's most memorable touches, and Salva exploits it to good advantage.

A brief opening text explains, for the benefit of the uninitiated, that the Creeper emerges every 23 years and feeds for 23 days before returning to its rest. An overlaid title informs us that it is now day 22. Then we visit the Taggart farm just after a golden sunrise, where one particular scarecrow seems to be friendly with the crows rather than scaring them. Shortly, he reveals himself as the Creeper (Jonathan Breck), who carries off little Billy Taggart (Shaun Fleming), the younger son of Jack (Wise), as Billy's father and older brother, Jack Jr. (Luke Edwards), run helplessly in pursuit through the cornfields.

A determined Jack now settles down to the grim business of revenge, refashioning his farm tools into weapons and listening to a police scanner for reports of sightings that will lead him to the Creeper. His and Jack Jr.'s activities are intercut with the misadventures of a triumphant basketball team returning from a state championship, with cheerleaders and coaches, along the notorious Route 9 that is the Creeper's preferred hunting ground. The bus occupants have latent stereotypical conflicts (romantic, hormonal, racial) that will emerge with raging fury under the stress of the onslaught they are about to face.

The bus is brought to a halt by a shredded tire, from which the driver, Betty Borman (Diane Delano), extracts an oddly fashioned weapon that appears to be made of bone. After failing to raise anyone by either cell phone or radio, Betty and the coaches decide to limp along on the five remaining tires, but one of the cheerleaders, Minxie (Nicki Aycox), has a dream in which both Billy Taggart and Darry Jenner (Justin Long) from the first movie warn her about the Creeper. Later she will have another vision in which Darry gives her a detailed explanation of the monster's modus operandi. Pressed for an explanation on how a high school cheerleader has suddenly morphed into a medium, Minxie gives the best explanation I have ever heard in a horror film: "I don't know. You want to explain it to me? Because I can't!" Simple, straightforward and to-the-point.

After the Creeper takes out a second tire and the bus is permanently disabled, the adults are snatched first. Then the Creeper begins the slow, methodical work of sniffing out the teens he wants. Aided by the nighttime setting, Salva and his effects team have made the Creeper darker and more mysterious, which helps make him more convincing, if not necessarily more menacing in close-ups. His best shots are the quick fly-bys and distant stalkings where he's slightly out of focus, and only the audience sees him.

The teens are a largely disorganized lot, as one might expect, although they do manage to inflict some damage on their attacker using javelins they find aboard the bus. (As a result of his injury, the Creeper needs a new head. Guess how he gets it?) As the Creeper's assaults escalate, Jeepers Creepers 2 becomes as much an action picture as a horror film, with car chases, weapons fire (sort of) and even an explosion thrown in for good measure. The scenes aren't especially innovative, but they're well shot and cleanly edited, with plenty of shrieks and screams to punctuate the proceedings. The tempo picks up with the arrival of Jack Taggart and son, who have quickly evolved from farmers to hunters—and Taggart has found his Moby Dick.

The film's ending looks forward to the planned third installment. I won't spoil it for newcomers, except to say that it's a witty conclusion to both of the first two films.

Jeepers Creepers 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cinematographer Don E. FauntLeRoy, who shot the original Jeepers Creepers, returned for the sequel, switching to the wider anamorphic Panavision frame to accommodate the film's larger cast and expanded scale, especially in scenes involving the bus and its occupants. Fox/MGM's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray offers superior detail and clarity that is particularly noticeable in the the country fields and surroundings, even in the dim moonlight of the night scenes where most of the action occurs. The blacks that are essential to depicting the various shadings of the Creeper's face and figure are solid and well-delineated, and contrast is sufficient to provide depth without overwhelming fine detail. Bright colors like the yellow of the bus, and the similar yellow of the team jackets, are vivid and well-saturated, which underscores what a tempting target these players make for an airborne predator. The film's grain pattern is visible but never intrusive, and there are no signs of inappropriate digital tampering. Since the 104-minute film has been placed on a BD-25, it can't approach the splendidly high average bitrate of the original, but in the absence of extras (see below), it clocks in at 23.07 Mbps, which is sufficient to achieve a balance between the still scenes of tense waiting and the frenetic scenes of evading and battling the Creeper, without visible artifacts.

Jeepers Creepers 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The score by composer Bernard Salvay once again plays a crucial role on the Blu-ray's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, delivering an aggressive, fearful and fully amplified score that is as much a part of the film's adrenaline charge as the Creeper's predations. The surrounds are full of interesting of country activity (birds flying and calling, corn rustling, etc.) as well as mechanical sounds inside the bus (the blowouts are pretty impressive) and, of course, the Creeper's wings flapping as he darts back and forth. The loudness of the track is accentuated by the occasional moment when everything goes quiet for a few seconds, before the sonic assault resumes. Dynamic range is wide, and bass extension is deep. Dialogue, such as it is, is always clear.

Jeepers Creepers 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray has no extras—which is shocking when one considers the excess of riches provided on MGM's 2003 DVD. Consider the following: two commentaries, one with Salva and cast members, the other with Jonathan Breck and several of the artists responsible for transforming him into the Creeper; a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled "A Day in Hell"; featurettes called (1) "Lights, Camera, Creeper"; (2) "Creeper Creation"; (3) "Digital Effects by the Orphanage"; (4) "Creeper Composer"; (5) "The Creeper's Lair"; and (6) "Creeper Ventriloquist"; storyboards for scenes not filmed; two photo galleries; and the original theatrical trailer.

I've heard of dropping a few features, but this must be some kind of record. Giving credit where credit is due, however, this is the first MGM title from Fox that I have reviewed in a long time that provided a simple, user-friendly main menu.

Jeepers Creepers 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fox and MGM have presented Jeeper Creepers fans with a quandary. Most already own the original film on Blu-ray, and they now have to re-buy it just to get the sequel, although admittedly the price for this double feature is no more than what many individual catalog titles cost these days. For that kind of forced double-dipping, though, fans are entitled to expect that at least most of the extras from the sequel's DVD would be ported over to Blu-ray. The break point, I suspect, is that including the extras would have required expanding Jeeper Creepers 2 to a BD-50, and at this low price point, even a savings of a few cents per disc can spell the difference between profit and loss. I think the film is worth it, and the presentation is first-rate. Hold onto your DVD and find someone who would appreciate the gift of your old copy of the first Jeepers Creepers. Of course, if you're new to both films, this purchase is an easy call. Highly recommended.