Tastes So Darn Good (Jeepers Creepers (DVD))

Member Name: shewhosmiles

Product:	Jeepers Creepers (DVD)
Date:	29/11/02 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great start

Disadvantages: Poor ending, wooden acting

Teenagers Darry and Trish were driving down a long country highway engaging in normal brother and sister banter at the beginning of the film. The countryside in the background was so real looking that I confused it with an oil painting.

Suddenly a big grey truck with an unseen driver races up behind their car and winds them up a bit before passing. Scare over, Darry and Trish drive on until they come to an old dilapidated wooden church building and see the truck parked alongside. The observant young pair spot the driver throwing something body shaped, wrapped in a blood stained sheet down an old pipe. Not long after the truck is playing rear end games with their car, battering it and driving it off the road.

Instead of getting the heck out of there and reporting the incidents to the nearest cops as those of us who are less brave or foolish would do, the intrepid young pair go back to see if it's a body that has been thrown down the rusty old pipe that leads into the ground and if it's still alive.

Because he can't see much but thinks that he hears something, Darry climbs in and Trish holds on to his feet while he takes a closer look with his torch. Of course she lets go when the obligatory horror film rats scamper up the pipe, and Darry slides down into a dark underground room where his macabre findings scare him enough to get out of there and look for help.

A cat and mouse game ensues between the youngsters and a beastlike villain called the Creeper who has long straggly white hair and dresses for the part in a ragged brown dress.

I’m not going to be a spoilsport and go into any more of the storyline except to mention a small part that made me rewind and watch it again because I thought that it was funny. Not because the Creeper picks up a head and slurping away pulls the tongue out of it with its teeth but because of the headline ‘Tastes So Darn Good’ on an advertising hoarding in the bac
kground.

Jeepers Creepers was claimed to be the best and scariest horror movie for 10 years on the cover. I doubt it was the worst but if that was the best I’m not sure if I want to watch the rest. I haven’t watched many films during the last few years but this wouldn’t have been anywhere near the top of my best list when I was in the habit of watching films regularly. I got some enjoyment from the film during the first part, but my disappointment came from the second half, which to me was poor in comparison.

I didn’t think that the acting was too hot and at one point I was so unconvinced at the performances of Justin Long as Darry and Gina Philips as Trish that I thought it was going to turn into a horror spoof like Scream. The Creeper played by Jonathon Breck was a bit more convincing but not as scary as for instance the Alien.

There was an air of mystery and suspense at the beginning that I enjoyed, but that didn’t last long enough for me. The use of the old grey truck to terrorise them was quite creepy but there wasn’t much else to get me sitting on the edge of my chair. For those looking for blood and gore there isn’t a lot and what there is happens quickly and in semi darkness. I wasn’t bothered about seeing blood and gore but I would have liked more suspense and anticipation, which makes a horror movie for me.

Jeepers Creepers was written and directed by Victor Salva. I don’t know if a lot was spent on the making but I would guess that it was a low budget film from the shortage of special effects. The song Jeepers Creepers didn't seem appropriate for a horror film, more suitable for a jaunty tea dance.

I rented the video from the corner shop for £1.50 for 24 hours and the rating is a 15. It is available to buy on Amazon on DVD for £16.99 but I’m glad that I didn’t buy it. I managed to sit all the way through the full eighty odd minutes and retain
an expectant interest but I didn't enjoy it enough to watch it again.

The ending – I’m not going to tell what happened but I was surprised to be so disappointed and would expect a sequel.

Summary: