Let's start this review by discussing the first picture. I thought the movie started off very promising, treating the audience to a fair measure of real tension and some very creepy atmosphere. We are introduced to a brother and
sister on a road trip home from school, whose lives are plunged into hell after they encounter a wicked creature known as the creeper (he sort of
looks like the Predator with bat wings), a strange beast who thrives off of fear.

You know how sometimes less is more? Or what you don't see is scarier than what you do see? That theory has been proven in many a great monster movies (think Jaws or The Blair Witch Project.) There are several reasons why the first Jeepers Creepers falls apart as a horror movie, but the chief reason is because they show us the creature too damned early. He loses his menace early on because we see him far too often. There's no mystery and certainly
no element of surprise. I suppose writer/director Victor Salva (Powder) felt that he was giving the audience a payoff, but sadly, he merely succeeded in spoiling the fun. Perhaps the Creeper would have been more effective had he
been cloaked in darkness rather than prancing around for everyone to see. If revealing his creature's appearance far too early weren't bad enough, Salva introduces a ridiculously pointless and annoying character with a psychic ability that serves to help our young heroes figure things out. It all made for a huge disappointment following months of undeserved positive buzz.

All of which brings us to the inevitable Jeepers Creepers 2. Where the first Jeepers Creepers was effective for about the first forty minutes, this sequel is effective for about the first four minutes. Opening with a young boy being terrorized by something in a cornfield - the sequence is well shot and however derivative and familiar, it's pretty scary. The story really
begins that evening as a school bus full of game-winning jocks find themselves stranded in the Creeper-country following a tire blow out. As the movie progresses, each one-dimensional character is targeted and consumed. And once again the Creeper is on full display, making him all the less scary.

First and foremost, none of this stuff is remotely scary. It's completely telegraphed and we've seen it all a thousand times before. I found myself naming all the superior pictures this movie was borrowing from, as I sat there enduring this borefest. A better film maker could have taken something familiar and made it exciting. Despite creepy locations and top notch production values, Salva and his crew are unable to deliver the goods.

Even worse, are the characters. (If you can call them characters.) None of these teenagers are particularly well drawn. At least the leads in the first film seemed real and were able to exhibit a realistic sense of fear. In this movie, I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of these kids. Most of them were boring, snotty and uninteresting.

What's more, Salva has the nerve to inject what's supposed to be social-commentary into the screenplay. There's racial tension, nerds trying to make a stand, and that all too familiar character who may or may not be gay. And even more unforgivably, Salva takes the worst element of the first picture and puts it on display here as well; he introduces a character with
psychic ability, and with no apparent reason I might add. Actually, I take that back. From what I can gather, the girl is psychic so that she can
provide some insight into the history and motivation of the Creeper. It's lazy film making at it's absolute lamest.

I read an interview with Salva in which he said he might want to make a Jeepers Creepers picture in which the Creeper is in some kind of a western setting. That sounds silly beyond belief, but at least it sounds original. Jeepers Creepers 2 is completely disposable.

The one bright spot in the picture is Ray Wise as the father of the boy who disappeared in the corn field. He at least seems to be having fun as a mad as hell father who converts his farm equipment into a Creeper hunting tool, culminating in a climax that is supposed to be a homage to Jaws, but is absolutely laughable.

The premise that the Creeper must terrify it's victims in order to render them edible might have been interesting in a film that didn't suck so badly, but it's just ridiculous here. It made sense in the first movie because there was a reason that he picked certain victims. Here, he just seems to be dining so it makes no sense at all.

I could have handled this picture's plethora of flaws, uninteresting characters and lapses of logic if only it had been scary or entertaining in
some way. Unfortunately, this is yet another horror flick that can't even follow it's own rules. Between this and Freddy Vs. Jason, that's two strikes in a row. I sure hope Cabin Fever hits it out of the park, because I hate to see this genre taking such a beating.