Jeepers Creepers II

2003 ***1/4

I'm overusing the tiny star fractions this year, but I rated the first Jeepers Creepers as a three-star flick and this one was a little better, but not as better as I'd hoped. The Creeper is still pretty damn good monster, a mysterious batwinged demon-thingie wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a tattered duster coat. He sustains his yucky form by eating bits of live humans, directly using the limbs or organs as he needs them.

Taking place just one day after the events of the first movie, the story centers around a busload of high school kids returning victorious from a state basketball championship. The Creeper disables the bus on a dark and lonely road, and begins to pick off the sardines in the can. A grim siege ensues, although the kids do get their shots in.

"Merely a flesh wound!"
I've been thinking about this movie for a month and I'm still not sure why I found it disappointing. At first I thought it was the bizarrely convenient plot contrivance of giving one of the cheerleaders prophetic and informative dreams, providing some monster exposition like the psychic lady did in the first movie, but much more directly. But that wasn't it; it came down to this guy, the alpha monkey asshole jock.

The root of the problem, regardless of the problem.
I don't share JPX's cranky automatic dislike of unlikeable characters, as a character can be unlikeable and still entertaining, if done right. Scotty here is not done right, moosing around the movie being as entitled, homophobic, racist and selfishly ruthless as he can be. You might think that nominates his ass for some major pipe, and you'd be right, but a character of this dickosity level needs to be offed in a stellar fashion, and it doesn't happen. He's pretty much just whisked into the night sky, and too many other victims go that way for it to rate as a showcase death. Without such a death, all the time spent listening to him gab was time spent listening to a bully spieling his bully spiel, and that's never fun.

And another small film rolls over for the mighty Post Puncher corporate agenda. How much power is enough?
The bulk of the movie is teenage angst in a survival situation, then Ray Wise shows up with his scratch-built Creeper shooter, out to avenge his young son who got carried off before the credits. As you might imagine, that shakes up the plot in a welcome fashion and hey -- it's Ray Wise, who always classes up the joint. I wish they could've worked his swivel-mounted Post Puncher into Twin Peaks.

The one question I have of this franchise: if you chopped The Creeper into bits when you had a chance, and sealed the bits in boxes and separated them, would that defeat him? Because that's what I'd do. Just going on record for when it comes up.

Jeepers Creepers II is pretty good stuff and mostly worth your time, although I feel like this series hasn't hit its potential. Just be prepared for some poorly-handled doses of dicky jockitude.