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Jeepers Creepers this movie gave me the Creeps!

I suppose that a lot of people going to the movies today have grown up on such tripe as Scary Movie, the Friday the 13th series and other crappy horror films. I suppose these same people expect that every little detail of a film must be explained on an adolescent's level, so as not to confuse them while they watch the films with their eyes as their mouths cannot keep from running while in the theatre. It's a funny thing - sound when added to a film allowed for certain nuances of the theatre to be present, so that the visual didn't have to do all the work. So to those who would call this film bad, I say: turn off your cell phone, stop talking to your buddies, and pay attention to the movie.

Jeepers Creepers isn't the finest horror film ever made, but it certainly is one that can scare the bejesus out of you. Certainly there are very standard plot devices in action here - but isn't that part of the formula for a horror film? ...

Jeepers starts off using bits and pieces of known scare tactics and then milks them with a wink and a nudge. Should the lead characters go back and see whats up at that creepy looking house where the even creepier looking guy was ....? Of course not! The characters even acknowledge this fact. However, pulled by the same force that requires everyone passing an accident to rubberneck, they do. (And let's face it - if they didn't - the movie wouldn't have been made).
At once scary, silly, laughable, and immensely frustrating, Jeepers Creepers shows us a new (albeit traditional and truly old hat) villain: a monster! .
Just what this monster wants is never fully explained as the film truly frustrates us by setting itself up for an obvious sequel (which I truly hope gets made).
The film features fine actors performing honestly and well. Eileen Brennan appears in an extended cameo that is quite unforgettable. The script is good, the cinematography is quite well done.
When you get up from a horror film, you are hopefully intelligent enough to know that the action on the screen is not possible in the real world. You have just been treated to little fright akin to a ride on a good roller coaster. If the movie made you jump, squirm, turn from the screen, or possibly yelp, then its done its job.
Jeepers Creepers does far more than that. This is a good film that delivers on the scares and leaves you wanting more.
Check it out!

Surprisingly scary, surprisingly anticlimatic.

This movie, with a name like Jeepers Creepers, automatically implies to the audience that it is going to be pretty damn scary, and with some above average (i'm faltering on saying superb) acting from the two lead roles, the first half an hour of the film is by all accounts up there with the best in terms of really gripping the audience and having them on the edge of their seat. I was expecting yet another American teen-horror movie with no originality, and i have to say that i was pleasantly surprised (for the first half atleast). The film then seems to take a turn down much-trodden paths and becomes predictable, as i envisaged the whole film to be. While the finale is fairly shocking, i felt that a lot more development to the story could have been made - it wasn't through lack of time, the film is not long by any means. Overall, i would recommend the film to people who like a good scare, but be warned that it will become predicable half way through, although it is worth watching as the very end offers a surprising conclusion. Not a classic by any means.

AWESOME ENDING! Worth viewing on the strength of the ending.

This movie is certainly not ground-breaking (though it could have been). Like many others have commented, it loses steam mid-way through (after the kids leave the church). HOWEVER, if you can look past some of the lame 2nd half moments...the last 2-3 minutes of the movie is pure cinematic glory.

Ignore all the negative reviews. Must be by folks requiring the obligatory "happy" ending.

Excellent Direction

Nicely shot and directed. Characters seemed very real. I love the way Victor can place his characters in unusually disturbing events. Very unpredictable and unique. Ending could have been improved. I wanted to see Trish save her brother Darryl at the end. Seemed like the movie lacked an Act 3 ALL TOGETHER; only a very well developed act one and two. Victor is one of the most underrated Directors of Hollywood and I look forward to seeing many more of his producitons.I love Tom Tarantini's cameos in all of Victor's movies. He has had a brief cameo in all of Victor's movies since Nature of the Beast.Victor & Tom: If you guys are reading this: do you remember S Cain and myself and our film Alma? Thanks for the company!

Entertaining fright feast!

Two young adults ( Gina Philips and Justin Long) are driving their way through a sunny day on springbreak week until they witness a house that has a strange person dumping a body down a pipe. They get suspicious as they investigate that hole on what that odd person dumped down there, it appears to be a body but also a collection of stitch taxidermies made of human bodies. They head out to a local town to contact the cops, but soon the odd man from the house who has the bodies begins to stalk the two and cannot be stopped until the two are dead as he is really a monster.

Entertaining and quite different horror thriller that harkons back to the 70's horror movies of it's era, there is some decent acting, fine gore and scares to go with it. The opening sequence is quite terrifying and it's twist ending is definitely disturbing as well, i think it's the one of the better horror offerings in recent memory.

The Special Edition DVD is very cool! an informative audio commentary by the director, crisp picture & Sound, Deleted & extended scenes especially an alternate ending, featurettes, Photo gallery, and Trailer.

Also recommended: House of 1000 Corpses, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( 1974 and 2003), Re-Animator, Final Destination 1 & 2, From Dusk Till Dawn, Demons, Friday The 13th series, Nightmare on Elm Street series, Stephen King's IT, The Shining, Cannibal Holocaust, City of the Living Dead ( a.k.a. The Gates of Hell), Evil Dead II, House By The Cemetery, The New York Ripper, The Others, Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Phantasm, Tenebre, Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes.

Has its moments but very derivative

I went to see this movie because it has received some very positive reviews. But, having seen it, I don't know why. It's pretty much your standard horror fair. And very un-original. In fact I had more fun on the way home discussing the movies that it borrowed from. They're all there - The Birds, Psycho, Alien, Silence of the Lambs, Halloween - but this film has none of the polish of any of those classics.Why does every contemporary horror movie have to have "teenage attitude"? There's an evil monster on the loose (and hundreds of dead bodies around) but our sassy heroine (Trish) still smart-mouths the locals. I finished up praying that the monster would catch Trish and suck her brains out - in slow motion.This movie is not a bad way to pass a Saturday night with your partner (it has a few scary moments). Just don't expect much. I gave it 5/10.

horror or comedy?

i expected a horror movie and i got a pretty good laugh from how dumb it was. from the horrible acting and facial expressions by the actors to the "jeepers creepers" song i couldn't seem to make myself jump or freak out, but i was crying from laughter. what's up with this clive barker figure saying it's the scariest movie what was he doing while he was watching. i give this minus 5 stars so stay away from the movie unless you feel like getting a cheap laugh...oh wait i paid 4 bucks to rent the thing you know just forget it

Horror Bouilliabasse

There are some really terrible horror films made, especially in recent years. But this isn't bad. It has a couple extrememly effective scenes. I think it would have been much better to make the thing a human and not an extra terrestial or demon or whatever its supposed to be. You put in aliens and you've lost me. That can't happen, and as soon as you've injected the impossible into it, I'm no longer frightened. A sick hillybilly would have been much scarier, but I guess sick hillbillys cant fly. The guy I thought did a good job with being scared close to madness, and he was actually making me nervous at one point. The female lead of course must be the stronger of the two and she was, I think that's etched in stone somewhere in Burbank. She was a total hottie, but must have learned how to act in a lumber yard. No gratuitous horror nudity, and with the overall failure of it as a scary movie, I'm afraid the absence of any nudity prevents my recommending this film. They need to redo Slingblade as a horror film, and then redo Friday the 13th as a human interest study. And they call me mad!

Jeepers Creepers

I thought this movie was decent enough to sit there and watch it. Worth the rent, but definately not worth the buy. It seemed interesting at first, seeing this "thing" from a distance, but then seeing it up close, I was kind of thinking.. Hmm a little generic? lol, but the movie had an alright story, nothing great as I said. Shocking to see that there was a sequel to this movie, because that one had no point to it at all. And wasnt even that great either. In this movie, there was some alright parts of action, but never really reached any climaxes. But its decent, if your thinking of renting a movie, check it out.

Great movie when you think about it...

First of all, let me just say one thing. Please just take this movie for what it is. It's a monster movie. Pure and simple. I too, when i first saw it, thought it was poor when they revieled what the Creeper was. But then i thought 'Well as a monster movie, it was pretty good.' Great performance from Justin Long, some fantastic camera work and eerie sound effects help to create a solid monster movie and makes for some really tense moments! With reference to Duel and some of Salva's favourite monster movies of old, this is fun to watch and will leave you feeling like there is some hope left for monster movies. Enjoy!

Creepy atmospheric horror film

This movie is a great horror film that creates a spooky atmosphere. The monster itself is very eerie, and the film even has its share of jumps. I think it deserves a way better score than what it has right now, but I can see that this film isn't for everyone.If you want to see a slasher film that is actually scary, see this one. I give it a 10/10.

Good start... what happened?

The first half hour or so of this film is very good indeed. It was kind of like 'Halloween' crossed with 'Duel'. The two kids were almost likeable in fact. I thought it had finally verged into the original - but then disaster struck. I think it was around the time when the Creeper thing actually appeared that I lost all faith. Have you ever noticed that something isn't so scary anymore when you actually see the whole thing? Well just think of it like that - only this time you actually see the whole thing for about an hour - and then it's the end of the film.
Not only did it lose all the tension and everything that made it scary, it also seemed to drift into the ridiculous. Someone has all ready mentioned the bit where they repeatedly run the Creeper over with their car - you are so right, my friend. They should have left the damn thing lying there and done 140 down the road. Basically, this is a stupid, stupid film. Watch the first half an hour or so, and then turn it off and make up your own hour. Anything will do.

Yes the best horror movie of 2001 and one of the best ever!!

This movie is great, there is nothing wrong with it. Yes it has a story and a weird somewhat plot, its not too violent, yet in my opinion very scary. People today who are expecting this to be like friday the 13th,exorcist,scream, ect. will be dissapointed because it isnt. It is even way better then that, because this in my opinion is one of the most original horror stories ever especially the lay out of the characters. The actors are excellent, you can really feel their fear in this film. I mean just imagine seeing a creature like the one in this movie in real life, no matter what you say it would be terrifying. Anyone who doesnt like this movie, thinks its bad whatever, well this just isnt your type of film not because you thought it was a waste of time but because you didnt watch it like you shouldve and taken time to sit and try to get into it. I saw this movie 4 times in the theatre and the whole time the entire audience was quite, including the sometimes annoying youth. All eyes and ears need to be focused on this movie the whole time or you will lose it and not get it whats going on so of course it would seem like an odd show to you. And anyone who loves horror movies this has got to be a for you it is a true horror movie, and in a way is very realistic maybe not the creature but just the layout, the timing and the fear in these people that go through all this. Enjoy the movie if you enjoy roller coaster rides, and there is no point to ruin the ending but that is the only bad thing about this film is the ending but its still worth it, and there will be a sequel, can you say vengeance? lets hope so, anyway get this movie its outstanding.

A short synopsis...

The first 1/3 of this film is absolutely great. Terrifying, meticulous and a terrific sense of claustrophobia. As I watched it, my hopes for a truly frightening modern horror movie were sky high. But then the second act happened. We finally saw what this "Creeper" thing looked like and it was not scary. Not only that, but the pace of the film itself became extremely slow. All this capped off with one of the lamest climaxes in horror movie history only saddened me more. Ugh. Such wasted potential.

Three stars for the absolutely fantastic opening act.

The best horror/thriller of 2001.

Brother and sister (Justin Long and Gina Phillips) discover the lair of a demonic being and find themselves the target of this hell-bent creature. Superb horror/thriller harkens back to the "old-style" of the 80's, aiming entirely for suspense and scares over hip dialogue and rock music. Writer/director Victor Salva brings style and atmosphere and nicely understates the mood. Good performances from Long and Phillips, which serves to make the chilling finale all the more effective.

Creepy first half, flat second half

First, the good: Victor Salva has to be given credit for coming up with one the best one-two set-up intro punches to the viewer's gut ever delivered in a horror film in recent years. The opening with the brother and sister trading good-natured insults while rolling down a typically bucolic wide-open stretch of U.S. interstate, calling up echoes of the cropdusting scene in "North By Northwest" and lulling you into thinking "okay, he's gonna start ripping off classic flicks to pad out his own, big deal"...bridging to the scene under the abandoned church where the brother's eyes slowly adjust to the darkness, revealing a scene straight out of Gustav Dore'...sweet jeezus, you just KNOW this ain't gonna be a Sean Cunningham hayride, kids! And then continuing with the brother's pleading with the local deputies("for god's sake, why won't you believe me?"), the camera's passing note of the brother's tattoo of a black rose near his navel and its' final grisly meaning punctuated at the end...and never mind the monster's near indestuctability; even Freddy Krueger, Jason, or even Leatherface never did the things that gargoyle-boy does to his victims with the kind of sick, EVIL humor that he perpetrates(and before? The "missing persons" posters on the sheriff's bulletin board is another subtle, but brilliant, shot). And now, the bad(WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER!)...if our interstate killer with scales and stylish mortician's duds has been doing this for so long--more than 20 years--why hasn't SOMEBODY noticed by now? Even given that the killer is more bullet-resistant than a Paul Blaisdell creation(if you don't know who he is, shame on you!)it's hard to believe that one the cops couldn't figure out a way to at least keep him from flying out of Dodge, so to speak! Which leaves me awfully ambivalent about this movie. It starts off the first half with the sort of two-fisted lyrical horror right out of a novel by Joe Lansdale, or Ray Garton, something I never expected to see in a MOVIE, for pete's sake(and don't bring up Clive Barker; so far NOBODY--not even Barker himself--has been able to bring the right frisson of gore and visceral believability of his stories, although "Lord of Illusions" came close)! And then, in the second half, it goes off the rails into "oh, come on, this is getting ridiculous". And so on, to that final horrifying shot, and thinking two things: "Oh my god , that's what he was going after!", and "Okay, NOW what? Is there going to be a sequel, so they can clear up what they should have explained in the first movie?" Being ambiguous about your monster's origin NEVER plays well, especially if you've already shown it. Just ask the guys who made turkeys like "The Dark", or "Monster a Go-Go", or "Wheels of Terror", or...well you get the idea. I hope. Rent this movie just for the first half, to see how it should be done, and try not to pay too much attention to the second half.

Gave me the creeps...

Criteria for a horror movie should be different than for other films. They can lag in other areas, but if they deliver chills, shreiks, winces, gags (I mean the kind you make with your throat, not the kind you play on your friends) and a sense of, well, the creeps, that runs the whole film, you know you're on to something. "Creepers" does this and does it well. It's a short, well-crafted, brutally compact horror movie that uses storyline and atmosphere rather than buckets of the red stuff or an enormous kill-count to get your fear glands pumping. The story revolves around two sibling college students taking their ancient 1960s-era beater home on spring break via what looks to be the worlds longest and most desolate highway. On the way they spy a sinister-looking man dumping what appears to be bodies down a drainpipe, and here they commit their first "Horror-Movie Mistake" -- they investigate instead of getting the hell out of there. Turns out there is an extremely nasty surprise on the end of the pipe (think Sistine Chapel as designed by Dr. Lecter), but it's not until the two finally decide to split the scene -- and who wouldn't want to stay in a sewer pipe -- that their troubles begin. Seems the mystery guy is on their scent (literally), and wants something from them, which he intends to remove without benefit of anesthetic. That's his gig, and he does it pretty well (hint: hiding in the police station will not help). "Creepers" is not a perfect film -- horror movies usually aren't -- but its flaws are the flaws of the genre and don't do much to detract from the tension. My biggest gripe is the design of the Creeper himself -- fully revealed, he is ugly but nothing you haven't seen trading barbs with Patrick Stewart on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ; and the movie ends so abruptly and brutally that my initial reaction was that somebody had forgotten to put the last half hour in. But better an abrupt ending than a predicatble one, right? Simply put, "Jeepers Creepers" was the first horror movie I've seen in a long time that actually creeped me out. Definetly worth a watch.

Two different movies... definitely!

Well, I think this movie has one single reason for being worth seeing: I had never seen such a good plot fall down so bad!!

The reason I say this movies is actually composed by two different movies is simple: The first half of the movie is one of the creepiest, scariest and best-done of the last couple of years. It really scares the [stuff] out of you, and it also takes some well-known formulas from well-known classic horror movies. In a nutshell, the first half of it rocks!! So, I give 4 (maybe 5 stars) to Jeepers Creepers' first half.

I bet you would have never imagined a movie with such an amazingly created atmosphere could end up as bad as it did. The reason?? Well, what we don't know and can't see scares us the most... so, when the director decides to show the boogie man's flesh & blood, it all falls down. Not only because of the unbelievable way the plot ends, but also because of the horribly corny scenes --such as "no please! don't take him! take me! choose me! not my lil'brother!"-- gosh! it was so annoying!!

So, this second half of the movie earns 0 stars. And this fact (earning 4 stars in the 1st half, and 0 in the 2nd) is maybe a good reason for watching the movie. Again, I had never seen a movie break in two as this one did.

Hope this review is helpful.

Very Dissapointed

Before watching the film, I heard a lot of people saying that it was a scary film and this made me want to watch it. But when it ended, I felt like I lost a part of my life watching the movie. It had to be the worst movie I had ever seen. It wasn't scary and the plot was weak. The parts that were supposed to be scary made me laugh. I would never waste my time watching this one, let alone watch the next one(Jeepers Creepers II) just because it was even in the same series as the first one.

Yeah, ... and ???

That's what I said after seeing the ending to this movie."Jeepers Creepers" actually started out well: a brother and sister driving in the middle of nowhere in Florida, stumbling onto what they think is a killer on the loose, who begins stalking the two of them next. The first scene of the truck coming up from out of nowhere, scaring the hell out of the brother and sister was done fairly well. When they see him dumping the body down the pipe, the camera angle panning as the Creeper turns and watches them drive by him is surprisingly well done. When the Creeper drops down on the roof of the police car later (the "The sky is falling" scene), the hand print on the car door scene - but what the hell happened to the rest of the movie??? If it would have been (and should have been) just some guy on the loose in the countryside killing people it would have been good, but NOOOOO, they had to make the killer out to be some kind of winged demon bat creature thing from hell - yaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnn ... oh, ... sorry, I didn't mean to doze of like that. The last half hour goes off into "Creature Feature" territory ruining any and all suspense built up early on, the psychic was annoying (and pointless) and I'd rather hear fingernails scraping down a chalkboard or listen to a toilet flush than to hear that song one more time. After a surprisingly good first half hour, the second half hour is progressively more and more silly, the last half hour sucks like hell- and the ending is ludicrous and anticlimactic.** out of ****