JEEPERS CREEPERS: Squandered Potential for a Great Horror

The first impression after watching Jeepers Creepers is disappointment. Then comes frustration and anger; anger at the creators of the film, which could have been more than just a mediocre genre hybrid. The director and screenwriter in one person, Victor Salva, unable to decide which direction to take or which genre to choose, caused the promising story to be squandered in a tangle of silliness and special effects.

Trish (Gina Philips) and Darry Jenner (Justin Long) are traveling in their old, worn-out car across the United States, heading towards their family home. The journey is rather dull, and most of the time is spent arguing until, on an empty highway, they encounter a mad driver whose main goal seems to be pushing them off the road. This is a foretaste of later events. Fortunately, the madman overtakes them and disappears into the distance. However, bad luck strikes when, a few miles later, the siblings see him near a ruined church, moving packages that suspiciously resemble… human bodies.

Right from the first scene, the director gives us the impression that we are dealing with something extraordinary. He makes the main characters of the story… siblings. With this deliberate choice, significantly limiting the potential for shaping relationships between characters, Victor Salva signals that romantic relationships will not be the focus of the film. He thereby signals to the audience that, in a symbolic way, he is distancing himself from the popular Scream-like horror genre, in which erotic dependencies between characters play a central role. At the same time, he legitimizes their strong emotional bond. The introduction of the main characters is completed by a dynamic scene of an attack by the road pirate. It is hard not to notice almost direct references to Duel – Steven Spielberg’s first feature film. This is another signal sent by the director – we can expect a juggling of conventions and genres. This first clear signal will soon be confirmed by references to other, already classic thriller, road movie, and horror films.

The first several minutes of the film raise the adrenaline level in the viewer’s blood, promising a first-rate, exciting thriller. Although the director seems to use well-worn tricks, there is still a sense of a fresh approach to exhausted topics. The next few minutes show a clear drift towards horror, which also leaves the best impression. The obligatory backstory appears, which is later continued in the discoveries made by the characters (another element of genre juggling). With this well-paced story, we reach the first turning point, which is the introduction of the first decisive action of the villain (the titular Creeper). As befits a turning point, this is a total twist not only in the plot of the film but also, and perhaps primarily, in the perception of what we are seeing on screen. The horror ends here.

What begins? The next act suggests that Jeepers Creepers is a pastiche skillfully mixing and mocking elements from well-known genre classics. We get references to The Hitcher by Robert Harmon, Alien by Ridley Scott, Assault on Precinct 13 by John Carpenter, and even The Matrix by the Wachowskis. However, one reference seems crucial for deciphering the director’s and screenwriter’s intentions. It concerns Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton. As a mix of horror, comedy, pastiche, and quotes from classic films, Jeepers Creepers was supposed to create an atmosphere similar to that of Sleepy Hollow. It must be admitted that there are a few scenes where Salva succeeds in achieving this effect.

Unfortunately, aside from the good setup of the action, these are only isolated sequences. In fact, from the end of the first act onwards, the film increasingly drifts toward a poor B-horror, with a grotesque and rather funny rather than scary villain, all the typical simplifications of this genre, and, unfortunately, the ubiquitous reliance on special effects. In short, Salva sacrifices the excellent, tension-filled atmosphere from the beginning of the film for cheap tricks that seem more at home in a carnival, among which the portrayal of the villain’s physical features in minute detail is one of the more amusing.

Several excellent storylines are signaled in the film but unfortunately do not continue in the story. Most of them appear in the first – best – part of the film. The most notable is the motif of the macabre temple, which is probably not coincidentally located in the basement of a ruined church, offering hope for a truly dark atmosphere. Darry, due to the decor, compares it to a blasphemous version of the Sistine Chapel. We do not know what drives the Creeper to design the interior in such a grotesque, artistic way.

What purpose does it serve? The already mentioned setup of the action seems to suggest that it will be a main plot point. Unfortunately, just a few minutes later, the awakened imagination is cooled down by the elimination of this undoubtedly more interesting, yet wasted, motif. We also do not know who, or what, the Creeper is. Is he the incarnation of Satan, a lesser demon, an alien? The lack of continuation of these probably most intriguing clues is not only irritating but can also be considered another argument for the thesis that Victor Salva lacked a concept to properly finish an interesting idea.

Jeepers Creepers could have been one of the most interesting horror films of 2000s. The director presented us with believable characters, an intriguing setup, necessary tension, and a palpable, underlying uncertainty about what will happen next. It is a shame to see how all of this ends roughly one-third of the way through the film. After that, it’s all downhill toward the reefs and shallows of second-rate horror cinema, and that’s a shame.