Review #105: Jeepers Creepers (2001)


This review was originally written in October 2020.

October Movie Review #22- Jeepers Creepers

Hot dang, was this movie fantastic!

Considering it was made at a time when so many others series (including ones I've reviewed....) were resorting to cheap schlock, I was incredibly surprised at how good this movie is right from the first minute. The action starts almost immediately (unlike so many other movies I've watched this month where it takes thirty or more minutes before anything happens) and it never lets up until the very end. There wasn't a dull moment in its entire runtime.

And the monster. Oh man, the monster! I don't know how they managed to make this thing as terrifying as they did. Even the very first scene where it's basically just an aggressive driver in a truck, was shot so well and scored so appropriately that it was already scary even before anything happened. And then the event that gets the characters interested- the guy hiding bodies off the side of the road (which apparently was inspired by a true story, from an old episode of Unsolved Mysteries)- is so intriguing, you totally understand why the characters would be willing to stop and investigate instead of going on their merry way.

But the movie doesn't stop there. It's paced beautifully, ramping up the tension one minute, then making you feel like everyone is safe and secure the next, to pulling the rug out from under you, then giving you another moment of respite, and so on. I LOVED how not a single character in this movie is stupid- everyone is understanding, everyone is capable, but the killer is still just so alien and so powerful that the tension is never lost.

I know I'd seen part of this movie in the past (at least the first thirty minutes or so) and I knew how it ended, but regardless this movie had me on the edge of my seat (metaphorically speaking at least, I watched it while at work) and I don't know how I went this long without ever seeing it. I feel like this series has gotten a lot of buzz so I'm eager to watch the following two entries- but we'll see if the quality continues or if it drops off like most franchises do.

Overall Rating: 10/10 Cute Rats The Movie Wants You To Think Are Scary

Most Unexpected Cameo: Eileen Brennan!? Why did nobody tell me Mrs. Peacock was in this movie?

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