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Stunning promo art from Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022)
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Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017)
Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017)
This is set
shortly after the events of the first film, and before those of its sequel,
when the Creeper’s (ever-returning Jonathan Breck) truck is discovered by the
local police, and it turns out to be a fortress of booby traps that kill
‘soldiers’ left, right, and center. This is when a cat and mouse game begins in
the fields and roads of the middle of nowhere between the franchise’s monster,
its hunters, and the locals.
It took a while,
but our favorite Creeper is back, but writer/director Victor Salva (who also
produced, with Michael Ohoven and Jake Seal) changed a lot without really
changing the franchise’s tone and trademark gore and violence. What did he
change and what did he keep? Predominately this is more action-oriented than
the preceding duo of films (and as such it is arguably much more fun), whilst
still maintaining the characteristic dark photography (this is mostly set at
nights, but even when we see day shots, they are cold – cinematographer Don E.
FountLeRoy was definitely in some grotesque mood while setting his shots up).
The plot keeps an ambience that can thematically be found somewhere between the
recent Stephen King renaissance and Predators
(2010), but there are all sorts of other weird elements on display here,
including some ball bombs that are reminiscent of the metal spheres in Phantasm: Ravager (2016).
Overall,
considering the development hell this went through (production was about to
start on several occasions and by several backers in the last ten years or so),
it is a very solid film (and entertaining throughout), and it displays the
skills of a filmmaker that has grown up. It received a limited release, and it
is now trying its luck on the home video market, where if it does well, we
might see more of the Creeper as it is known that a fourth film is the
intention of Salva who has already a plot for it.
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Jeepers Creepers: Reborn
Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022)
Young scientist
Laine (Sydney Craven) and her conspiracy theorist boyfriend Chase (Imran Adams)
– who is looking for the right moment to propose – travel to Louisiana (where
this was actually shot) in order to attend the Horror Hound convention, where
the stories they heard of the Creeper (the franchise’s original trilogy is
acknowledged in one of several Meta moments) come true as he comes back older
and wiser to perpetrate another long series of slayings.
Most people seem
to agree that the Jeepers Creepers
films are shit (I don’t, and I believe that most of the backfiring is due to
Victor Salva’s scandal) yet people still watch them (otherwise they wouldn’t
get made), so much in fact that this reboot – directed by Timo Vuorensola [Iron Sky (2012) and Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)] – is supposedly the set-up for a new trilogy,
although it found most of its troubles not from the critics or the fans’ poor
online ratings, but rather from a lawsuit from Myriad Pictures who claimed that
Screen Media Films who backed this co-production between the U.S. and the U.K.,
had no legal right to do so. The end result is nothing special, and
unsurprisingly is not terrible either, yet once again it will mostly be
remembered for its backstage legends, something that is a curse with these
films, but also a blessing.
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