Jeepers Creepers 2 is a 2003 American horror film written and directed by Victor Salva, produced by American Zoetrope, Capitol Films, Myriad Pictures and distributed by United Artists, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer division. The film is a sequel to the 2001 horror film Jeepers Creepers. Francis Ford Coppola executive produced the film.
Plot
Three days after the events of the first film, a young boy named Billy Taggart assists his father in erecting scarecrows throughout a corn field, when one of the scarecrows suddenly comes to life and leaps on him. As his father, Jack Taggart Sr., and his older brother, Jack Taggart Jr., rush to his aid, the scarecrow drags Billy through the field before sprouting wings and flying off, leaving the Taggart family horrified.
The following day (Day 23), a school bus carrying a high school basketball team and cheerleaders suffers a blowout. The chaperons inspect the tire, which they discover has been torn apart by a hand-crafted shuriken made of bone fragments. Back on the Taggart farm, Jack Jr. finds a dagger left by the Creeper. When his father inspects it, it inexplicably flies out of his hand on its own accord.
With the bus back on the road, Minxie has a vision of Darry Jenner, the Creeper's victim from the first film, and Billy Taggart, who attempt to warn her of the Creeper. She then witnesses the Creeper blow out another tire, leaving them stranded alongside the road. They flag down a passing car, whose occupants promise to notify the authorities. After The Creeper kills the chaperones, Scott argues with Deaundre "Double D" Davis over whether they should leave the bus. After the Creeper jams the doors, Minxie has another vision in which Darry explains that every 23rd spring for 23 days the Creeper eats people before going back into hibernation. Minxie informs the teens that its last visit was purely to pick out who it wanted.
After hearing police reports, the Taggarts investigate. On the way, they find the car from the passers-by, which has crashed, and the occupants missing. He radios the students, who are ecstatic about imminent rescue. Shortly after the Creeper punches through the roof of the bus and grabs Andy "Bucky" Buck. Rhonda impales the Creeper's through the eye with a metal pipe, and it falls back onto the bus when it attempts to fly away. The teens assume it is dead, but it decapitates Dante with its wing and consumes his head. Scotty pries open the bus' doors and another argument ensues when he suggests surrendering the Creeper's targets. The students leave the bus, and the Creeper chases them across a field, striking Jake in the head with a shuriken, and pinning Scotty to a tree with a dagger. Double D, Rhonda, and Izzy attempt help Scotty, but the Creeper flies off with him.
Bucky, Chelsea, and Johnny return to the bus, where the Creeper grabs Bucky. Taggart, Jack Jr., and Minxie arrive, and Taggart attacks the Creeper with a homemade harpoon-like weapon he equipped his truck with. The Creeper rips out the harpoon and throws it back, nearly impaling Jack Jr. As Taggart reloads, the Creeper destroys the bus and Taggart's truck. Double D, Rhonda, and Izzy find an empty vehicle, which they use to flee. As the Creeper pursues them, Double D attempts to shoot it with a flare gun. As a last resort, Izzy intentionally crashes the truck after throwing out Rhonda; wounding the Creeper and Double D. Before the Creeper can attack Double D, Taggart, his son, and the other students arrive and shoot it in the head with the harpoon. Taggart repeatedly stabs it, and the Creeper stares up at him in anger as its face closes. Minxie explains that it is not dead, it has only gone into hibernation.
Twenty-three years later, a group of teenagers drive to Taggart's farm, where the Creeper is a sideshow attraction. When they notice the elderly Taggart, watching the crucified corpse with a harpoon gun at his side, they ask him if he is waiting for something. Taggart looks up at the Creeper and says, "About three more days, give or take a day or two."
Cast
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 23% of 122 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "Jeepers Creepers 2 is competently made, but it doesn't have the scares of the original." Metacritic rated it 36/100 based on 29 reviews. Andy Klein of Variety wrote, "Few things are scarier than a sequel to a bad movie, but, in fact, Jeepers Creepers 2 is substantially better than its predecessor, even while staying strictly within the genre's well-defined boundaries." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The sequel has got the creepy bits down cold but lacks a fair share of scares." Roger Ebert, writing for The Chicago Sun-Times, rated the film one out of four stars and said, "Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers 2 supplies us with a first-class creature, a fourth-rate story, and dialogue possibly created by feeding the screenplay into a pasta maker." In The New York Times, Dave Kehr wrote that creature lacks personality when the concept is retooled into a film series. Gene Seymour of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the sequel lacks the mood of the first film, and the teen protagonists are too annoying to draw the audience's sympathy. However, Seymour praised Wise's performance. In a positive review, Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club called it "the rare sequel that's not only bigger than its predecessor, but also better".
Box office
Jeepers Creepers 2 opened in 3,124 theaters and had a U.S. domestic gross of US$ 35,667,218. Other international takings were $27,435,448, and the worldwide gross was $63,102,666, slightly higher than the original.
Awards
- Nomination â€" Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
- Nomination â€" Saturn Award Best Horror Film
- Nomination â€" Motion Picture Sound Editors: Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in a Feature Film (David Bondelevitch and Victor Salva)
Sequel
A sequel, the third film in the series, titled Jeepers Creepers 3, is being developed, despite initial news that a fourth movie was also being developed.
References
External links
- Official website
- Jeepers Creepers 2 at the Internet Movie Database
- Jeepers Creepers 2 at Box Office Mojo
- Jeepers Creepers 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Jeepers Creepers 2 at Metacritic
