Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Unfortunately, Victor Salva
Starring: Gina Philips, Justin Long, Jonathan Breck, Patricia Belcher, Eileen Brennan
From: United Artists
Due to recent events I feel I should talk about director Victor Salva for those that don't know. I won't provide the details but a mutual saw Jeepers Creepers 2 and wasn't a fan... then after the viewing had the unpleasant experience of finding out about the director's past. As all sorts of people around the world use Letterboxd, I shouldn't just assume that everyone knows the story. After all, it is amazing that he's done a number of movies since his 1989 debut Clownhouse. To be blunt, during the filming of Clownhouse, Salva was convicted of molesting the young boy that was the lead of the film (Nathan Forrest Winters)... who was 12 at the time. He spent a little over a year in prison for the crime.
If that wasn't bad enough, he now only has made 9 other movies but one of them was Powder, which was released by the former Hollywood Pictures, which was owned by DISNEY... who alleged they did not know until after filming had started. Even more mind-boggling to me is that Clownhouse was financed by Francis Ford Coppola and despite what happened, he was one of the producers on the first two Jeepers Creepers films. Everyone can decide for themselves how they feel about those that have worked on any of his movies since Clownhouse; as I've said before there have been plenty of terrible people that have been in the motion picture industry since it began, although this crime is rather heinous. I also won't fault anyone that likes the director's films whether or not they know of his past. It just makes Hollywood look particularly scummy for releasing his work and while never convicted of any other crimes, I pray that Victor Salva has never harmed any other children.
All that said, my low rating of Jeepers Creepers has nothing to do with my opinion of the director. The reason I did not really like the film was that it was just annoying and irritating more than anything else. Most of the characters are are just dumb annoying stereotypes, I would have thrown myself out of the car rather quickly if I had to go on a road trip w/ Trish and her brother Darry, and I sighed in frustration quite often. A shame, as the general idea of The Creeper as a villain was not bad; it did look creepy enough for my tastes. The first act was the strongest as it involved Creeps causing havoc in his giant vehicle as he went all Duel on the leads (although hilariously, part of the opening act was based on... a segment shown on Unsolved Mysteries! It's no coincidence—look up Dennis DePue. A number of elements in that segment made their way here). I was irked even then by the two lead characters but things only started to fall apart despite there being effective horror moments throughout the duration of the movie.
Now I know there's another reason for me not to see the rest of the director's work: my not liking this movie. However, I will close out by mentioning that this was filmed in Central Florida, most of the locations about an hour away from where I live. That is how the rural area of Central Florida can look, abandoned churches and all.
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