Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) – WTF Happened to This Horror Movie?

The episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? covering Jeepers Creepers 2 was Written and Narrated by Adam Walton, Edited by Joseph Wilson, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Way back in 2001, Jeepers Creepers introduced us to a very effective movie monster who likes nothing more than to harvest and then eat the organs of human beings. The film, starring Justin Long and Gina Philips was hugely popular, and managed to rake in almost $60 million dollars internationally from a reported budget of just $10 million dollars. When you factor in the subsequent profit the film will have made from the various home entertainment revenue streams, you can see why it’s spawned three sequels, to date. The first movie took the horror landscape by surprise, so naturally the first sequel wouldn’t be far away, and before you could say ‘please don’t sew me to a basement wall’, The Creeper was back doing what he likes best in 2003’s sequel, imaginatively titled Jeepers Creepers 2 (watch it HERE). The opening scene of the first movie was so disturbingly original and effective that it helped to create a wonderful sense of dread in the rest of the film, but could part two keep that going enough to warrant a follow-up? Well, prise yourself off the ceiling and try not to lose your head as we find out WTF happened to Jeepers Creepers 2.

Despite being massively successful upon release, and a proper hoot for most of its runtime, the original Jeepers Creepers does have a few flaws when it comes to basic logic. Firstly, why exactly does The Creeper have to wait 23 springs in order to eat again and also, if he can fly, then why on earth does he need to drive a shitty old truck to hunt down his prey. It’s not exactly more stealthy than gliding around and swooping on your prey like some kind of bad-ass bat-creature, is it? I guess it doesn’t really matter; the 23 springs thing is a part of its mythology that the filmmakers conjured up, and instead of having to set the sequel 23 years after the events of the first movie, they decided to set it within the same 23 days in which the first movie took place. It’s a neat way of ensuring the franchise can continue on a relatively low budget, without the need to jump forward in time 23 years in each movie. Although, The Creeper tearing up the remnants of a dystopian future could be a winner.

What’s certain with regards to the franchise’s somewhat sketchy mythology, the director of Jeepers Creepers 2, Victor Salva, it would appear, does not care one bit. The sequel doesn’t set out to answer any of the questions regarding The Creeper’s origins and Salva’s narrative is more bothered with what the beast can actually do, than taking time to explain exactly why it’s doing it. Silva’s previous work as director was not heavily geared towards straight-out horror. However he showed with the first movie’s opening scene that effective thrills were in his wheel-house at least, so it made sense for the producers to bring him back for part two, especially given the profit they made on the original.

Produced by Myriad Pictures and American Zoetrope, filming on the sequel took place in Tejon Ranch and Long Beach, California, in 2002. In terms of casting on the movie, obviously some of the cast from the first movie wouldn’t be able to return, such as Darry who looked pretty dead with his eyes removed and the back of his head missing. Jonathan Breck returns as the devilishly handsome Creeper, while the rest of the cast are new blood, ripe and ready to have their organs harvested. One of the most recognisable faces that makes an appearance is Ray Wise as Jack Taggart, probably best known for the iconic Twin Peaks series, plus a bus load of high school students played by the likes of Al Santos, Josh Hammond, Nicki Aycox, Garikayi Mutambirwa, Eric Nenninger, Billy Aaron Brown, plus Diane Delano as ‘Bus Driver Betty’ and Thom Gossom Jr. as ‘Coach Charlie Hanna’. Not wanting to miss out on the action is director Salva, who pulls a Shyamalan and has a cameo in the movie on the cover of a magazine briefly seen on the bus.

Set three days after the events of the first movie, the sequel’s plot begins with farmer Jack Taggart (played by Ray Wise) and his son Jack Taggart Jr. who investigate an attack on Jack Jr’s brother, Billy, by a scarecrow-like beastie. As the two Jacks go looking for an explanation regarding Billy’s abduction, a bus load of high school students are attacked by The Creeper when their bus, rather inconveniently for them, but not the movie’s plot, breaks down. Farmer Jack Sr. soon begins to realize that the killings on the bus and his son’s attack are connected and, after alerting the local community to be on guard, he aims to harpoon The Creeper once and for all.

What follows is, to be fair to, a fairly decent sequel which, despite never reaching the great Duel-like chase scenes in the first movie, still manages to be a fun creature feature. It’s nothing more than a daft monster movie and the premise involving the separate storylines with Farmer Jack Sr. and the bus load of school kids makes for some interesting dynamics in the narrative. It’s not long before the jocks and cheerleaders on the bus begin to go all ‘Lord of the Flies’ and turn on each other. The fear of imminent danger and the pressure of survival bring out the worst in some characters, leading to internal conflicts within the group as they struggle to cope with the terrifying circumstances they find themselves in.

Unfortunately, however, the story is lacking in originality and any truly memorable charters for the audience to give a monkeys about when faced with imminent decapitation or impalement. The story takes inspiration from Spielberg classics such as Jurassic Park and Jaws, and while those films make the most of not only inventive action beats but also decent character development, Jeepers Creepers 2 relies on strangely clairvoyant cheerleaders and home-made weapons to get a kick from. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing per se; watching farmer ‘I killed Laura Palmer’ Jack in action is fun, as is seeing The Creeper get harpooned in the head. But, its dialogue is dire, with lines such as “I think it’s gone, I’m willing to bet money on it” an example of the level we’re talking about. The writing for characters is paper thin overall, and the structure of the film, which is basically; stalk, kill, retreat, repeat, works well but becomes repetitive pretty quickly. While I enjoyed the film as a largely forgettable and daft monster movie, it isn’t anything other than that, and doesn’t further the mythology or provide any more inventive or gory kills than the first movie. It’s a shame, but it didn’t necessarily put a stop to the franchise, which is something we may explore in a future video.

Jeepers Creepers 2 had a saturated opening weekend in the US in late August 2003, on 3,124 screens, and managed to gross $35.5 million dollars overall domestically, on a reported budget of $17 million dollars. The movie grossed in the region of $63.1 – £120 million dollars internationally, surpassing the original to have the highest ever labor day opening weekend ever, that is until Jason Statham a co. flying kicked it out of the way with The Transporter 2 in 2005.

The movie may have been a relative financial success but how did it fare with critics upon release? Well, to say the opinions were mixed would be an understatement. According to Rotten Tomatoes, if you take any notice of that website, the movie has a rotten rating of 24% from 127 reviews and an audience score of 37%, with the site’s critical consensus reads: “Jeepers Creepers 2 is competently made, but it doesn’t have the scares of the original.” Variety magazine were surprisingly positive about the movie, saying that, “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.” Less impressed was Roger Ebert who, amusingly and accurately in my opinion, wrote that, “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.”

So, there we have it. Another middle-of-the-road, watchable and fun at times sequel, to an admittedly stronger part one. It takes what made the first movie a success and doesn’t do anything new or cool with the mythology but does just about enough to make it a fun double-bill with part one. In fact, there’s a Blu-Ray release featuring both movies so do yourself a favor and grab your pals, or your significant other, and settle in for a night of creepy Creeper action. If nothing else, you’ll have a proper laugh! More importantly though, what’s YOUR take on the sequel? Let us know in the comments and we’ll see you wonderful gore-hounds next time. Thanks for watching!

A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!