A dumb sequel to a dumb original, Jeepers Creepers 2 thinks it’s a lot scarier than it actually is.

Victor Salva’s Jeepers Creepers was, mysteriously, a surprise hit back in 2001, though it did have two things in its favour – likeable leads and a terrific, genuinely creepy opening 20 minutes. However, once it was revealed that the ‘Creeper’ was, in fact, a plastic-looking demon, it ceased to be even remotely frightening and became simply stupid.

This, however, hasn’t stopped Salva from bringing the Creeper to life once again and the result is an extremely dumb, not very frightening horror sequel.

Bus Of Fools

The film is set just a few days after the last film ended. To be fair, Jeepers Creepers 2 once again has an effectively creepy opening sequence, with the Creeper hanging around in a cornfield pretending to be a scarecrow in order to kill a young boy, the son of farmer Ray Wise. After that, however, his next target is a busload of dumb teens and we stay with the Bus Of Fools for the remainder of the film.

After a bizarre, vaguely homoerotic ‘character’ scene in which the testosterone-laden jock-types all urinate together while the bus has stopped, the Creeper gets on with the business of picking them off one by one, with the ‘joke’ being that the kids are all so horrible that they’re practically squabbling amongst themselves about who ‘ought’ to be saved and who ought to die.

There’s only one even slightly likeable character – Nicki Lynn Aycox as ‘Minxie’ Hayes, who somehow has psychic powers that allow her to see a vision of the dead boy from the opening scene and the kid from the first film. Even so, she spends most of the film screaming, until Ray Wise turns up again with a truck-mounted Big Old Home-Made Harpoon Gun, at which point the film grudgingly earns its second star.

Just Not Scary…But Nice Hat

The main problem is that the Creeper just isn’t scary – at least, not as scary as Salva seems to think it is. His methods of killing people aren’t really original either – he mostly just swoops off with them. He does, however, have a rather nifty hat.

Admittedly, it is a pleasure to see Ray Wise again, though to many people he’ll always be Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks, which in itself adds an unusual effect when he’s cast as a hero or a father.

He and his Giant Harpoon (like a cut-price Ahab) are really the only reason the film is worth seeing. Wait for the video, if you must.