Sunday 18 February 2018

Movie Review: JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 (2017)

Jeepers Creepers 3

I loved the first Jeepers Creepers movie when it came out. I love monster movies, and I found this one to be creepy and scary at times, while maintaining plenty of suspense and oozing character. I enjoyed the second one, but not so much. The monster had been revealed at the end of the first film, so a lot of the intrigue had gone, and we were left with a fairly cool, enjoyable horror movie.

It's time to address the elephant in the room. The director and writer Victor Salva is a convicted child molester. I had no idea about this when I saw the first two movies, but with this third release imminent, it was all over the internet. Yes, he's done his time and has publicly pled for forgiveness etc, but still. It's not like he was a burglar or fraudster. The guy abused a twelve-year-old boy. I won't lie, it's made it difficult for me to watch this, or any other movie he's been involved in. After a lot of thought, I decided to do my best to dissasociate the art from the artist, and give Jeepers Creepers 3 a chance.

This long awaited third instalment of the franchise is set between the events of the first movie and the second, to ensure that passing fans have the shit confused out of them.

The plot centres around a family who lost someone to The Creeper 23 years ago (the creature returns every 23 years), and his ghost has returned to warn his mother that The Creeper is coming to find something that belongs to it on their land. Consequently, they need to leave the area as it's sure to kill them. The story also follows a team of people, mostly police I think, who know about the existence of The Creeper and are out to kill it. 

I quite enjoyed Jeepers Creepers 3. I liked it more than the second film, but not as much as the classic debut. There were plenty of interesting scenes, annoying teenage assholes getting despatched, and a few new aspects to the monster's mythos that are developed a little further.

(Spoiler alert until the end of the review) 
I wasn't overly convinced by the magical impenetrable van with its booby traps and it being almost sentient. It's a van, not a Decepticon! This was just a minor gripe though, and it did make for a few bloodied scenes.

I did feel that the movie was setting itself up for revealing the history of The Creeper, and why it's doing what it does. As soon as you think you're going to get this pay-off, the movie ends. Well, you do get a final scene set in the present day, where the surviving sister from the first film is talking about a plan to destroy the monster, as it's about to awaken again and she intends to stop it once and for all. So basically, the answers we expected to get in this third movie will come in the fourth, providing it actually gets made. Considering the numerous bad reviews and very limited theatrical release it received, I'd be very surprised if Jeepers Creepers 4 happens. Hopefully I'm wrong on that one, as I think it's a great franchise and I love The Creeper, despite the awful shadow cast by its creator.

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