Jeepers Creepers II (2003)

Set a few days after the original, a championship basketball team's bus is attacked by The Creeper, the winged, flesh-eating terror, on the last day of his 23-day feeding frenzy.

Director:

Victor Salva

Writers:

Victor Salva (characters), Victor Salva

Stars:

Ray Wise, Jonathan Breck, Garikayi Mutambirwa

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ray Wise	...	Jack Taggart Sr.
Jonathan Breck	...	The Creeper
Garikayi Mutambirwa	...	Deaundre 'Double D' Davis
Eric Nenninger	...	Scott 'Scotty' Braddock
Nicki Aycox	...	Minxie Hayes
Travis Schiffner	...	Izzy Bohen
Lena Cardwell	...	Chelsea Farmer
Billy Aaron Brown	...	Andy 'Bucky' Buck
Marieh Delfino	...	Rhonda Truitt
Diane Delano	...	Bus Driver Betty Borman
Thom Gossom Jr.	...	Coach Charlie Hanna
Tom Tarantini	...	Coach Dwayne Barnes
Al Santos	...	Dante Belasco
Josh Hammond	...	Jake Spencer
Kasan Butcher	...	Kimball 'Big K' Ward

Storyline

Stranded on a lonely road, a schoolbus full of high school basketball players, their coaches, and cheerleaders must defend themselves from the Creeper - a flesh-eating ancient beast that resurfaces on the earth every 23 years to feed. Meanwhile, a farmer and his son set out on a personal mission to hunt the Creeper down.

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Plot Keywords:

cheerleader | farmer | high school basketball | fear | nightmare | 

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Taglines:

The Creeper is back for more.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [fr] MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 August 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jeepers Creepers 2: The Second Night

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$492,551 (Australia) (6 February 2004)

Gross:

$948,983 (Australia) (13 February 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists, Myriad Pictures, American Zoetrope

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The road scenes were all filmed on a small stretch of private road on the Tejon Ranch in California. Interiors on the bus were filmed on a stage in an airport hanger.

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Goofs

When the coach is trying to pull the object out of the tire, the wider shot shows him using his left arm, but the close shot shows a right hand pulling it out.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Taggert: [yelling out to Billy, who's putting up scarecrows] Billy! Get number three up now. Don't come in to eat before you do. And check the other two! Make sure they're wired up good. I don't want them blowing over again the first big wind.

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Connections

References Lifeboat (1944)

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Soundtracks

"The Bannon County Fight Song"
Words and Music by Victor Salva

User Reviews

OK sequel tries hard, but misses the mark

JEEPERS CREEPERS II

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS

Stranded in a broken-down bus on a lonely country road, a group of high school jocks and cheerleaders are targeted by the monstrous Creeper (Jonathan Breck) who needs their body parts for the purposes of regeneration. But the Creeper hasn't reckoned on the tenacity of one of its earlier victims (Ray Wise), a grieving father seeking revenge for the loss of his youngest son...

Though crafted with technical precision and performed with gusto by a strong cast of newcomers and veterans, this disappointing sequel sacrifices the heartfelt emotional undertow of its magnificent predecessor JEEPERS CREEPERS (2000) in favor of bigger and splashier set-pieces. While it's as raucous and entertaining as one could hope for, it's also a surprisingly conventional effort from writer-director Victor Salva, whose best work (POWDER, RITES OF PASSAGE, etc.) has always focused on small groups of characters caught up in extreme situations. Here, his attempts to shoehorn deeper issues into what is essentially a popcorn movie seems forced and inconsequential, and he spreads his narrative concerns too thinly over a broad range of interchangeable characters: The elements of homophobia and racism which initially divide the young heroes - until they're forced to overcome their differences in order to survive the Creeper's onslaught - are rendered increasingly meaningless as the movie progresses, until they no longer have any direct influence on the wider storyline.

But Salva is too much of a craftsman for his movie to be a complete washout. The action/horror set-pieces are genuinely spectacular, and Breck camps it up superbly as the hideous Creeper, swooping out of the darkness to carry unsuspecting victims to their doom. Working in scope format for the first time in their respective careers (REAL scope, not that Super 35 rubbish), Salva and cinematographer Don E. FauntLeRoy conjure a series of startling images from the outset, many of them tinged with visual poetry: The golden cornfield in the opening sequence, where the film's first victim suffers an appalling fate (a genuinely horrific set-piece); the point-of-view shots from the Creeper's perspective as it swoops on fleeing prey; and the eerie calm of the closing sequence, which portends sequels to come. Salva's regular composer, Bennett Salvay, delivers a terrific symphonic score, as brassy and frightening as any in recent years, which serves to boost the film's dramatic appeal in no uncertain terms.

Wise, a late addition to the cast, dominates the film as an avenging farmer who is every bit the Creeper's equal in terms of strength and persistence, and he's given strong support by veterans Diane Delano and Thom Gossom Jr. The younger cast members are enthusiastic and talented, and it's a fair bet that some of them (Travis Schiffner, Al Santos, Nicki Aycox, etc.) will figure heavily in various Hunkiest/Sexiest lists during the next few years. Look out for a brief - but welcome - cameo appearance by Justin Long from "JC1". It may not live up to every expectation, but there's still much to enjoy in JEEPERS CREEPERS II.