⭐️ out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Creeper is back! Unfortunately, he’s as painful to watch this time as he was the last time we saw him.
Directed by Timo Vuorensola
Oh, the poor Creeper.
These days, I just feel bad for the bat-winged fella. I mean, at least Jason and Pinhead got to go to space during their prolonged downward spiral. Not the Creeper, though. He’s still flying around that same lonely patch of rural America; chewing on farmers and the occasional hapless city slicker.
Back in the glory days of the first Jeepers Creepers (2001) and Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) the Creeper had substance. There was a great mythology being built up around him and both movies had well thought out stories to support what he did. Then along came Jeepers Creepers III (2017).
Maybe it’s because of the 14 year break between #2 and #3? Maybe it’s because they switched to Roman numerals in the movie title? Whatever the reason, the Creeper had lost his mojo. He stumbled around the movie like a drunken sailor while the pacing of the movie itself lurched and hiccuped right along with him.
Enter Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022). It’s the first in the franchise to break away from creator and convicted pedophile, Victor Salva. Plus, director Timo Vuorensola was the man behind the goofy, satirical, Moon-Nazi-laden Iron Sky (2012). I have to say I had my fingers crossed for the Creeper this time.
Sadly, though, nothing could save him from this hot mess of a movie.
The pacing in Jeepers Creepers: Reborn is astoundingly uneven. The film spends more time than it should on characters that aren’t actually characters and spins its wheels in locations that have little to do with forwarding the story. The fairly lean 88 minute runtime feels a lot longer than it is.
The actors try their hardest to bring the Creeper back to his former glory. Bless their hearts. Unfortunately, the script does them no favors and, in a few cases, inexperience with the industry may be showing through. Performances are as uneven as the pacing.
The Creeper himself looks pretty good. He’s been given a bit of a redesign for Jeepers Creepers: Reborn since (1) the filmmakers wanted him to look a bit more like he does in the Jeepers Creepers comics and (2) this movie takes place in an alternate timeline from the original three films. In this new timeline, the first three Salva films exist, but they’re “fake”. As in, they’re based on real events that took place in this new timeline, but they’re still just horror movies.
The new Creeper is still a guy in a bodysuit [Jarreau Benjamin; TV’s Coronation Street (2018 – 2022)] and it’s still a decent looking suit, but it looked like the Creeper’s wings were often added in via CG effects and that was too bad. However, the additional scarring on his body caused by events in the first trilogy was a nice touch.
The rest of the special effects leave something to be desired. Many of the Creeper’s kills happen off camera which is always a bummer. For the rest, Jeepers Creepers: Reborn relies heavily on CG effects and most of those are not the greatest. Unsurprisingly, showcasing the worst of them during the film’s already ridiculous climatic fight scene didn’t help.
Currently sitting as the lowest rated film in the Jeepers Creepers franchise (on IMDB), Jeepers Creepers: Reborn was not the vindicating force the Creeper was hoping for. Or that anyone else was hoping for, for that matter.
Maybe next time he’ll get shot into space.
Jeepers Creepers: Reborn is currently available on Amazon for anyone who’s feeling particularly masochistic.
Review by Robert Zilbauer.