By: debbie lynn elias
With a lyric backdrop of the 1939 Johnny Mercer-Al Donohue tune by the same name, writer/director Victor Salva, brings classic horror and dig-your-nails-into-the-arm-of- your-date terror back to the silver screen with “Jeepers, Creepers”, filling a void in this summer’s film fare. Starring Gina Phillips, probably best known for her television work on “Ally McBeal” and “Boston Public”, and Justin Long from last year’s short-lived television series, “Ed,” as collegiate siblings Trish and Darry, “Jeepers, Creepers” has enough fear, feistiness and feuding to raise the hair on your neck and give new meaning to sibling torture.
Travelling home for spring break by taking the scenic route along a statewide stretch of deserted highway, rather than listen to “Praise the Lord” radio programming, Trish and Darry amuse themselves with a spirited barrage of insults ranging from Trish’s boyfriend to Darry’s dirty laundry with exceedingly odorous socks and underwear, to fighting over who gets the last bottle of water. And let’s not forget the discussion about the accident 23 years earlier on the very same road which took the lives of two high school students, whose bodies were never found although it was believed that the girl involved was beheaded. Interrupting their trip and the retelling of this tragedy, is the ominous appearance of a souped-up rusted-out old van that looks like a reject from “Mad Max” or “Waterworld”, the very presence of which reeks evil and whose intent appears to be to either scare the pants off Trish and Darry or run them off the road.
After surviving a harrowing bumper car road race with the van, Trish and Darry see it again miles ahead parked along an abandoned church which appears to serve as home to every black crow in the county. (Think the playground scene in “The Birds” and you’ll get the picture.) With its rear panel doors open, we get a distant vision of a scraggly, cloaked, hatted man dropping down into an oversized corrugated drain pipe, large items wrapped in red-stained sheets (dare we think – blood?) and tied with rope at what might be the neck, waist and ankles if we were to let our imaginations take charge and believe these items to be bodies.
Gaping, agog and in disbelief and shock, Trish and Darry are spotted by the cloaked figure who jumps into the van and takes chase. Our heroes, however, elude the van and in a moment of teen stupidity (and obviously having never seen “Scream ” or read the horror movie rule book), decide to go back and look in the drain to see if someone needs help…especially since Darry’s cell phone doesn’t work. Of course, Trish, despite her unwillingness to participate in the adventure, is nevertheless swayed by her brother’s concern that “What if it were you?” (At that age, most brothers, including my own, would opt for leaving their sister down a drain pipe…and vice versa.)
On their return, Darry, thinking he hears a voice in the pipe, climbs in but loses his footing, plummeting face first through a hoard of rats down the pipe landing in what can only be described as a horror to end all horrors – an underground lair a la Dr. Frankenstein with ceiling decor consisting of hundreds of preserved corpses, including the missing girl from 23 years ago whose head was indeed severed from the body and then reattached, as well as a dying young boy wrapped in a red stained sheet whose stomach has been ripped open and sewn back together.
Through more chases, full blown panic, hysteria and shock, Trish and Darry finally meet up with the police (the first set of which fall victim to The Creeper), the area psychic, Jezelle, eerily and convincingly played by veteran character actor, Patricia Belcher, and come face-to-face with The Creeper itself. With the appearance of Jezelle, we learn of her visions, among them: the death of either Trish or Darry while a scratchy old phonograph plays “Jeepers Creepers” in the background, an encounter with cats (LOTS of cats) and the fact that The Creeper, obviously having checked college class schedules in perpetrating its legacy, feeds on people every 23rd spring for a period of 23 days, eating various body parts in order to complete its “body”, i.e., eyes to see, feet to walk, lungs to breathe, etc. The scent of fear is used to select its entrees. Maybe this is why mothers everywhere tell their children to wear clean underwear.
Salva keeps the horrific suspense going at full tilt using the blurring of people and objects, soft focus, dim lighting, back lighting and the wonderful photographic talents of Don E. FauntLe Royes, leaving much to one’s own imagination and personal level of terror. Even by film’s end, we have still not seen every nuance or feature of the monster, leaving Salva wide open for a sequel. Screen veteran Eileen Brennan only adds to the creepiness as the nutty, reclusive cat lady who won’t tolerate anyone messing with her cats or her scarecrow.
A welcome addition to the horror genre and sure to become a cult classic, you’ll never think the same thoughts again when hearing Louis Armstrong or Johnny Mercer sing those magic words – “Jeepers, creepers, where’d ya get those peepers? Jeepers, creepers, where’d ya get those eyes?”
