It takes a special kind of talent to call your franchise reboot Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022) and promptly kill the series you are trying to resurrect. A young couple go to a horror convention (that is scary enough) and get selected to do an escape room house based around the local legend of The Creeper, the winged man-monster that shows up every 23 years. What they don't know is this is all a set up to make them the creature's latest meal.
For better or worse, Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers trilogy was a solid intro for a new "horror icon" (© every horror news site). It set simple rules and had its monster attack people. This follows that same set up, but tries to up it with some bizarre new plot twists. For example, this one features a cult that worships the Creeper and brings the victims to them. If you are hoping for more info than that, you will be sorely disappointed. The film literally has the cult trap the people in the house, one of them says, "They're all yours now" and then they walk away, never to be seen again. There is an interesting new idea where the Creeper can attach dead body parts to its own damaged body to regenerate, but again it is never fully explained. Heck, if it was it wouldn't even matter as the film is so cheaply made. A lot of criticism online has been about how damn cheap the film looks and I can't disagree. From the fake sets to the greenscreen work to the fake CGI, it looks more like a bad Youku movie. Director Timo Vuorensola made those terrible looking Iron Sky films, so it makes sense this looks just as bad. You know you've screwed up when the viewer is wishing for the more subtle style of Salva. I did get a couple of laughs from dumb bits like the phone in the decaying mansion still working (did the Creeper immediately start a phone plan when it was resurrected that morning?) and the bit where the hip Youtube crew (ugh!) following our leads find their cameraman dead minutes after they arrive at the house and one says, "It's fresh, whatever got him just got here." Of course it is fresh! You literally just got there with the man! Sadly, boneheaded stuff like that can only entertain so much.
For better or worse, Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers trilogy was a solid intro for a new "horror icon" (© every horror news site). It set simple rules and had its monster attack people. This follows that same set up, but tries to up it with some bizarre new plot twists. For example, this one features a cult that worships the Creeper and brings the victims to them. If you are hoping for more info than that, you will be sorely disappointed. The film literally has the cult trap the people in the house, one of them says, "They're all yours now" and then they walk away, never to be seen again. There is an interesting new idea where the Creeper can attach dead body parts to its own damaged body to regenerate, but again it is never fully explained. Heck, if it was it wouldn't even matter as the film is so cheaply made. A lot of criticism online has been about how damn cheap the film looks and I can't disagree. From the fake sets to the greenscreen work to the fake CGI, it looks more like a bad Youku movie. Director Timo Vuorensola made those terrible looking Iron Sky films, so it makes sense this looks just as bad. You know you've screwed up when the viewer is wishing for the more subtle style of Salva. I did get a couple of laughs from dumb bits like the phone in the decaying mansion still working (did the Creeper immediately start a phone plan when it was resurrected that morning?) and the bit where the hip Youtube crew (ugh!) following our leads find their cameraman dead minutes after they arrive at the house and one says, "It's fresh, whatever got him just got here." Of course it is fresh! You literally just got there with the man! Sadly, boneheaded stuff like that can only entertain so much.
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