Jeepers Creepers 2

We are trapped in a broken down school bus out on East 9. And something is going to kill us if we don't get help out here right away!

Plot finds the demon known as The Creeper (Jonathan Breck), still having a little time left for feeding and harvesting human parts before his 23 year hibernation. A buffet bar of high school kids on a bus returning from a basketball match are now in his sights. But an avenging father played by Ray Wise is willing to take the fight to the monster.

It's a simple as it sounds, really. Creeper picks off various members of the bus, which is the usual array of annoyingly obnoxious teenagers. The tension comes from wondering who is next in line, all while the fractured group (racial/sexuality tensions) try to come up with some sort of plan to survive until help arrives. Logically it's a laughable nightmare and goofs aplenty are within, but there's a neat gory "B" movie vibe about it driving it forward. Plus there's more of Creeper in flying mode and a bad ass Ray Wise to root for.

After the success of the first Jeepers Creepers film it was inevitable that a sequel would follow. With a little sadness we find that this sequel fails to capture the strengths that made the first film a refreshing horror joltathon. But regardless it still has some merits for a fun horror time waster. 6/10

***On its final day, the Creeper attacks a school bus full of basketball personnel***

A basketball team and a few cheerleaders are returning home from a game 30 miles south of Bakersfield, California, when their bus is sabotaged in the countryside by some… thing… with wings.

"Jeepers Creepers 2" (2003) is the best of the trilogy with the highlight being the creative and creepy monster, called the Creeper, which is reminiscent of the chief gargoyle in “Gargoyles” (1972), but more demonic and wholly evil. This is basically a confined location horror flick with the setting being the remote golden fields of Southern Cal (and the school bus).

The first film (2001) was hindered by its limited cast while this one tries to make up for it with a whole busload of kids and three school employees (two coaches and a bus driver). But the film generally drops the ball in the female department and, worse, focuses a little too much on shirtless jocks, which can be explained by the writer/director’s orientation (get real). There’s also zero depth; this is a movie about an evil winged creature that attacks a busload of youths and little else. But it’s very well done for what it is.

The film runs 1 hour, 44 minutes and was shot in Southern Cal (Tejon Ranch and Long Beach).

GRADE: B-