Okay, let’s get the obvious thing out of the way first. Yes, the director of Jeepers Creepers, Victor Salva, is a convicted child molester. That’s a terrible, gross and heinous act. However, I’m not here to talk about that shit and frankly, I would rather cut my own balls off than dedicate any more time discussing it, so please, leave it off my site altogether. Instead, I’m here to talk about Jeepers Creepers, the incredibly fun B-monster flick from 2001, which happened to have plenty of other names in the credits, so your precious money isn’t going towards the director if you happen to buy the super awesome collector’s edition from Scream Factory, which you absolutely should buy! Having said all that, let’s get on with this review of the Jeepers Creepers Blu-ray from Scream Factory…
Product Information
DISCS: 2
RUN-TIME: 90 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 2.0 DTS-HD MA
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A/1
RATING: R
PRODUCTION DATE: 2001
RELEASE DATE: June 14, 2016
Plot Summary
On a desolate country highway, two homeward-bound teens (Gina Philips, The Sickhouse, and Justin Long, Drag Me To Hell) are nearly run off the road by a maniac in a beat-up truck… and later spot him shoving what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe. But when they stop to investigate, they discover that the grisly reality at the bottom of that pipe is far worse than they could have ever suspected… and that they are now the targets of an evil far more unspeakable – and unstoppable – than they could have ever imagined!
Movie Review
Darry (Justin Long) and Trish (Gina Philips) are brother and sister on the way home from college. Taking the scenic route, the siblings run into the mysterious Creeper (Jonathan Breck). At first, they think it’s just some crazy psycho in an old beat up truck, but after they see the man dumping what looks to be bodies down a sewage pipe, they begin to realize something isn’t right. After making the dumbest decision possible, they investigate the sewage pipe and once again get into trouble with the Creeper. If that isn’t bad enough, this Creeper is actually an ancient monster who feasts on humans every 23 years for 23 days and he now has the scent of one them on his nose and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
The first 45 minutes are where it’s at with Jeepers Creepers. The long, lonely highways and the Creeper hiding in the shadows, sniffing people’s underwear. It’s all fantastic stuff! (I have to say I absolutely love the shot of the Creeper atop of the police car, while Darry and Trish argue over the song on the radio. Just a wonderfully shot scene.) The film keeps the tension and scares running high during these scenes, but once the Creeper comes out in the open more in the latter half of the film, the tension dissipates.
That’s not to say the film is terrible once we get the full reveal, it just loses a bit of scariness when you see the Creeper in full light. Plus, the latter half gets away from being a scary flick into a more full-on action movie, with several police officers fighting the Creeper in a police station. I would have enjoyed it more if the Creeper decided to massacre the heck out of them, but he doesn’t seem to kill many of them if the last few shots of the film are any indication. As for the ending, it sneaks up on you rather quickly, however, that last shot is a killer! All an all, Jeepers Creepers is a B-monster flick that still holds up to this day.
Blu-ray Opinion
Scream Factory releases Jeepers Creepers in a two-disc collector’s Edition, with the first disc housing the movie and two commentaries (one new commentary and one old). The second disc is where all the special features are, some new and some old from the past DVD release. As for the video, it’s looking not bad at all but it does have a bit of high contrast during the daytime scenes, along with some excessive and patchy grain. However, the night scenes are clean of any issues. It certainly isn’t the best transfer around, but I’ve seen worse. Audio is wonderfully loud and clear, with two options included: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 2.0 DTS-HD MA.
On disc two, you have several new interviews with cast and crew. The first is a roughly 35-minute interview with director Victor Salva, Barry Opper and others. Victor Salvia discusses his inspirations for the movie, which ranged from Hitchcock to Spielberg. Also included is an interview with Producer Barry Opper, who talks about his career, which included the wonderful Critters. The last of the new interviews is with Patricia Belcher, who played the psychic in the flick. Everything else you’ve seen before on previously released editions, which includes a lot of behind the scenes and deleted scenes. No need to keep your DVD lying around if you decide to pick this up.
Special Features
Disc 1:
• NEW 2K Scan Of The Interpositive
• NEW Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Victor Salva And Stars Justin Long And Gina Philips
• Audio Commentary By Writer/Director Victor Salva
Disc 2:
• NEW Jeepers Creepers: Then And Now Featuring Interviews With Writer/Director Victor Salva, Producer Barry Opper, Director Of Photography Don FauntLeRoy, Editor Ed Marx And Actor Tom Tarantini
• NEW From Critters To Creepers – An Interview With Producer Barry Opper
• NEW The Town Psychic – An Interview With Actress Patricia Belcher
• Behind The Peepers: The Making of Jeepers Creepers Featuring Writer/Director Victor Salva, Producer Tom Luse, Actors Gina Philips, Justin Long, Eileen Brennan, Jonathan Breck And More…
• Deleted & Extended Scenes Including An Alternate Opening And Ending Sequence
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spot
Verdict
Jeepers Creepers is an entertaining monster flick, plain and simple. It falters in the second half of the movie some, but the ending scene sure makes up for any issues I had with it. The Blu-ray from Scream Factory is a no-brainer for fans and is worthy of a purchase.