I finally watched Jeepers Creepers 3, a movie I recorded off SyFy channel back in October. This is obviously the third part in the Jeepers Creepers horror movie franchise… a series that is kind of pretty decent (at least the first movie was… the sequel less so). It’s been fifteen years to bring forth a direct-to-cable sequel with a minuscule budget that majorly sabotages the flick.
The series is about a fedora-and-duster wearing winged creature who drives around in an ugly old van killing people and collecting their spare parts. Where did he get the van? Did he pay cash? Does he renew his plates every year? What about a driver’s license? OK… these are dumb jokes but, you know, he still has to get gas at a service station, right? What’s that like?
Well, anyway, this new movie is a surprise prequel to the second movie (spoiler alert) and maybe a sequel to the first… the time-line is confusing. Regardless though, it fails to follow up on the somewhat interested conclusion to the second flick so that’s not good. Worse yet, it sequel baits a future movie that WOULD be a sequel to the first movie, but maybe not the second?
Bah. None of this matters. This third film is just bad. Part of that is the shoddy special effects, the terrible rear-projection (seriously, rear projection problems?), and some very bad acting. The creature effects are also bad… it looks like the actor is wearing a poorly designed waxy mask. It doesn’t help much of this movie is shot during the day with the creeper in full sunlight so we can see how bad he looks.
And that’s another problem in general. The movie has an elevated sense of the place the creature has in pop culture. By the third Nightmare on Elm Street movie, Freddie Krueger had pop culture cache… he was familiar and they could play a bit with his personality. The Creeper hasn’t had a movie in fifteen years and it wasn’t like the first two hit the mainstream. But this movie treats him too jokingly, he whistles while he works in broad daylight. He’s not at all scary and not at all charismatic enough to matter.
Anyhow, this is a poorly made film with apparent plot holes and nonsensical story elements that never come together. It thinks its more interesting than it is, doesn’t continue any kind of story, spins its wheels, and promises sequels that probably won’t get made. If you are a fan of the first two movies, hey, I’m sure SyFy is playing it often enough that maybe it’s worth a watch. Nothing her for anyone else.
Score: 64