‘Jeepers Creepers 2’ is a 2003 horror, written and directed by Victor Salva. The movie is a sequel to the far superior original, ‘Jeepers Creepers.’ Although, the sequel holds the title of highest grossing movie ever released on ‘Labor Day Weekend.’ This movie and obviously the original are the closest thing I would say, throws back to true ‘monster horror,’ with a nasty creature feature.

The story follows on after the events of the original, with the monster – ‘The Creeper’- a creature which every 23 years awakes to feast on human flesh for 23 days, replacing its wounded limbs and organs with those it smells out and takes from its victims, making it indestructible and eternal.

Most of the movie is set inside a school bus, which ‘The Creeper’ has stranded in the middle of nowhere, stranded on the infamous East 9 Highway in Kassel County, so it can take it’s pick of the handsome, young cast’s ‘bodily parts.’ The group of high school football players and cheerleaders huddle in terror; their teachers have been taken, violently snatched away in the blink of an eye by the Creeper. Mayhem has erupted in the bus, and The Creeper waits for an opportunity to sweep in and begin its murderous rampage.

What it doesn’t know though, is that the father of one its victims (a young boy who gets taken in the opening sequence in a very traumatic and sad scene), a broken-hearted farmer named Taggart, and his older son, Jack, are following hot on its trail, looking for revenge.

The movie aspires to be more than just a slasher flick, and it isn’t, to an extent. It does have the monster theme after all, which is very unique in the genre at this time. Plenty of the movie is devoted to claustrophobic confrontations between students that reveal their underlying prejudices and sins. Since The Creeper is selective of whom it hunts, paranoia soon rises amongst the teens, and the scenes between the young actors are well performed and full of angst. The mood of the film is dark, from the opening scene to the closing credits, and the originality of the first movie is lost in the sequel.

A racist comment by a star football player is portrayed in a negative light by a cheerleader, who wisely notes that fear brings out a person’s true character, and there are some morals in the movie that are trying to break out. Eric Nenninger is fantastic as the nasty ‘Scotty Braddock,’ and plays his role with vigour.

This could be said to be one of the most homoerotic charged horror movies since - ‘Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge,’ with the mostly male cast, nearly all ‘jocks’, running around shirtless for most of the movie. Although, when sexuality is brought up against one of the characters, it is portrayed in a negative light – sending mixed messages to the audience, even though Travis Schiffner as (Izzy Bohen), the ‘gay’ character, does one of the bravest acts in the movie, by sacrificing his own life to save several of the others.

‘Jeepers Creepers 2’ is often explicit with its violence, which is sadistic and brutal. The most graphic moment occurs when The Creeper is stabbed through the eye with a javelin (the camera lingers on the beast as it vigorously tries to tug the shaft from its cranium). It eventually rips the spike out, along with a large section of its head. A teen (Al Santos as Dante Belasco) is then graphically decapitated (with his headless body writhing, just so we can all feel the need to ask ‘how did they do that?’ Before puking) and his head is grossly used to replace - the Creeper’s.

The Creeper is creepy, even if he does look like he was based way too much on Freddy Kruger when he isn’t flying through the air like a bat out of hell.

This is a fun horror, which doesn’t take much concentration and could easily be watched at a party, but with over forty uses of the f-word, maybe an over eighteen party. The psychic cheerleader is at least worth a laugh, although while watching the film, it’s done well enough for the ability to suddenly be plausible.

A fun monster movie, but check out the original first.

Apparently, a third film is in the works, to be written and directed by Victor Salva, also. The film is scheduled for release in 2009. Recently Victor Salva told Moviehole that the film may actually get a theatrical release, and that the film might bring back characters from the past two films. The film currently has the title ‘Jeepers Creepers 3: The Creeper Walks Among Us.’ Talks are that Ray Wise will reprise his role from number 2, and Gina Phillips who played Trish in the original film is in talks with Salva to return as well. There are also talks of a fourth movie being filmed back to back after the third, also with Salva in the director’s chair.