Post by outrider127 on Dec 13, 2017 11:20:05 GMT
If you prefer a video version of this review, click on the below link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWKK0S0BtwU&t=3s
We need to get something quickly out of the way. As most people who have been following the Jeepers Creepers movies already know, the director Victor Salva is a convicted pedophile. He did a surprisingly short amount of jail time for a terrible crime, and his actions have gotten more public attention in the last couple of years or so, which made it difficult for him to get Jeepers Creepers 3 off the ground. As a result, whilst I’m not sure of the exact figure, the budget for this instalment is clearly significantly lower than the previous two films, based on having just seen the movie.
It does bring up an interesting discussion. Should we judge a film on the final product alone, or should we take into consideration what went on behind the scenes? In general, I tend to look at only the final film, but I do acknowledge why a certain element of a movie didn’t work because of something that went on during production. At the end of the day, no-one usually remembers if a set was blown away or an actor walked off set halfway through filming, and some of the best films of all time had major complications before release. Also, if a director knows he has a certain amount of money to utilize, then he should work his film around this. Many directors alter things around based on changing circumstances, it must be a daily occurrence on set, and it’s clear after watching Jeepers Creepers 3 that Salva didn’t do this when he should have. The special effects in this movie are so poor, so laughably cartoonish, that you have to say that if Salva didn’t have the dosh then he should have filmed certain scenes differently, or scrapped them altogether. He didn’t, and as a result what little tension or fear that could have been generated through the horror related scenes are distractingly pissed on by syfy channel level effects. The effects weren’t even that good in the first two movies, so the bar to aim for is pretty low but even still JP3 trips over the first hurdle and lands embarrassingly on its nose.
So this film that fans of the cult movie duo have been waiting over a decade of is set, no, not 23 years later as you might expect, but for some reason just after the end of the first movie with the Creeper teleporting all over the place to terrorise some farmers. Why? What is the point? We already know how the Creeper’s situation ends during this 23 day stint. Why set the movie then? It’s such a strange creative decision, and it’s made worse with numerous plot holes and a returning character, the local sheriff, who looks nothing like he did at the end of the first film.
The story is to all intents and purposes completely isolated from the first and second movie, and though it’s teased that we’ll discover more about the creature and where it comes from we never do. All in all then the movie feels very pointless.
There was no act structure, no beginning, middle or end. Everything just kind of happens. There are many different characters in different plot threads, who are all going about their business when the creeper comes aknocking. I’m still not sure who the main character was because no one is given adequate screen time and none of these plot threads tie up or build into a climax of any kind and instead most of the cast serve as easy pickings for the Creeper. In fact, the film had an annoying tendency to spend 10 minutes with one group of characters and then as soon as the creeper shows up it cuts away to another group of characters. Probably a good idea because the creeper despite being played by the same actor looks nothing like his usual sexy self. The makeup was nothing like the previous two films – he just looks like a big, black angry man – and it doesn’t help that much of when we see him is in broad daylight, giving us more opportunities to examine the poor job the makeup guys did, the conspicuous red jumper, and the ridiculously shoddy CGI wings.
And he doesn’t seem like the same creeper. Maybe this is the original creeper’s younger, brain damaged brother, but he doesn’t actually do anything. None of the unnerving sniffing or glaring, no memorable kills or eating of body parts. He just kind of snorts and grunts his way through the film and is even dopey enough to get caught in his own trap.
Going back to what I said about the cut away action – when we should be seeing the creeper I.e. when he’s taking someone out or munching up on some tasty flesh, we’re not seeing him. But when we shouldn’t be seeing the creeper, the film doesn’t hesitate to show the creature in full. You don’t show the Xenomorph creeping around ducts on his own, snarling at dead ends and checking out detours, which is actually a mistake Alien Covenant ended up doing. You don’t show Michael Myers giddily climbing into cupboards or crouching behind desks getting ready for a jump scare. Because these things take away from the mystery and creep factor of the bad guys. But Jeepers Creepers 3 does exactly this. We are with him, in the truck, while he bobbles along driving around town, even checking his rear view mirror – why does he even HAVE a rear view mirror? You can’t see around the back! So long as we were invited to see his day to day life, I was half expecting him to stop at the DVLA centre to que up to renew his number plate. At least that would have been funny.
Speaking of the truck – this must be the biggest middle finger to the fans. The truck has magical powers! It has a mind of its own. It drives itself around and shoots out gadgets out of its arse against unsuspecting people. There’s just so much wrong with this. So much wrong with the entire film. With the way it turned out, it honestly seems as though Salva was trolling the audience, instead making a parody of Jeepers Creepers. The first film was genuinely distressing and scary, the second was pretty fun, but this is an abomination. I feel really sad for those who waited all those years for this, I mean I did too, but I read the signals a while ago and gave up hope of a decent third entry into the franchise so I went in with zero expectations and even then was disappointed.
JP3 was a massive kick in the balls. I give it a 3/10.
It seems the general consensus is that JP3 was horrible. Is there anyone who actually liked it, and if so what were your reasons for doing so?