Film Review: JEEPERS CREEPERS: REBORN (2022): Sydney Craven Almost Saves Creature Feature Reboot from Mediocrity

Jeepers Creepers: Reborn Review

Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Timo Vuorensola, written by Sean-Michael Argo and starring Sydney Craven, Imran Adams, Jarreau Benjamin, Dee Wallace, Gary Graham, Gabriel Freilich, Timo Vuorensola, Georgia Goodman, Ocean Navarro, Darren Kent, Saverio Buono, Peter Brooke and Jodie Mcmullen.

“The Creeper” is back again in an interesting new reboot of the 2001 horror film, Jeepers Creepers. It’s called Jeepers Creepers: Reborn and the movie showcases up-and-coming young actress Sydney Craven as the lead character, Laine. She’s a classic new horror movie scream queen in a scary movie that feels like something you would watch late at night and kinda enjoy it somewhat. However, any viewer that sticks this one out all the way through will end up hating themselves after waking up in the morning for actually sitting through the whole ridiculous thing.

The new movie opens with Dee Wallace, a former horror movie scream queen in her own right (she appeared in old horror movies like The Howling and Cujo). Wallace’s character is in a vehicle in the middle of nowhere driving around with her significant other Ronald (Gary Graham). So, the Creeper is driving around too and wouldn’t you know it, Wallace’s Marie, passes by the Creeper as he is putting a body in a wood chipper so the Creeper surely won’t let her and Ronald get away. As our unlucky couple try to get the license plate of our Creeper, the evil entity changes his license plate to ensure he will, indeed, get away without a trace. But, the Creeper is going to go after our unfortunate couple first as per your typical Jeepers Creepers picture.

Craven’s dark-haired and charming Laine is going with her boyfriend Chase (Imran Adams) to a horror convention (called the Horror Hound Festival) which is appropriately held at night time. This cute couple wins a contest at this horror amusement park of sorts which takes them to an isolated graveyard where the Creeper intercepts and starts taking some more victims on his quest to kidnap Laine. Our heroine, Laine, is secretly pregnant and Chase was going to propose marriage to her since he’s madly in love with her. It’s a sweet scenario initially until the Creeper comes into the picture and ruins everything.

While the scenes at the horror convention are very silly, there is some fun to be had in these sequences. There are attendees in low-rent Pennywise and Beetlejuice costumes who are there and the whole atmosphere the movie creates is pretty entertaining in its own right. Laine and Chase are in love but Chase has a wandering eye, according to Laine’s instincts at least. Laine catches her lover making conversation with a cute girl named Carrie (a merely adequate Ocean Navarro) who is also in attendance at the horror festival making Laine immensely jealous. Our Creeper is out to catch Laine and has an evil agenda which means it’s up to Chase to save the love of his life and prove he really does love her as much as he says he does.

This movie feels low-budget to a fault which works to its advantage for a little while. This film almost always feels like a cheaply made horror movie but has a lot of appealing characteristics that will stand out significantly for horror picture buffs. There’s a scene where Laine and Chase play a game together at the horror convention with these sharp pointy objects which the Creeper uses in the movie too. Laine is good at throwing them. It’s only appropriate that these sharp pointy things are used as weapons against the Creeper towards the film’s conclusion.

However, the special effects regarding the Creeper are not up to the level which was expected. The Creeper looks really lame here. He looks, perhaps, like the cheapest, low-rent version of the Creeper the filmmakers could have created. This poorly conceived Creeper ruins the movie because Craven is really good as the film’s heroine. She’s a female with a lot of personality which keeps the film from becoming a total disappointment. Craven more than steals the spotlight from Adams who tries his hardest to have a distinct charisma but comes up a bit short. There is an abundance of gore in the movie but it feels like it’s just there for the fans as opposed to flowing naturally with the sequences of events the movie sets into motion.

There is intense music in Jeepers Creepers: Reborn that fits the mood of the movie. It is pulsating and keeps the action moving at a fast clip. But, this is a low-budget reboot of a movie that horror fans once took seriously. It’s not going to win over new fans to the franchise but many die-hard appreciators of the original movie could find some things to admire here with the latest reboot. I didn’t take too many scenes of Jeepers Creepers: Reborn seriously. However, it could open the door for Sydney Craven to bigger budget projects which will highlight her tremendously appealing screen presence. She’s the major bright spot in a movie which could have (and should have) been much more distinct, terrifying and, yes, better.

Rating: 5.5/10

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