It’s time for a trio of sequels. Actually, a fourth installment, a prequel, and an indie sequel.
JEEPERS CREEPERS REBORN (2022)
This is the one that’s supposed to have no connection to the pedophile who created the original trilogy. It’s also supposed to be so bad it makes the third film look good.
I totally disagree. This is my kind of refreshing bad sequel/reboot. It’s a throwback that combines visually fantastical, gothic outside CGI scenery reminiscent of movies like Van Helsing and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the gloomy, washed out treatment of supernatural slashers that dominated the horror genre in the early 2000s.
And most importantly, rather than trying to drag the Creeper into a trendy, awful, modern day trauma porn horror situation, it simply celebrates the days of cheesy horror, with young people making a wrong turn while just looking for a good time.
For the opener, Dee Wallace stars in what is basically an homage to the pipe scene in the original film.
Then the franchise flirts with one of the more resent subgenres…horror festival horror!
Indeed, our main couple is going to an outdoor horror convention. That made me so excited, but the film opts not to make this about the Creeper killing everyone at the festival. Bummer. Instead, our main couple and a few others take a special Creeper tour.
They end up at a derelict mansion in the woods and that’s where all the action takes place, with the small group trying to escape as the Creeper pursues them through the house.
This reborn installment has some new tricks up its sleeve. The Creeper now emits a high-pitched squeal that hurts everyone’s ears. There’s a cult determined to keep the Creeper appeased. And…there’s a reason for the subtitle “reborn”. It’s like the Jeepers Creepers franchise has gone the Halloween 6: Curse of Michael Myers route.
Really, it’s just a popcorn flick you watch for the familiar Creeper vibes and all the killing action. You know…just like Jeepers Creepers 2.
PEARL (2022)
Ti West has entered a new realm of horror output as he expands on his slasher X with this prequel that makes a statement all its own. They are two totally different movies including time period, subgenre, and style, yet they are literally two parts of the same story. I really can’t wait to see what West does with the third film.
Pearl is not a slasher as much as it is a portrait of a mentally ill young woman as she spirals into killer territory. Mia Goth, who played a dual role in X, is freakishly mesmerizing as young Pearl in this prequel. Her character reminded me of a cross between fictional Norman Bates and factual Lizzie Borden.
It’s 1918, and West reflects that in the oddly innocent style he chooses to set the tone of the film.
Pearl lives in the farmhouse with her mother and her invalid father. She is married, but her husband is away at war. She is inspired to follow her dreams of becoming a dancer by the projectionist at the local theater, who is fricking beautiful. Makes sense that she is feeling a burning inside for him.
Pearl is clearly unstable. She kills animals to feed to that gator we met in X. She has bizarre sexual fantasies. She has emotional breakdowns.
And eventually she starts to kill anyone she thinks is afraid of her. And they have every reason to be.
The killing doesn’t start until an hour into the movie, but Pearl unravels fast after that. The kills are disturbing and vicious in their matter-of-fact presentation, and you genuinely feel bad for everyone who unintentionally ends up on the receiving end of whatever weapon Pearl is wielding. You simply must go into this movie not expecting the same experience you had watching X.
DON’T FUCK IN THE WOODS 2 (2022)
I’m a fan of the first film, which has kids camping, fucking, and then getting killed off by a creature in the woods.
Rather than give us more of exactly the same, the sequel takes a clean turn into another subgenre after picking up where the first film leaves off.
The creature steps aside for this installment after unleashing a penis-shaped slug parasite–which worms its way into counselors setting up a summer camp.
Before the horror gets going, the film does what it should–lives up to its name. Nudity, both male and female, and sex, both straight and lesbian, abound as the counselors peel away from the campfire to go have sex. Yay!
And then the horror starts with a graphic scene of the parasite entering one of the girls. Ew!
This turns into somewhat of a love letter to movies like Evil Dead and Demons, with those violated by the parasite growing big nasty teeth and blank white eyes. Awesome.
The usual screaming and running ensues, and the film eventually shows Raimi more love, with a hero wielding a motorized saw, and a tag after the credits that makes it seem like a third movie (if it happens) could be taking us into Army of Darkness territory.
