OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/9)

Challenge Totals to Date:

Movies Watched Today: 2
Total Movies Watched: 31
Total First Time Views: 14
Scare-A-Thon Donations: $536.30

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2015 (benefiting PLANNED PARENTHOOD and GREENHOUSE SHELTER) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

30.
Jeepers Creepers II (2003) d. Salva, Victor (USA) (2nd viewing) 104 min

What I remember the most about the first JC was that the opening half hour was the best part, which was basically an extended road chase with a very scary truck’s horn accenting the chills. Once the fear-smelling Creeper was introduced, it was still cool but not as scary, as it became a fairly straight-ahead monster movie. (Again, this is my recollection from several years ago – I’ll give it a revisit once I get back to Chicago.) The sequel, however, IS a straight-ahead monster movie from the get-go and a very enjoyably uncluttered one, with a school bus full of high school football players and cheerleaders – with all their inherent high school drama in the mix – being attacked by the mysterious carnivorous flying beast. While not super bloody, there are some enjoyably graphic effects of both The Creeper (Jonathan Breck) and its victims taking their respective beatings. (Prolonged javelin-through-the-head sequence, anyone?) But it’s genre vet Ray Wise, as a vengeance-fueled farmer seeking payback for his son’s death, who elevates the material every time he comes onscreen.

31.
The Gift (2000) d. Raimi, Sam (USA) (2nd viewing) 112 min

Following an eight-year hiatus from the horror genre (and before he disappeared into the blockbuster Spider-Man trilogy), everyone’s favorite Deadite director tackled this moody Southern thriller about a spiritualist (Cate Blanchett) who becomes involved in a homicide investigation in her small town. There are several measured Raimi visual flourishes, but the biggest special effect is the then-high-profile cast: Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, Greg Kinnear, Giovanni Ribisi, Gary Cole, Michael Jeter, J.K. Simmons and recently minted Oscar-winner Hilary Swank. The script, by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, is a fairly standard murder mystery that wouldn’t seem out of place on any number of supernatural-centric television shows.