Jeepers Creepers 2 is a 2003 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva, and the sequel to his 2001 film Jeepers Creepers.
A few days after the first film, a high school basketball team are returning from a tournament when their bus is disabled with a shuriken by the Creeper. As night falls, the high schoolers and their teachers begin to be slowly picked off one by one by the hungry monster. Meanwhile a local farmer is out for revenge after his youngest son was seized and devoured by the Creeper.
This film provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Rhonda spears the Creeper in the face with a metal pole through the roof of the bus.
- Actionized Sequel: There's actually a climactic showdown with the Creeper that doesn't involve the reinforcements being powerless against it.
- Adults Are Useless: Justified, as the Creeper picks them off deliberately to leave the students without leadership. Averted by Jack Sr., one of the few characters in the franchise to hold his own against the creature.
- Advertised Extra: Despite being shown prominently in all the trailers and Ray Wise given top-billing, Jack Sr. barely shows up in the film outside of the prologue where his son dies and in the last fifteen minutes during his Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Ambiguously Gay: Izzy got scars on his chest from a bar fight after he got caught trying to hotwire a patron's truck. Everyone assumes it was a gay bar, which Izzy denies and later gets sick of having to repeat himself.
- Asshole Victim: No one is going to miss Scott. Except his girlfriend, Rhonda, but even she couldn't stand the fact that he was willing to sacrifice three of his friends and teammates to save his own hide.
- Audience Surrogate: Bucky.
- Bat Scare: With a flock of crows, disturbed by the last of the boys to finish taking a leak on the roadside.
- Big Brother Instinct: Jack Jr. is just as hellbent on avenging his little brother's death as their father is. He also didn't hesitate to give chase when Billy called out for him.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jack Sr. turns up to save the day at the end.
- Blood-Spattered Innocents: Scotty winds up with blood down his face courtesy of the assistant coach's abduction. He's reasonably freaked out.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: After the Creeper regenerates his head, he turns and looks right at the audience.
- The Cameo: Darry appears in Minxie's visions.
- Cool Old Guy: Jack Taggart Sr., who is absolutely determined to hunt down and slaughter the monster that killed his youngest son.
- Creepy Crows: Crows are also present whenever the Creeper is around in the sequel.
- Death by Pragmatism: Double Subversion for Scott. He vacillates back and forth on a variety of self-serving plans trying to figure out if it's safer to stay on the bus or make a break for it. Inevitably, the plan he finally decides on benefits everyone but him.
- Death by Racism: Scott, although his racism is only implied.
- Death of a Child: The very first thing we see is a young child being snatched away. His actual death isn't depicted on-screen, but his bloodied ghost appears to Minxie in her first vision.
- Decoy Protagonist: Scotty initially seems to be set up as a main lead character for the students' story arc, despite being an unlikable Jerk Jock and eventual Asshole Victim.
- Determinator: Nothing will stop Jack from going after the Creeper.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: By the end of the movie, the Eldritch Abomination Creeper has lost several limbs that he cannot regenerate and gets stabbed numerous times while incapacitated by Jack. The severely wounded Creeper then goes to hybernation, but the Taggarts proceed to guard his hibernating body until the next time he wakes up.
- Dirty Coward: Scotty pretended that he wasn't one of the Creeper's intended victims and was willing to sacrifice D, Bucky and Jake to save his own hide. His girlfriend Rhonda and D call him out on this and point out he was picked too.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Mac.
- Eye Scream: The Creeper himself gets a javelin right through the eye, and sticking out the back of his head.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Scotty, who thinks he's the main protagonist of the sequel, while he's nothing but an implied racist and homophobic Jerk Jock and an Asshole Victim.
- Giving Them the Strip: Jack Jr.'s jacket gets pinned to the seat of the pickup when the Creeper hurls a harpoon back at its source, so he slides out of his jacket to get back behind the wheel.
- Harpoon Gun: Used by Jack Sr.
- Hate Sink: If Scotty wasn't a Decoy Protagonist, he would be this.
- Heroic BSoD: Jack Sr., after his youngest son is taken. He eventually snaps out of it and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Hope Spot: Jack Sr. successfully saves Double D and deals significant damage to the Creeper, but the creature goes into hibernation at the last second and can't be killed.
- Idiot Ball: Held firmly by a good number of the students throughout the entire movie.
- Irony: The end of the movie demonstrates that the Creeper has absolutely no choice in its hibernation cycle; when the time limit runs out, it has to go back to sleep no matter the given situation. However, this cycle ends up saving the Creeper's life at least for the moment, as it goes back into hibernation before Jack Sr. can finish it off.
- It's Personal: After having his youngest son, Billy, killed by the Creeper, Jack Sr. is utterly determined to track down and kill it. His older son, Jack Jr., also wants to avenge the death of his brother.
- Jerk Jock: Scott, the racist and homophobic Dirty Coward who bullies everyone else.
- Jerk Ass Has A Point: Despite being a Jerk Jock, Scott has a point about the other kids being in danger of being in the Creeper's way as long as D, Bucky and Jake are with them. The thing is, he pretends that he wasn't picked too, which angers everyone. It's also worth noting that his original suggestion of running to a nearby farm does pan out, though it takes the Creeper putting a massive hole in the bus' roof in order for that prospect to seem sound.
- Jerk Jock: Scott, who, in addition to being a Jerkass to absolutely everyone (including his own girlfriend), is very heavily implied to be racist and homophobic. No prizes for guessing what his eventual fate is.
- Killed Offscreen: With the exception of Dante and Jake, almost all of the Creeper's victims are carried off into the sky, or their (implied) deaths are not shown on camera.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Done when the protagonists are running away from The Creeper. Subverted when the guy who suggested it is the only one to do it and is promptly caught.
- Macgyvering: Jack Sr.'s Improvised Weapon is cobbled together from a harpoon, a winch, a heavy duty post-driver, and the Creeper's own dagger.
- Meaningful Background Event:
- As the other characters look away, the audience witnesses the Coach suddenly get snatched by the Creeper into the sky, leaving only his flare behind.
- Before the Creeper jumps on the front of the bus, you can see the silhouette of the Creeper behind the back door.
- Missing Mom: Jack Jr. and Billy’s mother doesn’t seem to be in the picture.
- Nominal Hero: Due to way he is being showcased in this film, Scott is a Decoy Protagonist example before ending up as an Asshole Victim.
- Numbered Sequels
- Off with His Head!: The Creeper traps Dante with his wings and beheads him, leaving his body to exaggeratedly move around and flail his arms in the air for a few seconds before collapsing. The Creeper then removes its old head to replace it with Dante's (relatively) undamaged one.
- Oh, Crap!:
- At the beginning, Billy gets one when he looks at one of the scarecrow's feet and sees claws...
- After Scotty tells D, Bucky and Jake to get out of the bus, D pins him to the floor and tells him with seething rage that the Creeper picked him to be eaten too and that he can keep his "black list". Scotty is petrified.
- When the students finally venture out of the bus, and one of them looks up to see the Creeper hovering in the skies above them.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Deaundre "Double D" Davis and Andy "Bucky" Buck.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: While Scotty is definitely no villain, he is still a Jerk Jock who is implied to be racist and homophobic. He makes a rude "swinging" comment at Izzy, he makes comments on how he thinks he's the wrong color for being on the basketball team (despite there being both black and white kids on the team) and when he calls D "bro", D tells him he knows what he really wanted to say.
- Pom-Pom Girl: All three of the cheerleaders among the kids who the Creeper attacks are fairly sympathetic and take their school's sports seriously before more important matters come up. Rhonda is a compassionate Action Girl, Minxie is a nervous Unhappy Medium, and Chelsea is polite and soft-spoken. The worst thing they do is sneak some cigarettes and (in Chelsea's case) display a few cowardly moments after a night of harrowing monster attacks.
- Precision F-Strike: Jack Jr. delivers one when he really needs to get his father's attention.Just get the fuck outta there!
- Psychic Powers: Minxie develops them, and is plagued with dreams/visions of Darry telling her about the nature of the Creeper.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: D calls out Scotty on him wanting to sacrifice him, Bucky and Jake so he can save his own hide. D points out through gritted teeth that he was picked too.D: You listen to me you piece of shit! He looked at you too, "bro". I saw it and you did too. He looked at you and smiled. And when you made Jake take the lights off him, he could have looked at you twice and licked his fucking lips but we don't know that! So you keep your little list. When he comes after you, and I hope he does, I'm getting as far away from your sorry ass as possible. Time to go is right. I'm gonna go find that farm. You wanna keep this bus? Then you sit in it, right under that big hole. See how long you last.
- Rhonda gives another one to Scotty.
Rhonda: You want to know what I learned tonight, Scotty? When people are afraid, it's just like getting drunk. The real person comes through. We could have protected D and Jake and the others if we stuck together! You know, like a team?! - Recurring Extra: One of the four girls on the bus with the boys’ basketball team spends the movie trying to avoid the Creeper’s attention like most of the cast, never really speaking up, establishing her role in the group or interacting with the three cheerleaders or their male companions.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jack Sr. and his older son go on one after the Creeper takes Billy.
- Say My Name:
- "BILLY!"
- "SCOTTY!"
- Scary Scarecrows: The Creeper disguises himself as one in Jack Sr.'s cornfield. Which is creepy as hell.
- Shout-Out: Jack Sr.'s original line when stabbing the Creeper was "From hell's heart I stab at thee!" The test audience
laughed at it though, so it was axed.- One that stayed in - after the Bat Scare, one of the boys yells "Tippi Hedren, man!"
- Stealth Pun: Izzy — Or isn't he?
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Double Subversion — After much consideration, the students decide to get off the bus and make a run for it. Then they see the Creeper in the sky. They all try to get back on the bus, but can't because the one person who stayed on locked them out. So they go with their original plan and run away.
- Tempting Fate: Two of the jocks make fun of the Creeper's wings. Guess what happens to them.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: most of the survivors are sporting one at the end, with Chelsea’s being especially pronounced.
- Time Skip: The final scene takes place 23 years after the climax. The Taggarts are shown to have turned the Creeper's hibernating body into a tourist attraction. Jack Sr. is still alive and waiting to shoot the Creeper with a harpoon the second it wakes up, which he expects to be any day now.
- Vertical Kidnapping: The Creeper does this a few times early on.
- Wham Line: "We thought it was tryin' to get in... but this freakin' thing was making sure we couldn't get out."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out the final fate of Rhonda and Izzy, as well as Kimball and the rest of the students (unnamed) who fled from the Creeper after leaving the bus. They most likely got away since they weren't picked by the Creeper to be his food.
- What You Are in the Dark: Rhonda alludes to this trope by saying that being scared is just like being drunk - it reveals who you really are.
- Would Hurt a Child: The opening, in which the Creeper abducts a young boy working out in the cornfield while his father's inside. He spends a large part of the movie in a Heroic BSoD over it, focused on getting revenge on the creature.
