Reviews

Other than the scene with the guy chucking the bodies down the tube at the beginning, and one or two other tense moments, Jeepers Creepers is a dreadful horror film which feels disjointed. It is as if the film runs out of plot after a time, and the bits with the physic towards the end are just awful. Even worse is the girl trying to talk the monster into taking her instead, only for the monster to fly off with her brother anyway (what was that about?). One of the other major dissapointments was the effects of the dead bodies in the pit, they looked totally plastic like tailors dummies. I wasn't even sure if they were supposed to be real bodies or not!

I was interested in the comments one user made about an underlying theme of incest. This does seem to fit, although the film was so brainless it was probably just an accident because the stars were attracted to each other in real life! I'm not sure if Jeepers Creepers had levels as such.

One thing I was suprised to not see mentioned here however was no-one seeing the similarities to the Spielberg movie Duel. Am I getting this wrong or was the truck/diner/local reaction etc. not all straight out of that film? I even expected a Dennis Weaver cameo is was so blatant.

My advice, give this one a wide berth.

Stigmata was a very watchable interesting film which is engaging and thought provoking. It's certainly not a perfect movie but in patches was excellent, and the mood of the film was just right. It was suprisingly "non-hollywood" in many respects and very understated if you look beyond the gore of the mutilation and stigmata scenes.

My only major gripe with the movie was the sometimes ludicrous way that characters close to Frankie (Patricia Arquette) seemed unwilling to take her seriously or believe her affliction despite the fact that they witnessed amazing supernatural events first hand. Her best mate who told her to chill out and relax because it was a Friday night, having seen this event earlier in the week, bordered on high farce. Surely all the doctors, clergy and news reporters in the world would have been at her bedside after seeing the train video camera of this event?

Anyway, this aside, many other aspects of the film were first rate and I was pleased the DVD version had the alternate and, in my opinion, better ending (subtle though the difference is). Comparisons with the Exorcist seem to cloud the opinions of many people in relation to this film, and my advice would be just to watch it and take it for what it is. The concept is quite original and the examination of faith and the modern church is interesting. Certainly I wouldn't say the film was anti-religious, in fact in many respects it adds weight to religious belief as the concept introduces the stigmata phenomenom to the audience.

Overall, very good, 7 out of 10.