- Directed by Victor Salva
- Written by Victor Salva
- Stars Ray Wise, Jonathan Breck, Garikayi Mutambirwa, Eric nenninger
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1IA0LvpEpg
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a great sequel to the first movie, taking place only a matter of days after the first film. You wouldn’t have to see the first one to appreciate this one, but we think you’d get more out of it seeing them in order. It’s really well done, with a good story and excellent special effects.
Synopsis
We are reminded, “Every 23 years, for 23 days, it gets to eat.” This is Day 22.
On the family farm, Jack Taggart Senior yells at Billy to get the scarecrow up straight, as the crows are thick this year. The old man blames Jack Junior for messing with the post-hole digger. The dog barks at the cornfield— there’s something out there. Billy doesn’t see the weird scarecrow on the end looking at him, at least not right away. Billy runs, but the Creeper is fast, and he can fly. The Jacks run through the cornfield to help, but the Creeper flies away with his prize.
We cut to a school bus full of people way too old to be high schoolers, but I guess we’ll suspend disbelief just this one time. It’s Day 23. Something breaks on the bus, and they’re stranded. There’s a big bone weapon with teeth stuck in the tire. They’re going to have to call a mechanic to change it. We hear the radio news about police excavating the corpses under the church in the first film. That was only a few days ago. Some of the bodies were over two hundred years old.
Jack Junior finds a knife carved out of bone. It literally throws itself. The father and son get an idea and start getting ready for a fight.
Back on the road, the bus driver decides to “limp” the bus back to town. Some of the team debate Izzy’s sexuality (“Izzy or Izzn’t he?”). It gets dark, and there is teenage sports team drama from Scotty. Minxie, one of the girls on the bus, dreams about Darry from the first film— he’s pointing at something in the cornfield. She watches out the window as the Creeper throws another bone thing and flattens another tire. They aren’t going anywhere this time.
One of the coaches suddenly gets taken— straight up. Several kids see it happen when the bus driver goes next. They all get back on the bus for safety. When the third and final adult gets pulled out of the bus, they all see that.
Back at the farm, Jack listens to various police calls on the radio.
Scotty and Izzy find javelins and a flare gun on the bus. Scott wants to make for a nearby farmhouse to find a phone. There’s some homophobic and racist stuff, as Scotty argues with pretty much everyone. The Creeper returns, and he smells something he likes on the bus. It smiles at them.
Minxie has another vision, this time seeing the Taggart farm and the scarecrow. Darry is there as well, and he knows about 23 years and 23 days because he’s part of it now. When she wakes up, she understands why the Creeper is there; it’s picking out dinner and spare parts.
The Creeper returns and gets a javelin through his skull, which he pulls out slowly and very theatrically. With half his head gone, the Creeper flies away. No— he’s just building speed before he falls onto the bus and nearly destroys it. The students want out, but they can’t get the doors open. As soon as the Creeper wakes, one of the students goes headless; the Creeper needed a new head.
Rhonda sticks her head out and watches the Creeper tear his own head off and throw it away. He then grows a new one from the head he stole. Minxie thinks it only has one day left, so if they can hold out until morning, they’ll be all right. Never mind all that; they all go outside and run for it, which goes very badly for Scotty.
Jack and Jacky find Minxie running down the road. She says, “you can’t kill it,” but Big Jack disagrees. The Creeper returns to the school bus to grab Bucky, but Jack arrives before he can get any more kids.
Jack’s got a huge harpoon gun mounted on the back of his truck made from the post-puncher. He fires, and it hits the Creeper, who tries to fly away but can’t. The Creeper flies and drags the heavy pickup truck behind him. Then Jack starts to reel in the Creeper like a big fish on the line. The Creeper sends the harpoon back to Jackie Jr. Jack reloads for another shot. He hits again, this time, right through the school bus. He’s not gonna pull that away.
Yeah, he is. The cable slices right through the bus and destroys the pickup as well.
Izzy finds Rhonda and Deaundre, and they find another of the Creeper’s victims. The exterminator is gone, but his van with a big bug on top is still there. The Creeper shows up, and the truck doesn’t last long; neither do his wings, arm, or leg. The Creeper’s pretty well beat up, but he still goes after the injured Deaundre. Jack arrives just in time to save Deaundre, again harpooning the monster, this time, right through the forehead. Then Jack stabs it about a thousand times, but it still won’t die.
Then the sun comes up, and it wraps itself in a cocoon. “Looks dead to me,” Jack finally admits.
Years pass. A bunch of kids drive up to Taggart’s farm; they want to see “it.” The now-much-older Jack Junior runs the farm now, and he charges them each $5 to see the “Bat out of Hell.” They go into the barn and see The Creeper still in his cocoon, mounted up on the wall of the barn. Now an old man, Jack Senior sits there waiting with another harpoon gun. It’s been 23 years now, and he knows what’s coming in “about three more days, give or take a day or two…”
Commentary
Not all sequels are good, but this one is a worthy sequel to the original. Who knew being trapped on a school bus could be so entertaining? The bus is claustrophobic, and the students ramp up the suspense just right without being too annoying.
The creature makeup is even better here than in the original, and they make a lot of use of the creature’s wings and flying. The special effects of the creature flying are actually really well done. The year this takes place is surprisingly vague, so the Creeper could make another appearance at any time!