Like its predecessor, Jeepers Creepers 2 is that rare modern horror film that remembers audiences are scared far more by what they don't see than by what they do. For that alone, horror fans should be thankful.

There's greater consistency to it, and considerably more humor, with macabre slapstick and fun-house ghoulishness that, at their best, recall early Tim Burton.

Jeepers Creepers aimed for the archetypal primal spookiness of a scary campfire tale, and halfway succeeded. Here, Salva makes it work virtually every step of the way.

Substantially better than its predecessor, even while staying strictly within the genre's well-defined boundaries.

The tag here is more silly than haunting, but this is still a pretty wild ride, with a fine, knife-wielding score by Bennett Salvay.

Would be a completely routine horror movie, except that it has a superior director. Watch this film for five minutes, and it's clear that Victor Salva knows how to make movies.

You don't have to be a horror-movie scholar to know that nothing significant is going to happen in any movie with "2" in the title; the creature has to stay around long enough at least to complete a trilogy and fill out a nice boxed set of DVD's.

An apparent Atkins devotee, he eschews the carb-heavy corn fields, opting for protein-rich human flesh, primarily a high school basketball team returning home on a lonely highway.

Viewers should hope Jeepers 2 is the final act in this series. The once-promising Creeper, who we see up close this time, has emerged as a garden-variety killer.

Writer-director Victor Salva squanders all of his original movie's not-entirely-awfulness and bumbles into the realm of unintentional comedy.

A decidedly sharp drop in quality from the first film. It’s still a somewhat decent horror flick if you’re looking for cheap scares and eerie imagery.

Salva directs cheap thrills effectively, but his own apparent desires come off more frightening than any winged demon.

The problem once again remains an inability to sustain those de rigueur elements of tension and suspense much beyond those first 20 minutes.

The film delivers a few slick thrills before beaching itself on an ending that would be chilling if its depiction of unimaginable horror's lingering legacy weren't so muddled.