Rest Stop 2: Don't Look Back

I was really excited for this movie! As we all know, I loved the first one, even though the majority of people on earth disagreed with me.

So, we're headed back to the rest stop. It's a year later and the brother of the guy (Jesse) from the first movie is back from the war and ready to go find Jesse and Nicole. So he, his Amy-Smart-wannabe girlfriend, and nerdy friend all take off on a little road trip. At this point, I must reiterate the fact that I hate hate hate the use of cheesy dramatic music in horror movies. It's just out of place, and stupid, and just, ugh. Okay, end rant.

Anyway, they stop at a gas station that's a direct ripoff from every past incarnation of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre where some weirdo has Nicole's prize ribbon or some such. Aw, it seems like the nerdy one has a crush on Nicole. That's unfortunate.

So they're thisclose to the rest stop, and the nerd-bot (Jared) needs to pull over and use the bathroom. He stops at some random port-a-potty (weird) and this is the first time I almost saw death by port-a-potty. Oh! Nicole's back. In that same bra and jeans she was wearing when she ran away from the psycho 365 days ago. Seriously, that's just not possible. She starts hooking up (?!) with Jared but ZOMG she's a ghost and not actually there. Gripping.

So they're all back to moving along, but unfortuantely they're all saddled with this blonde skanky lush, Marilyn. She's on the constant quest for a liquor store and unfortunately no one is really accomplishing anything in terms of actually finding the missing people. So they're back to the rest stop, and seriously, AT&T needs to take a ride out here because for the last however many years, all of the outgoing phone calls are being directed to some psycho killer. I'm disappointed to find that the deal with the killer is some sort of supernatural schtick, and it would have been a lot scarier if he was just a real person.

That weird family from the trailer is back and these people are even more whacked this time around. I am pretty psyched that we got to see more of the creepy midget in this one, and it looks like they threw a couple more bucks into his makeup this time. The bus is back, we've got some eyeball extractions, and poor liquored-up Marilyn chained up in a garage.

Seriously, everyone is a ghost in this movie and it gets old real quick. Just leave things at the first movie, people. I wasn't losing sleep at night wondering if they were rounding up the cast for another swing by the rest stop.

Grade: D- (Jeepers Creepers 2 -- some things just do not warrant a sequel, especially when it's just trying to mirror the first one)