It’s alive! Oh no, it isn’t.
Movie monsters are hard to do. When the aliens appear in Signs, it undermines the entire twisty enterprise. When that stupid winged rubber thingy shows up in Jeepers Creepers, one can only sit there aghast. Director David Payne, a graduate of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking and writer of Big Monster On Campus, hasn’t managed to overcome this problem in Reeker, but his Z-movie expertise ensures that he delays the inevitable let down until the last possible moment. If it were a lovelier thing, one might say it was beautifully directed.
Of course, even a genre virgin will be struck by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu long before the creature arrives. Five strangers, including sensible Gretchen (Illman), kooky Cookie (Kebbel), blind Jack (Gummersall), frat-boy Trip (Whyte) and everyguy Nelson (Richardson) are heading into the desert for a rave when an earthquake leaves them stranded at a deserted diner. Suddenly they are plagued by visions of the dead while an unseen decaying creature picks them off, one by one. Is it bad ecstasy or plain heatstroke? Well, if you’ve seen Dead End or any number of low rent horrors, you’ll know exactly what’s going on.
Still, there’s a neat efficiency about Reeker that clammily grasps your attention. It’s no Sistine Chapel, but if you stand back far enough, you can admire the gleaming nuts and bolts.