Jeepers Creepers: The True Crime That Inspired The Horror Movie Explained – Screen Rant

Jeepers Creepers seems like fictional horror, given the nature of its supernatural primary antagonist, but is actually based in part on a true story.

The 2001 horror movie Jeepers Creepers was actually partially inspired by a true story. The film, written and directed by Victor Salva and executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola, stars Justin Long and Gina Philips as brother-and-sister duo Darry and Trish Jenner. The siblings are driving home from college for spring break, and encounter terror as they pass through the countryside of Florida.

Darry and Trish become the targets of a demonic creature known as "the Creeper". It all starts when a rusty old truck begins following them down a stretch of road. Later, they see the same vehicle parked by an abandoned church - andspot a man sliding what looks like body bags into a pipe coming out of the ground. When the man noticesDarry and Trishwatching him, he attempts to run them off the road. Darry and Trishend up returning to the church to take a poke around, and that's when the real horror begins. After a terrifying series of events, in which Darry and Trish fight for their lives as Creeper hunts them,the Creeper takes Darry back to a hideout, where he removes the back of his head and his eyes.

Related: Everything You Need To Know About Jeepers Creepers 4

Jeepers Creepers is named after the 1938 song of the same name, which eerily plays during the movie. Not only is the 2001 movie named after a song its story is also based on real-life events. While the Creeper's supernatural background story and horrific appearance is, of course, fictional, some of the actions he takes are grounded in reality. In 1990, Michigan resident Dennis DePue was the target of a police manhunt after he murdered his wife and dumped her body behind an abandoned school house. Different elements of the case were added to the fictionalized narrative of Salva's story, and while the movie is still too strange to be real, the DePue case certainly found ways to make a mark on the franchise.

Ray and Marie Thorntona brother and sister, like Darry and Trishwere the eyewitnesses who saw DePue dump his wife's body; their testimonyis what sparked the plot ofJeepers Creepers. While driving on a long stretch of road in Michigan, theysaw DePue disposing of the body, and then he tailed them in his van for several miles. In fact, a 1991 episode of Unsolved Mysteries detailed this case, and the re-enactment of the Thorntons' story is eerily similar to the premise of Jeepers Creepers.

The movie also contained a scene where the sibling duo spotted a suspicious situation on the side of the road. Of course, since the movie isn't a direct adaptation of the true crime, Salva added several fictional elements to Jeepers Creepers'story to make it into a horror movie. For example, when Darry and Trish return to the scene where the Creeper was, Darry goes down into a pipe and finds a hideout covered in human skin. Plus, the Creeperwho is a terrifying looking creaturehas huge wings, resembling a monster, demon or, as he's referred to in the movie, a "bat out of hell". The Creeper is a supernatural being; heawakens every 23 years for 23 daysto eat human body parts.WhileJeepers Creepershas the ability to state that it's "based on a true story", the supernatural and fictional plot lines were welcome additions that garnered the movie a cult following over years and helped it spawn two sequels in 2003 and 2017, respectively.

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Jeepers Creepers: The True Crime That Inspired The Horror Movie Explained - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero