FILM 2211: JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)

TRIVIA: Victor Salva wrote the main characters as brother and sister in order to eliminate any sexual tension and keep them focused on escaping the Creeper.

Victor Salva has always said the Creeper legend is complete fiction but the scene where Trish and Darry witness the Creeper dumping a body down a well by an abandoned church was inspired by the case of Dennis DePue, a former Michigan Property Assessor who murdered his wife and was seen by witnesses near an old school house with a bloody sheet. Two witnesses also recall DePue speeding past them in a van and eventually tailing them and riding their bumper for several miles. The case was also profiled on a 1990 episode of Unsolved Mysteries (1987).

At the time of its release this was the highest grossing film to ever be released during Labor Day weekend. The record would subsequently be broken by its own sequel, Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003).

The oath "Jeepers Creepers!" originated in the early 20th century as a polite euphemism for Jesus Christ. Jiminy Crickets was a synonym before the latter phrase was co-opted by Walt Disney as the name of a cartoon insect.

(at around 37 mins) In Jezelle's living room scene, Victor Salva's high school graduation picture can be seen doctored up to look like a record album from the 1950s with "Jeepers Creepers" on it.

MGM wanted more bankable names to play the two leads, but Victor Salva's longtime mentor and producer, Francis Ford Coppola used his clout to stick up for Salva's casting choices.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Victor Salva: Body in The Creeper's "house of pain".

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