Jeepers Creepers (2001)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Victor Salva

Writer (WGA):

Victor Salva (written by)

Release Date:

31 August 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Fear takes a road trip.

Plot:

A brother and sister driving home for spring break encounter a flesh-eating creature in the isolated countryside that is on the last day of its ritualistic eating spree.

Plot Keywords:

College | Demon | Pipe | Cat | Church

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Gina Philips	...	Patricia 'Trish' Jenner
Justin Long	...	Darry Jenner
Jonathan Breck	...	The Creeper / Bald Cop
Patricia Belcher	...	Jezelle Gay Hartman
Eileen Brennan	...	The Cat Lady
Brandon Smith	...	Sgt. David Tubbs
Peggy Sheffield	...	Waitress Beverly
Jeffrey William Evans	...	Restaurant Manager
Patrick Cherry	...	Binky Plutzker
Jon Beshara	...	Officer Robert Gideon
Avis-Marie Barnes	...	Officer Natasha Weston
Steve Raulerson	...	Cellblock Officer (as Steven Raulerson)
Tom Tarantini	...	Austin McCoy
William Haze	...	Officer with Hole in Chest (as William Hasenzahl)
Kim Kahana	...	Camper Driver

Also Known As:

Here Comes the Boogeyman (USA) (working title)
JEEpERs CrEEpers (USA) (video box title)
Jeepers Creepers - Es ist angerichtet (Germany)
Jeepers Creepers - What's Eating You? (USA) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated R for terror violence/gore, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

90 min | Finland:91 min (DVD) (2002) | Finland:87 min (VHS) (2002)

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Finland:K-15 | USA:R (certificate #38147) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Bushnell, Florida, USA

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

Cameo: [Jonathan Breck]The Creeper, without makeup, appears as a policeman.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In several scenes crows "caw" without opening their beaks.

Quotes:

Darry: [about his cellphone] Don't worry I have a power cord for that.
Trish: Yeah, and I have a cigarette lighter, THAT DOESN'T WORK!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in It Waits (2005)

Soundtrack:

If Only You Were Mine

Great start; so-so middle; disappointing ending.

Jeepers Creepers starts with an incredible first 15 minutes that easily misleads one into thinking they are witnessing a truly special horror movie in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre vein. In this tense and exciting opening, two teenagers travelling down a lonely back-road are almost run off the road by a menacing truck; they later see the truck parked by an old church, and witness its driver throwing what appear to be bodies down a rusty shaft.

But from this point onwards, the film becomes a mess of clichés and bad plot decisions. Instead of driving to the nearest town to get help, the stupid teens decide to investigate the situation themselves. They discover an underground room decorated with the corpses of hundreds of missing people. Now they do what they should've done in the first place—get the hell out of there! But it's too late, and the killer—which turns out to be a supernatural bat-winged creature(!)—is intent on hunting them down.

Salva proves that he is adept at creating suspenseful moments but less capable when putting together a credible script. He introduces some mumbo-jumbo about a psychic who may or may not be able to help the kids, some drivel about the creature feeding for 23 days every 23 years, and ends the film poorly.

Jeepers Creepers definitely had potential, and Salva is obviously not without some talent behind the camera, but the end result is distinctly average.