Jeepers Creepers

It stars Gina Philips and Justin Long as siblings returning home for spring break who encounter a violent truck driver portrayed by Jonathan Breck.

The film takes its name from the 1938 song, featured in the film under a version by Paul Whiteman. Patricia Belcher and Eileen Brennan also appear in supporting roles, with Salva making a cameo appearance.

The film was a co-production between the United States and Germany, with United Artists co-financing the American Zoetrope title.

It filmed in various towns in Florida starting in August 2000 after Salva convinced the studios to cast Phillips and Long with the help of executive producer Francis Ford Coppola, who had previously financed his 1989 directorial debut.

Due to unforeseen budget cuts, Salva had to rewrite the third act during production. The film was theatrically released by United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 31, 2001.

It was a commercial success, grossing $59 million on a $10 million budget, despite mixed reviews from critics praising the first half over the second. It spawned a media franchise that includes two sequels and a reboot.

They later stumble on the same truck parked next to an abandoned church with the driver dumping what appears to be bodies wrapped in blood-stained sheets into a large pipe sticking out of the ground.

The driver then notices them, giving chase and forcing them off the road. With the driver gone, Darry convinces Trish to go back to the church.

Upon investigation, Darry hears strange noises emanating from the pipe and crawls inside with Trish holding on to his feet. Trish accidentally drops Darry, and he falls to the bottom and into the church basement.

He finds a dying man with stitches running down his stomach and numerous corpses sewn to the walls and ceiling, including those of a missing prom couple from twenty-three years ago.

Darry finds an exit, and he and Trish flee the scene to seek help at a nearby diner.

However, they receive a cryptic warning call from a mysterious woman who predicts their imminent danger, mentioning a future encounter with a cat lady and playing the song “Jeepers Creepers”, suggesting that one of them will meet a terrifying fate while hearing it.

Confused, they leave the diner with police protection.

The police escort learn the church has been set on fire, destroying any potential evidence, and is brutally attacked and killed by the truck driver, leaving Trish and Darry in shock as they witness the carnage.

Seeking refuge, they stop at the home of an elderly woman with lots of cats. The driver, hiding in her yard, kills her and reveals its monstrous appearance to Trish and Darry.

Trish manages to repeatedly run the driver over with her car, but she and Darry are left horrified as a giant wing tears through its trench coat. They drive off.

They eventually reach a police station where they meet Jezelle Gay Hartman, the psychic who called them at the diner.

She reveals the true nature of their pursuer: an ancient creature called “the Creeper,” which emerges every 23rd spring for twenty-three days to feed on human body parts, incorporating them into its own body.

Jezelle warns them that the Creeper hunts its victims through fear, and by smelling the fear from Trish and Darry, it has found something it likes.

The wounded Creeper arrives at the police station, causing chaos as it consumes prisoners to heal itself. Despite efforts to capture it by a swarm of police, the Creeper escapes, trapping Trish and Darry.

Jezelle predicts that one of them is doomed to die horribly. Darry demands to know who, and Jezelle looks at Trish. The Creeper finds them but spares Jezelle before cornering Trish and Darry in an upstairs interrogation room.

After sniffing them, the Creeper throws Trish aside and chooses Darry. Trish offers herself in exchange for her brother’s life, but the Creeper flies away with Darry.

The next day, Trish is reunited with her parents, while Jezelle returns home with regret.

In an abandoned factory, it is revealed the Creeper has removed the back of Darry’s head and taken his eyes, all while the song “Jeepers Creepers” plays ominously in the background.