50 Fun Facts About Jeepers Creepers

Who wrote and directed the original Jeepers Creepers in 2001?

He wrote the script in a single month, down from his usual six, and also directed the first two sequels.

Which two actors play the siblings Trish and Darry Jenner in the first film?

Francis Ford Coppola talked American Zoetrope out of casting A-list names in favour of the two relative unknowns.

Who plays the Creeper in the first three films?

He shaved his head for the audition, took part in a 'sniff test' on the casting crew, and told them the creature wouldn't have hair.

The film takes its title from a song written for a movie in which year?

Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer wrote it for Going Places, and Louis Armstrong sang it to a racehorse called Jeepers Creepers.

Whose recording of the song is heard in the 2001 film?

Armstrong premiered the song on screen, but the film uses the bandleader's version.

The song 'Jeepers Creepers' lost the 1938 Academy Award for Best Original Song to which standard?

The phrase itself is a minced oath for 'Jesus Christ' and predates the song; Mercer said he took the title from a Henry Fonda line.

In the first film, Trish and Darry are driving home from college for what?

The Florida countryside setting was shot around Ocala and Dunnellon in the summer heat of August 2000.

What do the siblings see the truck driver doing beside an abandoned church?

Darry climbs down the pipe and finds a basement with hundreds of corpses sewn to the walls and ceiling.

What urban legend do Trish and Darry discuss on the drive, before finding the pair's bodies in the lair?

Jeepers Creepers 3 later reveals Kenny's mother Gaylen and the severed Creeper hand he buried.

According to the psychic Jezelle, the Creeper wakes every 23rd spring to feed for how long?

It eats human body parts to absorb them into itself, and chooses its victims by the smell of their fear.

How does the Creeper choose which people to take?

A waitress reports that the driver broke into the siblings' car and sniffed their laundry.

Who plays Jezelle Gay Hartman, the psychic who phones the siblings at the diner?

Her warning that they will meet a cat lady and hear the song comes true almost exactly.

Which veteran actress plays the cat lady whom the Creeper kills?

Salva cast her on the strength of her turn in the short film Nunzio's Second Cousin.

Which sibling does the Creeper carry off through the window at the end of the first film?

Salva planted red herrings so audiences would assume Trish was the one doomed to die.

In the final shot, the Creeper is seen looking through what?

Justin Long himself played the Creeper in that shot, peering through a plaster cast of his own body.

The opening of the film is widely believed to echo a real 1990 case involving which Michigan killer?

Siblings saw him dump a bloody blanket behind an abandoned school and were tailgated for two miles; the case featured on Unsolved Mysteries.

The role of the Creeper was originally written for which actor, who dropped out?

Salva had directed him in The Nature of the Beast and Powder in 1995.

Which famous director served as executive producer and helped Salva get the film made?

He had financed Salva's debut Clownhouse and was criticised for backing him again after Salva's conviction for abusing a child actor on that film.

Why was the original third act, in which Darry drives the truck into a train, cut?

The sequence had already been storyboarded; the two leads were allowed to improvise the rewritten finale, and some cut scenes resurfaced in the sequel.

What model is the Creeper's rusted truck?

It began life as a flatbed; the production designer built the back section, and the old engine kept dying between takes.

Which classic monster movie did Salva cite as his favourite film and inspiration?

He also borrowed from Night of the Living Dead, Duel and the restraint of Hitchcock's The Birds.

In which US state was the first film shot?

The church was a former St. James Church in Ocala, and a demolished meatpacking plant stood in for the factory finale.

On roughly what budget was the first Jeepers Creepers made?

It grossed about $59 million and set a Labor Day opening record that its own sequel later broke.

The first film broke the Labor Day weekend opening record, previously held by which 1996 sequel?

It made $15.8 million in four days, beating Rush Hour 2 to the top spot.

Jeepers Creepers 2 is set how long after the first film?

It is the Creeper's 22nd day of feeding, and cheerleader Minxie has visions of Darry warning her.

What vehicle does the Creeper besiege in Jeepers Creepers 2?

It disables the bus by blowing out the tyres with hand-crafted shurikens made from bone.

Which actor plays Jack Taggart, the farmer who hunts the Creeper with a harpoon after it takes his son?

His jacket caught fire during a take of the welding sequence, and Salva had originally written a part for Meat Loaf.

After Rhonda drives a javelin through its skull in the sequel, what does the Creeper do?

The creature can swap in body parts from its victims, which is the whole point of its feeding.

How does Jeepers Creepers 2 end?

Asked if he is waiting for something, he says 'About three more days, give or take a day or two.'

The final act of Jeepers Creepers 2, with its harpoons and hunters, was inspired by which film?

Three real buses were destroyed during production, and a fourth was built inside an aircraft hangar.

Where was Jeepers Creepers 2 filmed?

The bus scenes were shot on a private road on the ranch.

Jeepers Creepers 3, released in 2017, is set when in the timeline?

An earlier script called Cathedral would have jumped 23 years ahead, but Salva scrapped it because the material was more than 12 years old.

Which original cast member returns in a cameo at the end of Jeepers Creepers 3?

Twenty-three years on, Trish is seen writing an open letter vowing revenge for her brother's death.

How was Jeepers Creepers 3 originally released in US cinemas?

A second night was added, and it premiered on Syfy the same evening as its first screening; it took about $4 million worldwide.

What object in Jeepers Creepers 3 reveals the Creeper's ancient origins to anyone who touches it?

Sheriff Tashtego is left shaken by how ancient the creature is; the hand was buried on Gaylen Brandon's property by her late son.

Jeepers Creepers 3 filming halted in 2016 after talent agencies in which city warned actors about Salva's past?

Production eventually moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2017, closer to the Florida look of the original.

Who directed the 2022 reboot Jeepers Creepers: Reborn?

The Finnish director is best known for the Nazis-on-the-moon comedy Iron Sky; the film was a UK-US-Finland co-production.

In Reborn, the couple Chase and Laine travel to which event in rural Louisiana?

They win a raffle for a night in a plantation house converted into an escape room, which turns out to be a feeding ground.

Why does the Creeper specifically target Laine in Reborn?

A cult led by Madam Carnage and Lady Manilla has been luring victims to the house for it.

Who plays the Creeper in Reborn, the first film without the original actor in the role?

The reboot scored 0% on Rotten Tomatoes from 15 reviews.

Which production company sued over Reborn, calling it an unauthorised fan film?

Myriad had produced the second and third films and said the reboot was made without its knowledge or involvement.

How many films are in the Jeepers Creepers series as of the 2022 reboot?

The first three were written and directed by Salva; only the first was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.

Which 1988 Siouxsie and the Banshees single had to credit the writers of 'Jeepers Creepers' for its similar chorus?

The band handed co-writing credit to Warren and Mercer to head off legal action.

Where in the first film do Trish and Darry finally learn what the Creeper is?

Sergeant Tubbs dismisses Jezelle as delusional right up until the creature breaks into the holding cells.

According to Justin Long, how did he and Gina Philips stay convincingly frightened of the Creeper on set?

The two leads improvised much of the third act after the budget cut forced a rewrite.

Roughly how much did the first Jeepers Creepers gross worldwide in its original release?

It was made for about $10 million, making it a clear commercial hit despite mixed reviews.

Who composed the score for the original Jeepers Creepers?

Salvay was also a music producer working with director Victor Salva.

Which film did the first Jeepers Creepers beat to the top spot on its opening weekend?

It took $15.8 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend in 2,944 theaters.

In Jeepers Creepers 2, what disables the school bus by blowing out its tire?

The cheerleader Minxie then has a vision of Darry Jenner and Billy Taggart trying to warn her.

In which Louisiana city did principal photography on Jeepers Creepers 3 begin in February 2017?

The shoot moved from a planned Canadian location to better echo the Florida setting of the original.