Jeepers Creepers: The True Crime That Inspired The Horror Movie Explained
A terrifying true story partially inspired the 2001 horror movie Jeepers Creepers. The film, written and directed by Victor Salva and executive produced by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, features then-starlets Justin Long and Gina Philips as sibling duo Darry and Trish Jenner. The morbid truth behind Jeepers Creepers, alongside its popular cast and a stellar prerelease campaign, saw the movie break the highest Labor Day opening weekend sales record at the time, grossing $59 million worldwide in the process.
In Jeepers Creepers, Darry and Trish become the targets of a demonic creature known simply as «the Creeper» after witnessing the monster loading bodies into a truck. The Creeper relentlessly hunts the siblings in a taut game of cat and mouse played out across the desolate Florida countryside. The savage ending of the film, in which Darry has the back of his head and eyes removed, sets up important «Creeper» canon and ensures the spawning of several equally popular Jeepers Creepers sequels.
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While The Creeper's supernatural background and horrific appearance is, of course, a work of fiction, much of Jeepers Creepers' central plot is grounded in reality. The true elements of Jeepers Creepers are derived from a series of Michigan-based events in the summer of 1990, with the Jenner's chance meeting with The Creeper drawing eery parallels to the crimes of Dennis DePue. The disposal of DuePue's wife's body coupled with his subsequent, protracted manhunt are clear influences on the final Jeepers Creepers backstory.
In 1990, Michigan resident Dennis DePue was the target of a police manhunt after he murdered his wife and disposed of her body behind an abandoned
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