The True Crime That Inspired The Horror Movie Explained

Summary

• The horror movie Jeepers Creepers draws inspiration from a true-crime story involving Dennis DePue, who disposed of his wife’s body and went on a manhunt similar to the film’s plot.
• The real-life eyewitnesses, Ray and Marie Thornton, who saw DePue dumping the body, provided the primary source material for the true crime-based story in Jeepers Creepers.
• Although the film incorporates supernatural elements, it blends these with human elements from the true crime story, creating a chilling and disturbing narrative.

Despite the supernatural elements of the 2001 horror movie, some elements surrounding Jeepers Creepers are real. 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 who become the targets of a demonic creature known simply as “the Creeper” after witnessing the monster loading bodies into a truck. They are then exposed to the mythology of the terrifying creature who hunts every 23 years, taking various body parts from its victims.

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. Despite the modest budget, the movie became a surprise hit at the box office and continued to develop a strong following on video, spawning two Jeepers Creepers sequels as well as a reboot in 2022. While certain elements can clearly be dismissed as supernatural horror, there are aspects of the Creeper that were taken from a chilling true-crime story, and — disturbingly — some parts of Jeepers Creepers are real.

Related: Where To Watch All 4 Jeepers Creepers Movies

Is Jeepers Creepers Real?

How Killer Dennis DePue Influenced Jeepers Creepers Explained

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 Jenners’ chance meeting with The Creeper drawing eerie 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 schoolhouse. Different elements of the case were added to the fictionalized narrative of Salva’s story, and while the movie is still too strange to be considered close to a real account, the DePue case certainly leaves an impression on the Jeepers Creepers franchise. Ray and Marie Thornton, a brother and sister, (like Darry and Trish) were eyewitnesses who saw DePue dumping his wife’s carcass, with their sworn testimony the primary source material for Jeepers Creepers’ true crime-based story.

As in Jeepers Creepers, the real Thorntons stated they saw DePue disposing of a body before he turned and noticed them in their car. They testify DePue then proceeded to tail them in his van for several miles, mirroring the taut chase scene in Jeepers Creepers. A 1991 episode of Unsolved Mysteries covers the DePue case in great detail, with the piece-by-piece re-enactment of the Thorntons’ story presenting something eerily similar to the corresponding Jeepers Creepers scenes.

Dennis DePue’s real crimes do not deserve to be memorialized, with the heinous murder of his wife spawning a manhunt that would ultimately end in DePue’s death. Perhaps then, this is why Salva added several fictional elements to the Jeepers Creepers movie, reimagining DePue’s nefarious aura as The Creeper: a terrifying winged creature described by movie residents as a “bat out of hell“. While the truth behind the film remains a dark tale of infidelity and evil rationale, Jeepers Creepers blends these wholly human elements into a supernatural story that retains the creeping chill of the true crime on which it was built.

The Crimes Of Jeepers Creepers Director Victor Salva Give It An Uncomfortable Legacy

The Jeepers Creepers True Story Isn’t The Only Shocking Part Of Its History

The true story that partially inspired Jeepers Creepers adds to the terror of what is on-screen, there are some disturbing real-life incidents surrounding the movie that give it an uncomfortable legacy. In 1988, Director Victor Salva was convicted of sexual misconduct in a case involving one of the underage stars of his movie Clownhouse. Though Salva made other movies after being released from prison, Jeepers Creepers was the hit that allowed him to maintain a Hollywood career. This sits uneasily with many people who view Salva’s ability to continue working as a director as problematic considering he used that position to commit his crimes in the first place.

Allowing the Jeepers Creepers franchise to continue was seen as a way of enabling Salva and excusing his past crimes. The controversy of Jeepers Creepers 3 intensified as knowledge of Salva’s past became more well-known. To add to the uncomfortable nature of Salva’s association with the franchise, Jeepers Creepers 3 also included a character joking about child abuse, a moment made all the more disturbing knowing Salva himself wrote the movie. Though Jeepers Creepers: Reborn attempted to reboot the franchise without Salva’s involvement, it could be tainted beyond saving at this point.

Other Classic Horrors Based On True Crime

The Jeepers Creepers True Story Isn’t The Only Crime To Inspire A Horror Movie

It’s no secret that there are plenty of classic horror movies inspired by disturbing, real-life crimes. One notable example of this is the infamous story of murderer Ed Gein, a Wisconsin native who was finally arrested in 1957. When police searched his farm, evidence of grisly, heinous crimes was discovered — including human skin pulled over lampshades and furniture, collections of body parts, and the body of a woman who was field-dressed like a deer.

Given this, it makes sense that there are many horror movies inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, but the carnage and deviance don’t stop there. In addition to multiple confirmed and suspected kills, Gein also confessed to having illegally exhumed bodies from cemeteries for his nefarious purposes and is even reported to have created a suit of women’s skin after his mother’s death, so he could dress up like her. These shocking crimes inspired multiple classic horror movies, such as 1991’s Silence Of The Lambs, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, as well as Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking 1960 thriller Psycho. All the films’ protagonists are clearly based, in part, on different aspects of Gein’s crimes.

Another famous horror movie featuring material based on a true story is 1973’s The Exorcist, which led to sequels of its own. The film’s demonic possession and subsequent exorcism attempts mirror the story of Ronald Hunkeler (who was formerly referred to as “Roland Doe” by the press until his name was revealed decades later). At the time of his exorcism in 1949, Hunkeler was 14 years old and allegedly experienced a possession somewhat similar to the film’s fictional character of young Regan MacNeil. As all the aforementioned films (and many, many more) prove, Jeepers Creepers certainly isn’t the only horror movie to be loosely based on a true story.

Are The Jeepers Creepers Sequels Also Inspired By True Stories?

How Jeepers Creepers 2 & 3 Moved Away From Its True Story Roots

There were real-life elements that inspired the first Jeepers Creepers movie, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with the sequels. Jeepers Creepers 2 was released in 2003 and took place days after the events of the first movie. It follows the students on a high school trip who become stranded on the side of the desolate country road and are preyed upon by the Creeper. Jeepers Creepers 3 was released in 2017 and technically serves as a prequel to the second movie, as it takes place the day after the original 2001 movie.

The sequels did not draw on any known true stories, and instead leaned more heavily into the supernatural aspects of The Creeper. The sequels explored the mythology, including that The Creeper is an ancient being, while also revealing that its victims can reach out to others from beyond the grave to deliver warnings about his coming. In 2022, the Jeepers Creepers franchise was rebooted with Jeepers Creepers: Reborn which opens with a similar scene as in the original of a couple witnessing The Creeper dropping a body down a pipe behind a church, which brings it back to Dennis DePue’s real crimes.