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| “ | It eats lungs so it can breathe, and eyes so it can see. It all becomes a part of it. Whatever it eats, becomes a part of it. | „ |
| ~ Jezelle Gay Hartman about the Creeper. |
The Creeper is the titular main antagonist of the Jeepers Creepers horror film franchise. He is an ancient demonic creature who feeds on human beings for 23 days every 23rd spring.
He was portrayed by Jonathan Breck in all three films.
History
| “ | I don't know if its a demon or a devil, or just some hungry thing from some dark place and time. | „ |
| ~ Jezelle Gay Hartman about the Creeper. |
The Creeper is a demonic monster that eats body parts of his victims every 23 years, that seems nearly invincible. At first, it was thought to be some kind of demon worshipper when Darry Jenner found Its self portraits. It has wispy white hair. It seems to be incapable of speech, but in the first film it was heard whistling the tune of "Jeepers Creepers", as well as "The Farmer in the Dell" in the third film.
Personality
In all three films, the Creeper is shown to be a rather twisted individual. He seems to enjoy toying with his victims before killing them. By doing this he is not only able to amuse himself but it also works well in igniting more fear in his victims. However, once his time on earth nears its end, the Creeper can be extremely aggressive and ruthless, so he will continue to pursue his victims even when severely injured.
In the first film, the Creeper displayed more of a laid-back and almost human personality. He even uses some of the little time he has on Earth to make grotesque artwork from the bodies of his victims while listening to music. However, once his time draws to a close in the second film, the Creeper begins to put his full power to use. Instead of playing road games with his victims and blending into human society he cuts right to the chase and ruthlessly hunts down his victims stopping only when he wants to "pick them out".
Despite being mostly animal-like and seemingly incapable of speech, the Creeper does display human emotions and intelligence. He is also shown to understand emotions such as amusement, anger, pain, and fear and at one brief moment it is hinted that he may understand compassion. When Trish begs him to take her instead of Darry the Creeper does actually listen to her and seems to give her offer some thought rather than just immediately flying away.
Nonetheless, the Creeper is merciless and unsympathetic for his victims and even goes so far as to turn their bodies into macabre art pieces which he then hangs on his wall like a hunting trophy. Despite being hundreds of years old, the Creeper seems to possess a very advanced understanding of modern human technology, weapons, and anatomy. He can always drive a truck without difficulty, and has even found a way to make it travel at speeds that it normally would be incapable of. He also seems to understand the process of taxidermy as he is able to keep human bodies perfectly preserved for centuries and even uses left-over body parts to craft his weapons.
The Creeper is also shown to be incredibly calculating and shrewd when pursing his victims. He does not go full force on his victims unless they prove to be a challenge or if his time is short. Instead, he seems to prefer studying his victims from a distance by either donning a disguise or disabling their vehicles. By doing this he can decide which ones would be the best candidates for him to pursue and strategically figure out how to catch them with the least difficulty. It is possible that he first took out the adults on the bus in the second film, since they could calm, or at least anger the teenagers enough that their fear would be drowned out.
Another strange thing to add is that, despite being somewhat heartless and evil, the Creeper does not seem to kill people indiscriminately, only going after the people he chooses, and sparing the rest. This might be due to the fact that he does not have time to do so or that he simply does not like to kill unnecessarily. Although it is less probable, this last idea can indicate that he does not kill people out of pleasure, but out of necessity, despite showing a degree of amusement when hunting his victims. He did, however, fill his truck with traps to maim indiscriminately, though this could also be due to the fact that in the third film the Creeper seems to want to keep his secrets a secret going to the lengths of hunting down an old part of himself and basically breaking down in fear and anger when he realized that he had no way of getting to the people who found out about his origins. The Creeper does not seem to discriminate between the victims he chooses going so far as killing children in order to continue surviving. Evidence of this is the fact that there were missing children posters displayed in the Poho police department, to which one can assume the Creeper is responsible for.
According to Jezelle Gay Hartman from the first film, once the Creeper has the scent of something it likes, it cannot stop hunting its prey down until it gets what it came for. In the third film, it is explained that with a will that is strong enough, a person can force down their fear and simply just become an annoyance to the Creeper; he will kill such a person, but as they do not give off fear, he will never eat any part of them. According to Darry from the second film, the Creeper knows no mercy and consumes everything. The Creeper is also known to use intricate symbols and designs for his weapons. In the second film, he uses a knife and the object was found by the boys' father the boy was taken as the Creeper flew away smoothly. And the knife had the sign of him flying away with his son. The same happened for Darry in the first film as the Creeper used his belly button for a throwing star.
Powers and Abilities
The Creeper employs a variety of weapons in his pursuit for food. He commonly carries daggers and throwing stars made from the flesh and bones of his victims (and, possibly, himself). He also uses a medieval battleaxe in the first film, which may indicate that it has once lived somewhere else. The weapons he creates are shown to move of their own accord (or, perhaps, return to their master) in the second film, where a knife flies across a room under its own power, traveling through a leather lamp before embedding into a nearby wall. Later in the film, the same knife has been converted into a harpoon-like weapon to be used against the Creeper by allowing it to guide itself to its target. In the third film, the Creeper seems to have some form of telekinesis, as he is able to command his truck to move to his will while he rides on the roof.
The Truck
The Creeper's truck.
The Creeper drives a very large, old-fashioned, rusted truck equipped with a cow catcher on the front, which he uses to transport bodies (dead or alive) to a mysterious cave underneath an old church through a sewer pipe where he sews his victims to the ceiling that it calls its House of Pain. He also uses his truck to scare potential victims. The license plate on his truck reads "BEATNGU", "Be Eating You" — commonly confused as "Beating You"--. The truck can attain unusually high speeds (at least 100 mph) despite its decrepit exterior. In the third film, it is revealed to have been booby-trapped by the Creeper to either trap potential prey or kill people inside to kill any prisoners who attempt to escape or those who venture too close on the outside.
Appetite
The Creeper has the ability to regenerate any part of his body by devouring a similar part from a victim. In this manner, he has survived since Biblical times, replenishing his deteriorated body by ingesting human flesh and organs. The ability also works as a form of healing factor, as the Creeper can discard injured or maimed body parts after ingesting a replacement version, as shown in Jeepers Creepers II.
Immortality
| “ | I think It's eaten too many hearts for Its own to ever stop... | „ |
| ~ Jezelle Gay Hartman about the Creeper. |
In addition to his regenerative powers, the Creeper is quite resilient. In the first film, it was run over several times and was still alive, it then sprouted a bat-like wing. In the second film it is impaled with harpoons multiple times yet retains the ability to move, including several head wounds. In the third film it was seen to take multiple rounds from a truck mounted minigun. The Creeper only stops moving when it reaches its hibernation period or to toy with its prey.
Trivia
- The Creeper can scream or screech, and whistle. In a deleted scene from the first movie, after killing the Cat Lady, he does speak, making it obvious that he is, in fact, intelligent. He has an Old West style accent, hinting at maybe some origin.
- It is shown to have talons instead of shoes in Jeepers Creepers 2.
- It was inspired by the "Spring Heeled Jack", a supernatural entity in English folklore of the Victorian era.
External Links
- The Creeper on the Horror Wiki.