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TW: Homophobia, mentions of pedophilia

July 2nd - Jeepers Creepers (2001)

3.5/5

This is less of a review and more a pondering on some stuff I noticed while watching.

I first watched Jeepers Creepers when I was a young teen, being told that it was a horror movie that was more "kid-friendly" than some of the scarier things I'd been shown far too young. That was... perhaps less than true. However, rewatching the film a decade later, I had a really fun time with it. However, I noticed. A trend.

Director Victor Salva said this about the film:

He said he wanted the Creeper to kill characters that were for the most part male because he was 'very tired of seeing women slaughtered and raped' in cinema. To conceal his final girl-styled ending from viewers, Salva employed various red herrings throughout the first act so viewers would thing Trish was going to die.

Honestly I find this really refreshing, especially from 2001. However, what isn't so refreshing is the subtle homophobia that was born of this decision. I do want to emphasize that this did not affect my personal rating, I love that men are the object of violence in this film, but I have to talk about the framing because, while unfortunate, I find it morbidly funny.

Before we are visually introduced to the Creeper, he chases Darry and Trish down the highway, and breaks into their car while they call for help in a roadside diner. A waitress calls out that she saw the Creeper sniffing Darry's dirty laundry from the backseat.

waitress stating 'looked like he was liking it too.'

I didn't think much of this at the time, it's the classic horror trope of a monster hungrily salivating over their prey, but when paired with some later shots I feel like it's incredibly relevant, especially because sniffing clothes can be seen as an act of "perversion".

When the Creeper attacks the police escorting Darry and Trish to the police station, he kills the female officer offscreen. The male officer, he beheads and eats the tongue of as the siblings watch. While the billboard in the back of the shot ironically boasts "Tastes So Darn Good!", the Creeper looks almost as if he is deeply kissing the severed head.

the creeper kissing a severed head cast in shadow

a zoomed in shot of the creeper and the head

This is the closest the movie comes to conflating gayness with violence, but I don't believe the parallel in this shot could be unintentional. The Creeper has killed women before, but is currently only interested in men. It is also worth noting that of the victims we see and name, they are all young adults at oldest, and two are confirmed high school seniors. This may be more unfortunate coincidence, but it also follows the trend of a monster that is incredibly aged preying on young people in a way that could be construed as pedophilic if the sexual nature of the murders and mutilation are taken into account, further equating gayness with something predatory.

The last instance I noticed was small, simply the comparison in how the Creeper treats Darry in comparison to Trish when he finally corners them in a room at the police station. While he salivates over Trish first, it reads mostly as hunger, he is physically above her and we can clearly see her face. Meanwhile, we can't get a good look at Darry when the camera pans over, and he and the Creeper are on a more equal level, placing them face to face. The Creeper smells Darry in a way that is hungry, but also could be seen as much more sensual than how he did with Trish.

These instances are small compared to the total movie runtime, which is what makes me thing this framing was perhaps more subconcious than intentional, but it felt worth looking at because of its subtlety. Many films are simply outright homophobic, which personally I find quite boring to discuss. This had me hunting down sources of quotes (though I wasn't about to buy a whole book just for a silly blog post. I'll buy it later for my own reading enjoyment).