Jeepers Creepers Trailer Analysis

Jeepers Creepers is a horror film made in 2001 by Victor Salva. It is set in America and features the song ‘Jeepers Creepers’. The basic plot of the film is about a brother (Darry) and sister (Trish) who are driving home from a long trip, on their way home they see a big rusty old van being driven by a strange tall creature, the creature drops something down a pipe near an old, abandoned church. When they go and see what it was he dropped down the pipe Darry finds an underground hideaway with thousands of dead bodies decorating the room. From then on the film is about the Darry and Trish trying to escape from this creature because he is trying to kill Darry. They meet a psychic who tells then whenever they hear the song ‘Jeepers Creepers’ they should run because it means that ‘The Creeper ’ is near. At the end of the film Darry gets captured by the creature and he dies. ‘The Creeper’ eats his victims body parts so that they can become part of his own body to help him survive.
The trailer made for Jeepers Creepers median is film in the form of a trailer. The ideology that the trailer portrays is gory and thrilling. It is made to shock and frighten the audience. The genre of the trailer is horror/thriller. The representation of the film is surreal because human eating monsters do not exist but the film still manages to scare the audience. The audience that the film is aimed at is an older audience because the film would not be suitable for young children because it is very scary. Also it does not involve the codes and conventions that a film aimed at a younger audience would have. The institution that film is from is American Zoetrope. The narrative of the trailer includes short phrases that are meant to scare the audience and add tension to the scene.
The trailer starts with a car appearing over a hill on the completely empty road. The sound of a radio being tuned can be heard in the background. It then switches to a close up of a radio. Darry and Trish are shown sitting in the front seats of the car. Darry says, ‘I haven’t seen a car in over 50 miles.’ This piece of dialogue has been included in the trailer to show that there is no one else around so if they were to get into danger, there would be no one to help them. A conversation is then shown between the siblings, they are talking about a girl that went missing in the middle of nowhere and they only found her car but never found a body.

The film company’s names and logos are then flashed on the screen with a whooshing sounds effect. The harsh sound is to shock the audience because then wouldn’t have expected to see them after the trailer had started.
The back of the car is then shown driving into the distance; the car does not look very secure. They have filmed the back of the car because it makes it feel like they are being watched or followed by something. Loud scary music is then played in the background; this adds to the scary atmosphere and intensifies the scene.
‘They were alone’ is shown on the screen in white block capital letters. This narrative is used to help the viewer understand the plot more because it is only a short space of time to fit the storyline into. It also gives the viewer a feeling that something bad is about to happen. When the words disappear from the screen there is a white flash of light. The white light could represent the bright light that you apparently see when you die. This could suggest the audience that someone is going to die.
They then witness a tall ‘man’ dressed in a dark long coat and hat drop something down a pipe wrapped in a sheet. The narrative then continues with ‘In the middle of nowhere’ appearing on the screen. The music gets louder and spookier this shows that the action is about to take place and builds up tension and anticipation within the audience. An image from an old abandoned church is shown. There is a crucifix on the top of an old building with a crow sitting on the top of it. A crow is used because they are supposed to be a sign of the devil. This shows contrast between the crucifix which is a symbol of God, so the crow is something that is not supposed to be there.

Darry and Trish drive up to the old church and it shows the back of them walking towards the pipe. This also gives the illusion that they could be being watched. Darry is shown peering down the pipe and crawling inside to see if he can see any further down. Trish is trying to tell him to get out and that something bad is going to happen. Trish then drops Darry and falls backwards the scene then jumps to Darry and shows him sliding down the pipe. A dark red background is seen with ‘It’s watching’ in the same font as before. This quote builds tension within the audience because the audience don’t know what ‘it’ is.

A new character is then introduced and it is a woman telling Darry about the Creeper and how he eats victims. The Creeper’s arms are then shown behind bars and there is a close up of Darry to show how he is scared. The music gets louder and more dramatic in parts to show the fear of the characters. More narrative texts are shown on the screen to scare the audience. Trish is shown screaming in the back of the car and looks like she is trying to get away from something this builds tension because the scream is loud and will shock the audience they will also wonder what she is screaming about.
A scene is shown where the Creeper almost catches them, they try to run him over and there is diegetic sound of brakes screeching which shocks the audience because it is sudden. It then shows a scene where they are talking to the police and Darry standing in the underground lair. Darry is telling the police how he has hundreds of dead bodies there.

The music then goes very quiet and shows Trish sitting in the car. Darry then slams into the window and scares Trish as he bangs into the window the music starts again suddenly and very loudly. This shocks the viewer and shows that the film is a thriller. Loud punk rock music is then played and the scenes alternate very quickly as they flash onto the screen. There are scenes of the Creeper and weapons.
As the images and scenes continue to flash narrative text is shown. ‘This Fall’, this shows when the film will be released. ‘Things are getting’, these short texts intrigue the viewer and make them want to know what will be coming next. ‘Creepy’, this relates to the film title and shows the genre and representation of the film.There are two shots of Darry and Trish, they are looking towards something looking very scared. There are also close ups of Darry screaming. The audience will wonder what they are looking at and why they are so scared. It could also suggest it is a part from the film where something is about to happen. They also wonder whether the Creeper has caught them.
More short scenes and images from the film are shown where they are trying to escape from the Creeper. Images of the Creepers van, explosions, police chases and Darry and Trish trying to escape are shown. This shows the film has many different themes and is full of action. Letters start appearing on the screen to spell out Jeepers Creepers and there is a voice over that announces the film title in a deep scary voice.

The screen then plunges into darkness and the music cuts out. Once again it comes back on with a bang and shows the Creeper grabbing Darry round the throat and his wings open up. The trailer is then cut off and ‘What’s eating you?’ is shown on the screen. This is a significant piece of narrative text because it is a direct question towards the viewer so it grabs their attention and helps them to relate to the film. This is also the quote that can be recognised from the top of the film poster, so it relates the two products together. Also, it relates to the film and it’s plot and in America ‘What’s eating you?’ is also a way of asking someone what is bothering them so it could relate to the audience.

The trailer ends with a dark screen and a deep sound playing in the background. Coming Soon is in the screen and the film’s institutions are advertised on the screen once again. I think the trailer for Jeepers Creepers successfully shows the representation of the film. Although I think showing Darry being caught by the Creeper could be a mistake because the audience may realise that Darry dies in the end of the film. Although because it doesn’t show him die the audience may think that he has a chance of escape and it creates action and a shocking feature of the trailer.