Jeepers Creepers Page #5

Someone's coming!!!

In a new panic he grabs Trish's hand. With a concerted effort

big sis pulls little brother up to the mouth of the pipe.

TRISH:

(trying to look behind her)

Hurry!!!!

WRRANNKKKKK!!!! The pipe makes A NEW, SHRILLER KIND OF

SOUND... and Darry can feel the entire thing shift.

Really clutching his sister's hand now. Grabs the lip of the

pipe with the other. But a piece of its jagged, torn metal

stabs into his palm.

He yells. Retracts his hand violently. Loses his footing.

Slides out of Trish's grip. Down he goes again. Thrashing all

the way.

TRISH:

Darry!

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Gets his footing halfway down. Examines the gash in his hand

when PING! PING! Just beneath his sneakers, the rusty welds

holding the lengths of the pipe together -snap!

Darry in the middle of the tube. Staring up at his sister

with wide eyes. AS A LOW, ACHING METAL GROAN BEGINS, BUILDING

QUICKLY....

Darry scrambling up toward the mouth as he realizes what is

about to happen.

Almost to the top when the bottom half of the massive tube

falls away. Darry sliding down again with the great jolt.

Both he and the pipe plummeting down into the darkness in a

great cacophony of sound and dust.

TRISH:

Darrrrry!

Tries to see through the cloud of dust that shoots up out of

the tube AS THE SOUND OF THE APPROACHING VAN GETS LOUDER.

She whirls toward the highway. Dashes toward her car. Huddles

in front of it. Peers around the left front wheel. Her heart

racing.

The van comes into view...

But not a dark van. This is another, newer van. And it

continues down the two-lane without ever stopping.

INT. SUBTERRANEAN ROOM. CHURCH. DUSK. MOMENTS LATER.

Darry sitting on the ground against the fallen half of the

pipe staring at the gash in his hand. Stares up with Trish's

voice.

TRISH:

It wasn't him.

DARRY:

You know you really suck!

(stands, holding his arm)

In the moment of truth you

really don't know how to hang

on do you? You just suck-

TRISH:

You were the one who wanted to

come back here and have a

little adventure!

JEEPERS CREEPERS

28

Darry is staring over at the bodies. The two still in sheets.

He stares up at his sister again.

TRISH:

Well I hope there's another

way outta there.

DARRY:

(angry)

Well it's a church basement so

I'm guessing the church!

The sagging old church. Especially forboding as she regards it.

TRISH:

You don't think I'm going in

there?

DARRY:

You have to stay out front and

watch for people.

(off her look)

You see anyone? Flag 'em down!

Tell 'em to get the cops out

here right away!

Trish liking this less and less.

DARRY:

I'm gonna find a way up.

He starts to move off but calls her again.

DARRY:

Trish?

(off her look)

You see that van coming, you

get back to this pipe and

holler down as loud as you

can.

Now she couldn't like the whole idea less. Darry staring at

those bodies again.

DARRY:

I gotta find the flashlight.

Trish hurries to the car. Keeping an eye on the old highway.

She gets in. Starts the engine.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

INT. SUBTERRANEAN ROOM. LATE DAY. SAME TIME.

Darry takes the flashlight out from under the fallen length

of pipe. Tries it. It still works.

Letting his light lead him, he moves forward..

Ahead:
the other two bodies. Piled together. These

bloodstains are darker. Browner. How long have they been down

here?

Darry draws in a breath. The smell is getting putrid.

In the same moment his light ascends. There are words over

his head. An epitaph, spelled out in bones:

WHERE THERE'S A HELL THERE'S A

WAY:

Darry really gets a chill now. Doesn't want to wonder if

those are human bones. Arranged as they are, on a high arch

that leads into a larger, darker subterranean room.

Where a hand is sticking out of the wall.

His light falls over it. The skin on its splayed fingers

looks petrified. Is this a human hand?

No question:
The rest of the body is part of the wall.

Skin leathered with age. Like beef jerky. Teeth infected with

termites... Head back, mouth open in a scream long gone

silent. A body in a wall.

But more light reveals more horror. A WALL of bodies.

DARRY:

Oh no... oh God...

Darry steps forward, knees shaking. The vast room ahead, is

walled with dozens of these mounted corpses.

Men and women of all ages. Body after body.

Stitched together in a hideous tapestry. Large stitches.

Identical to those just uncovered beneath that bloody sheet.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Darry swings the light to the other side of the chamber.

Another grotesque mural of the dead, extending deep into the

darkness ahead...

God how many bodies are down here?

Darry moves forward -drawn by his own need to prove none of

this can possibly be real!

Some bodies are turned away. Skeletal heads looking back over

their shoulders -petrified backsides showing more stitches.

Several are as armless as the Venus DeMilo. Some missing

other limbs. Heads. Feet. Genitals.

Darry's growing repulsion moves him faster -how big is this

room? Feels like a football field...

Deeper along the hideous walls, Darry turns abruptly. Two

withered corpses in the tapestry.

On the finger of one: a large ring. An old Varsity ring. His

beam reflecting off its dusty jeweled surface. Darry stares

at it with unquestionable recognition.

Looks slowly to the corpse beside it. A girl? Once? Her

incision is all around her neck. As if her head had been

severed and then sewn back on.

EXT. OLD CHURCH. DUSK. SAME TIME.

Trish parked at the corner of the old church. Keeping an eye

on both directions of the empty two lane. Watching the long

shadows as the sun drops.

Feels something creeping over her. Looks up.

The sun is dropping behind the steeple of the church, the

shadow of the tower slowly falling on her.

She sits anxious in its growing darkness.

INT. SUBTERRANEAN ROOM. CHURCH. DUSK. SAME TIME.

The same below:
Darry staring back at the distant archway and

the dying sunlight.

Looks ahead at the cavern of the dead. The ambient light

fading away over all those twisted faces... this place is

getting really dark.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Darry takes a breath and moves forward quickly. Not quite

running. The darkness won't allow this. But walking as

quickly as he ever has...

The deeper he gets, the fresher the bodies.

They no longer have the withered faces and skins like apple

dolls. They have been a part of the walls for less time.

Darry moves faster. Almost running.

Grimacing faces of the dead, gaping mouths of mute agony

shouting him on.

Now practically sprinting through this corridor of death.

Tries to keep his eyes straight ahead. Doesn't want to look

at them. Tries not to...

Steals a look to one side. Looks back and WHAMMM!!!! Runs

directly into someone reaching out for him!

Darry has fallen and screams. Backs up on all fours. Stops.

Rate this script:3.5 / 8 votes