Jeepers Creepers | 2001

This genuinely creepy horror has become somewhat overshadowed by its director’s past but it was successful enough to spawn a couple of sequels.

Mostly set on-the-road, the film was made in the area around Ocala in northern Florida.

Most of the driving scenes were shot on what’s known locally as Tiger Trail, a dead-straight, north-south stretch of SW 180th Avenue Road, to the northeast of the town of Dunnellon.

The town is about 25 miles west of Ocala and if you really demand that extra shot of the macabre, it’s claimed that ghosts of three children killed at the intersection of Tiger Trail and the local high school road have made appearances in the small hours of the morning.

The church was the empty and abandoned St James’s, which stood at 3602 SW 110th Avenue, between Dunnellon and Ocala. Sometime after filming, it mysteriously burned down and there’s nothing left to see.

You can, though, see what was the diner (for the present, at least) at 4629 FL-44, Lake Panasoffkee, on the south side of the road just west of N County Road 470 near the town of Rutland.

Breaking with the movie tradition of naming fictitious bar and restaurants after members of the Production Design team, ‘Opper’s Diner’ is a nod to Barry Opper, one of the film’s producers (OK, he was the film’s production manager too).

The ‘Poho County’ sheriff’s office is Reddick Public Library, 15150 Northwest Gainsville Road. Reddick, way north of Ocala. No offence to the good folk of Reddick, but it doesn’t look like it’s currently in use.

Totally gone is the industrial site used for the film’s climax, which was White's Meat Packing, which stood at 315 Northeast 14th Street to the north of Ocala. It’s been totally demolished and the site has been completely redeveloped.

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