Victor Salva: the paedophile director who was disgustingly allowed back into Hollywood
Four American horror movies make up the Jeepers Creepers film series. Victor Salva wrote and directed the first three movies, and Timo Vuorensola directed the fourth. As keen fans will know all too well, the films follow the hunting and terrorising of a demonic serial killer, which Johnathon Breck played in the first three films before being replaced by Jarreau Benjamin.
The first effort, Jeepers Creepers, was released in 2001 and starred Justin Long and Gina Phillips as two siblings who fall prey to the Creeper. The first two movies, it goes without saying, are considered favourites among horror fans. The following two, however, were panned by critics and audiences alike. These later movies were also boycotted and publicly criticised before release, especially the third, which was directed by Salva, because there was an outcry towards his previous charges of paedophilia.
Despite a boycott of the third Jeepers Creepers film in 2017, Victor Salva committed his offence years before the first instalment was even released. Salva’s debut feature-length movie was another horror titled Clownhouse, released in 1989. It follows three young brothers left alone at home one night – the same night that three individuals with a mental health condition escape from an institution. The escapees dress as clowns and stalk the brothers, terrorising them over the course of the evening. Clownhouse’s underage star, Nathan Forrest Winters, was 12 years old when Salva was convicted in 1988 of sexual misconduct and videotaping himself sexually abusing Winters.
Due to these crimes, home media releases of Clownhouse were immediately removed from distribution and are out of print. However, the film can still be viewed on YouTube, that is, if anyone would ever want to, given the horrific context. Also found in Salva’s home were commercial videotapes and magazines containing child pornography. Salva admitted to lewd and lascivious conduct, sexual contact with a minor, and procuring a child for pornography. He served 15 months of his three-year sentence in state prison. Upon completing his parole in 1992, he was released.
Victor Salva’s criminal past and the controversy surrounding Powder
The filmmaker’s career took a five-year hiatus after his release from jail, working instead as a telemarketer and writing scripts during the night. He returned to directing with the straight-to-video mystery film The Nature of the Beast, which was released in 1995 and starred Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen. Salva managed to keep a low profile in the industry until his first big-studio picture, Powder, released the same year, triggered the exposure of his crimes. Knowledge of Salva’s sexual abuse of a child became public, with Winters coming forward as his victim. He found the studio’s industry screening of Powder and handed out flyers to visitors, saying, “Please don’t spend your money on this movie. It would just go to line the pockets of this child molester”. Winters then told the Associated Press how seeing his abuser being allowed to return to work, let alone be released from his sentence, made him feel.
“It just makes me sick. I’m not going to stand by,” Winters said. “He should not be allowed to live his life as if nothing happened.”
What’s most disturbing, though, is how easily Salva was reabsorbed into the system. Powder, a Disney-backed film no less, positioned him not as a cautionary figure but as a visionary. The film itself—about an ostracised boy with supernatural abilities—was, at best, an ill-advised metaphor coming from a man with Salva’s history. At worst, it blurred the line between his supposed redemption and a thinly veiled narrative designed to manipulate sympathy.
That Disney pushed ahead with the release after learning the truth (which they claim they didn’t know) only adds to the industry’s long-standing willingness to look the other way. It’s a pattern we’ve seen before and since. The difference here is that Salva’s offence wasn’t a rumour or an accusation—it was a conviction. A filmed crime. And yet, the project went ahead, marketing budget intact.
The studio claimed they did not know about Salva’s crimes and convictions. This response can be re-assessed as dubious, given the recent exposure of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct against women in the industry that took place ‘secretly’ for years. Salva’s attempt to clear his name from something beyond reprehensible was deplorable and dismissive of the damage his actions caused: “I made a terrible mistake, one I wish I could take back every day of my life.”
“I pled guilty to a terrible crime, and I’ve spent the rest of my life trying to make up for it,” the director said in a 2006 statement. “For almost 20 years, I’ve been involved with helping others, I’ve been in therapy, and I’ve made movies. But I paid my debt to society and apologised to the young man. And all I can hope is that people will give me a chance to redeem myself.”
Audiences have neglected this “chance to redeem” himself, instead continuously bringing attention to Salva’s crimes whenever the Jeepers Creepers films are brought up. The online petition to boycott Jeepers Creepers 3 reads: “Jeepers Creepers 3 is currently in production. The director and creator of this franchise, Victor Salva, used his position to rape a 12-year-old boy in 1988 during the filming of the movie Clownhouse. He was convicted and served a measly 15 months in prison. As the three largest movie theatre chains in the US, I urge you not to show this movie at your theatres. The profits from Jeepers Creepers 3 line the pockets of a paedophile. Monsters belong on the screen, not behind the camera. I also urge other members of the horror movie community to take a stance. Spread the word and don’t watch this film”.
Separating art from the artist is a complex and heavy discussion in the entertainment industry, with some strongly arguing against the severance and making a stand against artists who have done wrong. These people believe the connection between a creator and their work is too strong to ignore the acts to enjoy the art, while others disagree with this outlook. Incidents such as Salva’s weigh in as a huge emotional and tragic side. The director’s crimes have definitely soured the Jeepers Creepers films, making the films unwatchable as the villain echoes Salva’s predatory behaviour through stalking and unsettling enticing antics. It’s also a matter of refusing to support a criminal who employed a creative field to exert his misconduct.
