The pedophile who created jeepers creepers movie

#THE PEDOPHILE WHO CREATED JEEPERS CREEPERS MOVIE HOW TO#

I think it's important to remember who Victor Salva is and what he has done. But with the knowledge that he has (seemingly) restrained himself from committing further crimes, does he not deserve to make a living? We can certainly all agree that Salva should never be allowed to work around children unsupervised. His astonishingly light sentence is, at this point, moot. Unlike, say, Roman Polanski - who in 1977 pled guilty to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl before fleeing the country to avoid further jail time - Salva faced the consequences of his actions and served his time. Salva starve than be allowed to make another film.

These are not easy questions, and there are no doubt those who would just as soon see Mr. Winters? Can we truly separate the man from his art? And perhaps the most controversial question of all: aren't pedophiles - even convicted child molesters - deserving of compassion too?

#THE PEDOPHILE WHO CREATED JEEPERS CREEPERS MOVIE HOW TO#

Fans of the вЂњJeepers CreepersвЂќ franchise have been voicing their excitement on Twitter, though I would venture that most of them aren't aware of the director's criminal past (it will be interesting to see how this news plays out in the court of public opinion circa 2015 indeed, Twitter wasn't even invented when Salva's last studio-backed film hit theaters).ДЇor the rest of us: how to square Salva's latest career revival with his sordid history? Do we continue to decry his every move because he committed a terrible crime nearly 30 years ago, despite zero evidence of recidivism? Can we forget about his crime long enough to enjoy one of his silly monster movies? Would that be fair to Mr. Knowing everything that I know about Salva, it's difficult to know how to feel about today's news. In the years since that one-two punch Salva's career has dimmed somewhat (his highest-profile post-вЂњJeepersвЂќ release was the critically-panned 2006 book adaptation вЂњPeaceful WarriorвЂќ starring Nick Nolte), but it now appears headed for a вЂњrebootвЂќ with the announcement of the long-awaited horror threequel. an astonishing feat when you consider that child molestation is held on a par with murder (and perhaps even worse) in the American psyche.ДЄfter the turn of the century - aided by вЂњClownhouseвЂќ producer and mentor Francis Ford Coppola - Salva enjoyed his greatest commercial success with вЂњJeepers CreepersвЂќ and its 2003 sequel вЂњJeepers Creepers 2,вЂќ which grossed over $120 million collectively on a total budget of around $27 million. Despite the media attention, вЂњPowderвЂќ managed to gross over $30 million in the U.S. Salva's criminal past - all the more ironic for the fact that вЂњPowderвЂќ was released by Disney, whose brand is the very definition of вЂњfamily entertainmentвЂќ - attracted major press attention at the time, and there should be no question whatsoever that Winters' outrage was absolutely justified despite counter-statements from the film's producer and studio that Salva had paid his debt to society (a more-than-dubious claim considering his inordinately brief prison term), the young actor's life, as is the case with every molestation victim, was irrevocably damaged by his abuse at Salva's hands (Winters has not appeared on screen since вЂњClownhouseвЂќ). It would just go to line the pockets of this child molester.вЂќ

During an industry screening of that film, the then-20-year-old Winters protested outside the theater, handing out leaflets bearing the lines: вЂњPlease don't spend your money on this movie. One of the most prominent was the 1995 drama вЂњPowderвЂќ starring Mary Steenburgen, Jeff Goldblum and Sean Patrick Flanery, who starred as a bullied albinic teenager with supernatural powers and a genius-level IQ.

Those are the facts and despite them Salva has continued to work in the industry, helming a total of eight feature films since his release from prison. He is now (and will forever be) a registered sex offender in Los Angeles County. After the tape was discovered during a police raid (Winters had informed his mother of the abuse), Salva was jailed and served 15 months of a 3 year prison term before being released on parole. The crime in question occurred during the shooting of Salva's 1989 feature debut вЂњClownhouse,вЂќ when the then-29-year-old director filmed himself having oral sex with the film's 12-year-old star, Nathan Forrest Winters. When news broke this morning that вЂњJeepers Creepers 3вЂќ was ramping up production 12 years after the second film hit theaters, my thoughts almost immediately drifted to director Victor Salva, who helmed the first two вЂњJeepersвЂќ films and is also, as a number of tweeters have already pointed out, a convicted child molester.

The pedophile who created jeepers creepers movie