Why Jeepers Creepers 3 Was So Controversial
In 2017, horror sequel Jeepers Creepers 3 hit theaters, but the criminal record of director Victor Salva complicated matters for many fans.
You Are Reading :Why Jeepers Creepers 3 Was So Controversial
In 2017, horror sequel Jeepers Creepers 3 hit theaters, but the criminal record of director Victor Salva complicated matters for many fans. The original Jeepers Creepers film was released back in 2001, and introduced the world to the rather cool monster known as The Creeper (Jonathan Breck). An ageless, demon-like creature, The Creeper emerges every 23rd spring for 23 days, then proceeds to feast on human body parts to sustain itself. Naturally, its victims don’t survive the process. Made for only $10 million, Jeepers Creepers proved quite profitable, raking in $59 million at the box office.
With that success, it’s no surprise Jeepers Creepers received a sequel, with Jeepers Creepers 2 arriving in summer 2003. Unfortunately, Jeepers Creepers 2 failed to earn as much acclaim from the horror community as the original, although it still made money, $63 million on a $17 million budget to be exact. The Jeepers Creepers franchise ended up lying dormant for over a decade, that was until 2017, when Jeepers Creepers 3 materialized.
While the first two Jeepers Creepers films came and went without much incident, an interesting thing had happened by the time Jeepers Creepers 3 came around: the rise of the internet and social media. This greatly complicated things, for the following reason: director Victor Salva is a convicted pedophile.
Why Jeepers Creepers 3 Was So Controversial
While the internet obviously existed when the first two Jeepers Creepers films were released, Google wasn’t even around yet, much less social media as we know it today, and information sources like Wikipedia were still in their infancy. Thus, when Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers 2 came out, most moviegoers weren’t aware that Victor Salva – writer/director of all three films in the series – was convicted in 1988 of multiple charges stemming from his sexual abuse of a minor, with Salva even recording one such instance on tape. Salva was sentenced to three years in prison, but only ended up serving 15 months behind bars.
This information had become widely available online in the years since Jeepers Creepers 2, with many choosing to reevaluate their opinion of Salva’s films after learning what he’d done. Understandably, this sparked protests against the film being made, and many eventually supported a boycott of its limited theatrical release. The backlash only increased when screener copies of Jeepers Creepers 3 were found to contain a joke about child molestation, which was subsequently removed from the cut shown in theaters.
Some would argue that Salva served his sentence, and hasn’t been in trouble with the law since, so he should be entitled to make a living without being harassed about his past. The problem with that is that his crimes are directly tied to his work as a filmmaker. Salva’s victim, Nathan Winters, was the young star of his 1988 horror film Clownhouse, and said abuse occurred during production. Today, Clownhouse is almost impossible to find a copy of, and for good reason. With that in mind, while Salva shouldn’t necessarily be prevented from working, many would argue that his options shouldn’t include working on a film set. If Salva ever makes a sequel to Jeepers Creepers 3, one assumes the controversy will reignite all over again.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/jeepers-creepers-3-movie-controversial-reason/