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The real monster behind ‘Jeepers Creepers’: the pedophile past of Victor Salva, director of the original trilogy

Although he ranks several steps below other horror figures, he is undoubtedly the creeper, the monster Jeepers Creepers, It has iconic character. The premiere of Jeepers Creepers. the rebornthe reboot of the franchise,reminds us of the original trilogy signed by Victor Salva and, by extension, the very dark reality behind the director. Knowing her makes the imaginary of the first films take on a truly terrifying extra dimension.

the saga Jeepers Creepers is built on the premise that the Creeper, an ancient creature, a demon, unleashes death every 23 years. After that cycle of inactivity, wakes up and for 23 days goes out to eat and then return to his slumber. Enjoyingly, he smells the fear of his victims and chooses a part of each one, an organ. An approach that involves a disturbing subtext if it is known that Salva was in jail for pedophilia.

In 1988, Salva was convicted of abusing 12-year-old Nathan Forrest Winters, one of the three protagonists of Clownhouse. deadly clownsyes, exhibited at Sundance. She had oral sex with the minor and recorded it, in addition to the fact that she also possessed other child pornography content. His three-year prison sentence ended at 15 months.

The 'creeper' threatens Justin Long's character in the first installment
The ‘creeper’ threatens Justin Long’s character in the first installment
(IMDB)

It so happened that in the 80s, while he was starting out in the cinema with low-budget recordings, Salva worked in a nursery. She had ties to the child’s familywho before the work with clowns had already participated in a medium-length film.

The shadow of pedophilia accompanied him, but it did not prevent him from growing in the industry US. In 1995 he premiered Powder. Pure energy, the identifying film of his filmography together with the first two installments of Jeepers Creepers (2001 and 2003)considered cult and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who already sponsored him professionally in Clownhouse. Later, in 2006, he directed The peaceful Warrioralthough his career ended up being very resentful and, in fact, he had great problems to get ahead Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017).

Protests at the premiere of ‘Powder’

The noise appeared under the arrival in theaters Powder by the protests led by Winters, the victim. A movement focused on boycotting the film, starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Mary Steenburgen and Jeff Goldblum, so that the public knew who Salva was.

Winters, already 20 years old, and the family decided act upon discovering with horror, in television commercials for Powderthat Salva had made a feature film for Disney, one of the driving companies through Buena Vista. At this juncture, Salva issued a statement. “I paid dearly for my mistakes,” she stressed.

‘Jeepers Creepers’ and their symbology

The experience of seeing his three films of Jeepers Creepersespecially the first two, the good ones (the third is nonsense), change if Salva’s past is kept in mind. Then one looks at the underlying symbology around the Creeper. One is immersed in the story, in the cinematographic escape, but several details involve analysis of the inner layer, the subtext, due to its sordid resonances. However, these are nothing compared to the unhealthy and sick essence that gives off Clownhouse (with clowns behind kids, one of them a young Sam Rockwell) regardless of whether it is known what happened on set.

Returning to the central idea of Jeepers Creepers, the thing about the predatory monster that every once in a while goes hunting and needs to feed, makes you think. Also that he uses an old van adapted for evil. The dark dimension sprouts empowered with respect to the creature smelling fear, savoring it and being guided by it to detect what it wants from each victim. His organs become part of him. Before influencing this aspect, the original work describes (not shown on screen) that the creeper He has been hanging around the car of the protagonists and has started to smell their clothes.

The Creeper kills without distinction, although it is clear that there are people who are not interested and that the focus is on young boys. The character in charge of Justin Long is his big target, not his sister (Gina Phillips). Some already quite noticeable preferences in the 2003 sequel. The first victim is a blond boywhich he drags in the prologue through a cornfield while his father (Ray Wise, who will seek revenge) and his older brother try to stop him.

In the second film, the monster devotes all his attention to the youth of a basketball team. whom he catches in the bus in which they were traveling (the typical yellow one from an American institute) to hunt them down. The taste and fruition with which he smells them and the black humor in their gestures make the aforementioned double reading fly over in the sequence in which the monstrosity scares them with enjoyment and delight through the windows.

The controversy of ‘Jeepers Creepers 3’

The monster, in 'Jeepers Creepers 3'
The monster, in ‘Jeepers Creepers 3’
(IMDB)

Jeepers Creepers 3Due to its lack of quality and resources, it distorts the figure of the monster so much that this background barely appears. However, its production was involved in controversy by the movements against it, especially as a result of the fact that in the casting it was specified that one of the main roles was that of a young woman who went to live with her grandmother after years ago her stepfather made “propositions” to her. The original montage included a dialogue with a direct allusion to the subject of pedophilia, a conversation that was eliminated, at least in the version that reached the platforms in Spain.

Salva had big plans for this third part, manifested in that it was going to be titled Cathedral. Due to the mediocre results, attached to the B series that above all bores, it shows that in the end he threw with what he could to resume the imaginary. Better if she had let it be.

Jeepers Creepers. the rebornnow on the bill, constitutes a reboota reboot around the monster in which Salva has no creative involvement. The director is the Finnish Timo Vuorensola. It is evident that Salva’s past collided with the return to the figure, hence they opted for reinvention. Another thing is that the applied twist is completely bad.

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