Victor Salva, the director behind the first three Jeepers Creepers films, has a conviction for sexually abusing a child who starred in his movie.
Salva pleaded guilty in 1988 to multiple felonies involving Nathan Forrest Winters, the 12-year-old star of Clownhouse. The charges included lewd and lascivious conduct, oral copulation with a minor and procuring CSAM. Salva videotaped at least 1 incident of abuse.
He received a 3-year prison sentence and served about 15 months. He completed parole in 1992 and is a registered sex offender. He later wrote and directed Jeepers Creepers and its first 2 sequels.
That conviction sits behind the current debate over Freddy Krueger. As horror fans argue over Freddy costumes, merchandise and his Fortnite appearance, Salva’s record is the actual case of a child abuser connected to the genre.
The Freddy discussion grew in late October after a character skin appeared in Fortnite’s Fortnitemares event. Some TikTok users objected to selling merchandise featuring him, dressing as him or celebrating the films because of his fictional history of killing children and, in the 2010 remake, sexually abusing them. Those objections spread into claims that TikTok was trying to cancel Freddy, though the discussion hasn’t amounted to a broad campaign.
The films also need distinguishing. In the 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street and its main sequels, Freddy murders children, their parents burn him alive, and he returns to kill teenagers in their dreams. Sexual abuse remains subtext.
Wes Craven said he’d initially conceived Freddy more explicitly as a child molester, then pulled back, partly because of a prominent real-life child-abuse case. Robert Englund has said he never played Freddy as a pedophile. The 2010 remake explicitly depicts Freddy as a child molester as well as a murderer.
Salva’s conviction has already prompted protests and boycott calls tied to his films, including concerns about whether purchases financially benefit him. A Los Angeles premiere of Jeepers Creepers 3 was canceled in 2017 amid the backlash. The 2022 reboot, Jeepers Creepers: Reborn, had no involvement from Salva.
