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. Understandably, this sparked protests against the film being made, and many eventually supported a boycott of its limited theatrical release. 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. Salva was sentenced to three years in prison, but only ended up serving 15 months behind bars.
ORIGINAL JEEPERS CREEPERS MOVIE SERIES
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. 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. Why Jeepers Creepers 3 Was So Controversial This greatly complicated things, for the following reason: director Victor Salva is a convicted pedophile. 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. Related: The 15 Scariest Villains In Underwhelming Horror Movies The Jeepers Creepers franchise ended up lying dormant for over a decade, that was until 2017, when Jeepers Creepers 3 materialized. 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.
With that success, it's no surprise Jeepers Creepers received a sequel, with Jeepers Creepers 2 arriving in summer 2003. Made for only $10 million, Jeepers Creepers proved quite profitable, raking in $59 million at the box office. Naturally, its victims don't survive the process. 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. 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). In 2017, horror sequel Jeepers Creepers 3 hit theaters, but the criminal record of director Victor Salva complicated matters for many fans.