Do we like Victor Salva?
Our score: 0 out of 10. He was convicted in 1988 of abusing a child and filming it, and that sits at the bottom of the scale whatever came after.
Salva came up as a protege of Francis Ford Coppola, who was impressed by his 1986 short film and backed his debut feature, Clownhouse. That should have been the start of a fairytale Hollywood career. It turned into one of the ugliest stories in horror.
In 1988 Salva pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14, oral sex with a child under 14 and procuring a child for pornography. The 12-year-old actor in Clownhouse had told his mother what happened, and Salva was convicted of filming it too. He was sentenced to three years and served 15 months, mostly at Soledad State Prison.
Then came the comeback. Disney's Powder (1995) drew protests, including a picket by the victim and five friends outside a screening with signs reading “Support the Victim, Not the Victimizer.” The film did well enough to bring Salva more work, including the Jeepers Creepers franchise. Salva declined BuzzFeed's interview request. The only statement of his that TheWrap quotes is a 1995 line to the LA Times: “I paid for my mistakes dearly.” Producer Michael Ohoven told BuzzFeed he believes Salva has turned his life around, and argued Salva faces a double standard.
On the harm check, we found no speeches or campaigns of his against LGBTQ+ people, women or the planet. The problem is his own work. Jeepers Creepers 3 gave its teenage lead a backstory of a father or stepfather making advances, and IGN reported a line in which a character defended the abuse. TheWrap says that line was cut from the theatrical version but was in a critics' screener, though reports differ on the exact wording. The Union of British Columbia Performers issued a warning urging actors not to audition for the film.
Nothing new on him lately. The latest item we found is a distribution-rights lawsuit between Myriad Pictures and Infinity Films, the studio behind the Reborn reboot. It was still ongoing as of June 2024, and the report doesn't name Salva as a party. Myriad alleges the studio sidestepped its contractual rights, and the court hasn't decided that.
The good stuff is where this card runs out of road. We found no verified charity work, no stand he took for others at a cost to himself, and no change in his work after the conviction that would count as making amends. That's honestly the whole list. Fans of the Creeper films are a separate matter from the man's record.