The Other Ed Woods
A List of Directors Comparable to Ed Wood
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Godfrey Ho was born in 1948 in Hong Kong. He is a director and writer, known for The Ninja Squad (1986), Thunder of Gigantic Serpent (1988) and Commando Fury (1986).- Producer
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Kenneth Del Vecchio is a critically acclaimed filmmaker who has written, produced and directed nearly 30 feature films that star 100+ film and TV stars, including multiple Academy Award and Emmy winners and nominees. His films are distributed through industry leaders such as NBC/Universal, Anchor Bay, Millennium Entertainment, Cinedigm, Screen Media Films, Vivendi Entertainment, Green Apple Entertainment, Midnight Releasing, Fabrication Films, Cardinal XD, and E-1 Entertainment. He has starred in numerous movies, as well. Mr. Del Vecchio is founder and chairman of Hoboken International Film Festival, called by FOX, MY and other major media "One of the 10 Biggest Film Festivals in the World." He also is the author of some of the nation's best-selling legal books, including criminal codebooks published by Prentice Hall and ALM. A best-selling criminal suspense novelist, he penned his first published novel at only 24-years-old. In addition, he serves as chairman of the historic Paramount Theater in Middletown, NY, and he is the owner of the Criminal Law Learning Center, where he has taught thousands of police officers and lawyers...And he is a former Judge, who also has tried over 400 cases as a practicing criminal attorney.
Kenneth Del Vecchio's filmography includes: The Life Zone, The Great Fight, Scavenger Killers, An Affirmative Act, Price For Freedom, Rock Story, Snapshot, Bleeding Hearts, 12 Angry Men and Women, O.B.A.M. Nude, Joker's Wild, iMurders, Kinky Killers, The Grand Theft, Fake, Hospital arrest, Renaissance Man, American Brawler, Aberrant, Real Gangsters, Three Chris's, Alone in the Dark 2, The Drum Beats Twice, Pride & Loyalty, Tinsel Town, Here and There, The Crimson Mask, and Rules For Men. His novels are Pride & Loyalty, Revelation in the Wilderness and The Great Heist (his most recent novel). And his legal books include: Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide to the Penal Statutes (national criminal codebook), New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide to the Penal Statutes, New York Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide to the Penal Statutes, and Test Prep Guide to Accompany New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, with numerous others in the works.- Director
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Albert Pyun was an award-winning US filmmaker best known for his contributions to the science-fiction and action genres. He is credited with pioneering the cyborg sub-genre and is considered to be a maverick and renegade in independent genre cinema. With over 50 titles to his name, he has enjoyed a prolific career spanning 30+ years and has earned himself a fevered cult following.
His first film, The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), was the highest-grossing independent film of 1982, earning $36,714,025 in the US. The film's success led to Pyun being attached to various large sci-fi projects, including Total Recall (1990) (eventually directed by Paul Verhoeven) and he became a much sought-after director by several studios. His follow-up film was the post-apocalyptic sci-fi Radioactive Dreams (1984), which helped launch the careers of Michael Dudikoff and John Stockwell, and cemented Pyun's reputation for being an edgy and creative filmmaker. The 1980s was a highly productive decade for him, with the release of Dangerously Close (1986), Vicious Lips (1986), Down Twisted (1987), Alien from L.A. (1988), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1988), Cyborg (1989) and Deceit (1990).
Pyun's work with Cannon Pictures saw him direct more films for the company than any other filmmaker and his involvement with "Spider-Man" and "Masters of the Universe 2" became legendary. When both films were canceled mid-way into their productions, Pyun devised a breakneck strategy to combine the sets and costume designs from both to salvage the lost money and deliver a single stand-alone film. The result was Cyborg (1989), which opened in 1989 as the fourth highest grossing film in the United States. It grossed $10,166,459 and gave Jean-Claude Van Damme his Hollywood superstar status.
The 1990s proved to be an even more prolific decade, with Pyun directing a further 24 films. Notable throughout those years include Captain America (1990), Nemesis (1992), Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995), Nemesis 3: Time Lapse (1996), Nemesis 4: Death Angel (1996), Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991), Knightriders (1981), Omega Doom (1996), Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996), Hong Kong 97 (1994), Postmortem (1998) and Mean Guns (1997). His work with Charles Band's Full Moon Pictures saw him direct Dollman (1991) and Arcade (1993), both of which continue to hold a strong cult following.
The 2000s marked a new era for Pyun, as he moved away from the independent studio system and began making films much more independently by way of self-funding and outsourcing money personally. This allowed for greater creative freedoms as a filmmaker, despite his budgets being drastically reduced. His new approach to filmmaking has divided audiences, however; those who have followed his career closely agree that his films since 2000 have been far more audacious and personal, none more so than his 2013 film Road to Hell (2008) (shot in 2008). Inspired by Walter Hill's classic Streets of Fire (1984), the film acts as a spiritual sequel and presents the two protagonists in an alternative future. Michael Paré and Deborah Van Valkenburgh reprised their roles of Tom and Reva Cody and their characters are pitted against a vibrant and surreal purgatory landscape. The film has enjoyed a steady run on the festival circuit and is slated for a home-entertainment release. Other notable films from this decade include the stunning one-shot horror film Invasion (2004) (aka "Infection"), the brutal drug trade thriller Bulletface (2010) and the long-awaited Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire (2010), a follow up to "The Sword and the Sorcerer". Investor and distributor interference on this film jeopardized the final theatrical cut and the film is slated, along with several of his other films, for an upcoming director's cut release.
The 2010s have proven to be a difficult time in Pyun's career due to declining health and difficulties getting a major project released. His film Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift was shot, but remains unfinished due to pending post-production issues. An incomplete version of the film was screened for an audience at the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival. His health took a turn for the worst in 2012 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The effect of the illness took an emotional and physical toll on him and in early 2013 he announced his retirement. Following a brief hiatus he concluded that the best remedy was filmmaking and he made a triumphant return with The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper (2014). While he endured medical tests and treatments, the film had an incredibly fast turnaround and was written, shot and completed within a matter of weeks. The story line was a direct follow-up to "Invasion" and continued the one-shot concept. It was entirely filmed over the course of a single day and showcased Pyun's ability to think outside the box, both practically and creatively.
As of 2015 Pyun had attempted to develop various other projects, while maintaining ongoing treatment for his multiple sclerosis. These projects include "Napoleon", "The Kickboxer": "City of Blood" and "Algiers". In maintaining a strong relationship with his fan base Pyun has shared the production details of these projects on his Facebook page and maintains that he is still actively pursuing them. Their further development will depend on his ongoing health. He attributes his relationship with his fans as a driving force in fighting his illness and he has shared his medical journey with them almost every step of the way.
November of 2015 saw the release of a conceptual teaser trailer for a brand-new film titled "Star Warfare Rangers" and the "Cyborg Witch of Endor" (later retitled Interstellar Civil War: Shadows of the Empire (2017)). Having evolved from various attempts to revive his "Cyborg" saga, the film is an original story detailing the search for a missing Cyborg child. The film marked Albert's 33rd collaboration with his long-standing composer Tony Riparetti and boasts an impressive cast including Brad Thornton, Glenn Maynard, Ellie Church, Tommie Vegas, Shane Ryan and Morgan Weisser, among others.
Pyun's career has seen him work with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, many of whom got their first break with him. He has worked with the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sasha Mitchell, Christopher Lambert, Natasha Henstridge, Brion James, Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley, Teri Hatcher, Rutger Hauer, Olivier Gruner, Charlie Sheen, Burt Reynolds, Steven Seagal, Rob Lowe, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Sorbo, Tom Sizemore, Andrew Dice Clay, Dennis Hopper, Kevin Gage, Robert Patrick, Seth Green, Dennis Chan, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Ronny Cox, Kris Kristofferson, George Kennedy, Richard Lynch, Lee Horsley, Richard Moll, Courteney Cox, Tom Matthews, Nicholas Guest, Kathy Ireland, Deep Roy, Michel Qissi, Andrew Divoff, David Carradine, Vincent Klyn, Mitch Pileggi, Yuji Okumoto, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Michael Pare and Deborah Van Vulkenburgh. His most frequent actor collaborations have been with Norbert Weisser and Scott Paulin, who have worked alongside Albert in dozens of films spanning several decades.
Albert passed away on November 22, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV, where he lived with his wife and producer, Cynthia Curnan.- Producer
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Charles Band is a writer, producer, director and publisher. He was born on December 27, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, as Charles Robert Band. His father was producer and director Albert Band and his brother is composer Richard Band.
Band has been writing, producing and directing films in the horror, science fiction, fantasy and comedy genres since the 1970s both for other company's and with his own studios, Empire Pictures and Full Moon Features. He was instrumental in ushering in the home video boom of the early 1980s with his companies Meda (later renamed Media Home Entertainment) and Wizard Video, the latter imprint which was responsible for being among the first entities to distribute European horror movies from such now celebrated filmmakers as Jess Franco and Lucio Fulci.
Band is perhaps best known for his work with Empire Pictures, making such pictures as Ghoulies, The Dungeonmaster, Terrorvision, Re-Animator and From Beyond and later, with Full Moon Features making films like Puppetmaster, Doctor Mordrid, Subspecies, Pit and the Pendulum, Castle Freak and many more.
Despite the changes in the home video and theatrical film marketplaces, Band has never stopped making and distributing movies. Many of his classic Full Moon pictures can be found on his Full Moon Streaming channel and now on the Full Moon Amazon channel. Band also distributes hundreds of his own and other filmmakers movies on DVD and Blu-ray via Full Moon Direct, along with a myriad toys and related Full Moon universe merchandise.
Recent Full Moon Features productions include Evil Bong High 5, Trophy Heads, Killjoy's Psycho Circus, Ravenwolf Towers and Puppetmaster: Axis Termination.- Director
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Jackson Barrett Mahon, a.k.a. Barry Mahon, born in Santa Barbara, California on 5 February 1921, learned to fly while in high school. In 1941 he joined the Royal Air Force and by the winter was flying combat with No. 121 (Eagle) Squadron, composed of American volunteers. Pilot Officer Mahon damaged three German fighters, two FW-190s in April and an Me-109 in May, before scoring his first confirmed victories of two FW-190s, downed in the St. Omer area, on June 8th, 1942. On 31 July he destroyed two more FW-190s over the Berck-Sur-Mer area and became an Ace while covering the commando raid on Dieppe, 19 August 1942, his 98th strategic fighter pilot mission. At 0830, flying his Spitfire Vb, nicknamed "Barry," Mahon shot down an FW-190 and another FW-190 before his plane was hit and he was forced to bail out of the burning ship.
Landing in the sea, he was taken prisoner to Stalag Luft III where Mahon worked on the tunnels made famous by the movie The Great Escape (1963) loosely based upon him, his character played in the movie by Steve McQueen. Actually Mahon escaped before that breakout, but was captured on the Czech border when his feet became too sore to go on. He escaped again, only to be recaptured and was finally liberated by Patton's 3rd Army in 1945.
Although Mahon filed a claim for shooting down two Germans on August 19, 1942, he was only given credit for one after the war. Thus, for a tally-record of five confirmed, two probable, three damaged, and other brave and heroic deeds, Mahon received the British Distinguished Flying Cross in 1985.
After the war he became the personal pilot for, and later the manager of Errol Flynn. He produced a number of Flynn and Gina Lollobrigida's pictures, as well as a considerable output of children's programs. Mahon established The Production Machine, a high-tech film production company in Hollywood, making motion pictures for theatrical and television release. Mahon was the first movie producer to adapt and apply computer technology as well as spreadsheet applications (such as MultiPlan) to the breakdown, scheduling, budgeting and financial analysis of feature-length motion pictures and movies-of-the-week for Columbia Pictures.
Barry is the father of Columbia/CBS producer Doris Keating (Passion Flower (1986), My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985), Leaving Home (1996), A Touch of Scandal (1984), Stranded (1986)) and was a mentor to producer/director James Jaeger for over 15 years before he passed away in 1999.- Director
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A dual citizen of Canada and the USA, David DeCoteau has worked professionally in the movie business since he was 18 years old. He got his start through a generous offer from movie legend Roger Corman, who hired him in 1980 as a production assistant at New World Pictures. In 1986, DeCoteau directed and produced his first feature film for another generous film legend, Charles Band. DeCoteau has gone on to produce and direct more than 170 motion pictures over the past forty years. His passion lies in the creation of popular genre programming made for world consumption. DeCoteau's experience in creating content in countries all over the world makes him a proven choice for exceptionally challenging movie projects. He resides in British Columbia, Canada and Hollywood, California.- Producer
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Sean O'Reilly is founder and C.E.O. of Arcana Studios, as well as an animated movie producer and writer.
Sean holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. Canada in 1997 and a second degree in 1999 with his B.Ed. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., completing his M.Sc. in Leadership and Administration at the University of Oregon in 2002. Sean is pursuing a Ph.D. in a Doctoral of Management Information Services and Technology.
Sean created Arcana Studios in 2004, the studio turning from a one-person operation in his basement to Canada's largest comic book publisher in a year.
Sean first found success in 2004, releasing five original comic titles, all of which have received international publication. In 2005, Arcana Studios won The Shuster Award for Outstanding Publisher for their first year sales. Arcana Studio was also nominated for a Harvey Award in its first year, the first occurrence since the award's creation. In 2008 Sean won the Top 40 Under 40 Award in Vancouver.
O'Reilly's book series, Mighty Mighty Monsters, was announced as Canadian-based studio Bron Studios' first animated production.
Sean is one of the most prolific independent comic book writers in Canada and has moved into producing and adapting his creations for movie and television.
Clockwork Girl and The Gwaii, winners of the Moonbeam Award for top children's graphic novel, have been developed as CGI animated features, both of which have fallen into relative obscurity. Sean has also created a series of original animated shows for SpikeTV.- Producer
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Randall Emmett was born on 25 March 1971 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Silence (2016), The Irishman (2019) and Boss Level (2020). He was previously married to Ambyr Childers.- Director
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Fred Olen Ray spent most of his childhood in Florida, where he was always a fan of horror movies on TV. He collected autographs of many of the actors in those films where he met Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. His early career was filled with low-budget horror and science-fiction films, but the market eventually dried up and he switched to producing softcore "T&A" videos of the type shown late at night on Showtime and Cinemax. His films rarely cost more than $500,000, and he has written under at least 30 different pen names; he was one of the first to fill time at the end of his films with outtakes, now a common practice in other comedy films. The outdoor sets are often CGI backdrops and many sets are in his own home or near it. Ray often can share credit for his softcore film success with the late cinematographer/director Gary Graver, big shoes for him to fill while working with an excess of tattooed and body-beaded new performers in this genre.- Director
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A 25-year veteran in the Hollywood exploitation field, writer/producer/director Jim Wynorski is responsible for over 150 varied motion pictures in a myriad of genres. Leaving behind a successful commercial business in New York, Wynorski relocated to California in 1980 and soon found himself on the doorstep of his childhood idol, B-film king Roger Corman. "The rest was destiny," recounts Wynorski, who soon found himself hired by the renowned movie mogul to cut "coming attractions" for all of the company's new action and horror films. "It was like grasshopper learning from the kung-fu master," says Wynorski, who claims his six-months internship with Corman taught him more than four years at film school.
"It wasn't long after that Corman offered me the first of many writing/directing assignments. Some distributor wanted a flick about a killer in a shopping mall," recalls Wynorski, "and Roger trusted me enough to say 'come up with something good, and you can direct it." Well, a couple days later, the director walked in with the first treatment to a film called Chopping Mall (1986), and the rest was history. From then on, Jim Wynorski turned out an average of three to five films a year as a director, and even more as a producer/writer. Throughout the 1980s came a steady stream of wild exploitation titles like Big Bad Mama II (1987) with Angie Dickinson, Not of This Earth (1988) with Traci Lords and The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) with Heather Locklear. On into the 1990s, Wynorski continued to climb to the top of the B-Film mountain with flicks like Hard Bounty (1995) starring Kelly LeBrock, Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III (1994) & Body Chemistry 4: Full Exposure (1995) with Shannon Tweed and Morgan Fairchild and Munchie (1992), which featured the first film appearance of the then-unknown 12-year-old child actress Jennifer Love Hewitt.
As the years peeled by and tastes changed, Jim Wynorski kept hip by innovating new special effects techniques that landed the director no less than seven world premieres on the Sci-Fi Channel. His credits there include films like Gargoyle (2004), The Curse of the Komodo (2004), Project Viper and Cry of the Winged Serpent (2007).
As for the future, the 59-year-old Wynorski feels the audience for alternative cinema made away from the studio system will continue to grow thanks to new advances in Internet and Cable technologies. In fact, he is in post-production on another thriller, Vampire in Vegas (2009). "And you can bet I'll be there," he offers with a big smile, "with some really fun stuff." Jim has a huge following in the MidWest and is beloved in Franklin, Indiana, Home of The B Movie Celebration.- Producer
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Rich Christiano was born October 2, 1956, raised in Waterloo NY, and graduated from St. John Fisher College in Rochester NY in 1978. He became a born-again Christian in 1980 at the age of 23 while living in North Hollywood, CA. Rich began his film career along with his twin brother Dave in 1985 when they produced a short Christian movie called "The Daylight Zone." Working together, Rich and Dave produced 3 films and then the brothers set up separate production companies, while continuing to consult with one another on their various projects. Rich has produced, written and directed several feature films including Time Changer, Unidentified, The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry, A Matter of Faith, and Play the Flute. Rich's goal is to produce films to inspire Christians to live for the LORD and to encourage others to consider important spiritual matters.