William Lustig was born on 1 February 1955.
He directed a number of psychotronic delights and that’s why I’m highlighting him now. But I could also have highlighted him for a different reason. Back in 2002, he founded Blue Underground. It is one of the best home video distributors. I have many discs from them. It is kind of like an American Arrow Video.
I don’t really know anything about Lustig. But he worked as a crewmember on a number of films in the late 1970s. And he apparently worked as production manager on a couple of Dario Argento films shot in New York.
William Lustig started directing porn films. So his first two films were The Violation of Claudia (1977) and Hot Honey (1978). But he directed them under the name Billy Bagg. In 1980, he used the money made from these films to produce and direct Maniac, his first “legitimate” feature film.
Maniac was very successful as was the follow-up, Vigilante. Lustig didn’t direct any films for a few years after that. But in 1988, he teamed up with New York independent filmmaking legend Larry Cohen. Cohen produced and wrote Maniac Cop and had Lustig direct. He made two sequels, the first is excellent.
After the first Maniac Cop, Lustig made Hit List and Relentless, two action films with a lot of violence. And he made Uncle Sam in 1996, his only since the last Maniac Cop film.
You can’t miss with any William Lustig film. Even the third Maniac Cop is worth watching. But I think we should go back to Maniac itself. It’s a remarkable film.
William Lustig via Slasher Trash under Fair Use.