Most people who get their start in psychotronic film run away as quickly as they can. Peter Jackson is a great example of this. But others stay — either because they have to or because they want to. Here is a work in progress of psychotronic icons.
Dario Argento (director)
Dario Argento is a lot like Lucio Fulci except that he’s more of a craftsman but, for me at least, doesn’t have quite the creative spark. But most viewers tend to appreciate the former more than the latter. But the razor-wire scene in Suspiria shows that the two men aren’t that far apart on the latter.
Samuel Arkoff & James Nicholson (producers)
The founders of American International Pictures, Arkoff and Nicholson provided direct production and distribution for scores of great psychotronic films from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Mario Bava (director)
Mario Bava directed a number of great psychotronic films like Kill, Baby… Kill! and The Evil Eye. But he had such a great eye that he’s appreciated far outside of psychotronic circles. Overall, I prefer Fulci and Argento, who were influenced by him. But his films are always worth watching — at least once.
JR Bookwalter (producer)
Bookwalter belongs on this list more than anyone because he is the Platonic ideal of a psychotronic filmmaker. From his first feature, The Dead Next Door (probably the most expensive super-8 film ever produced), to his micro-budget films like Chick Boxer (later released as part of his series “Bad Movie Police” — get it all in Crimewave!), there is a charm to his films that can’t be denied. He has largely stopped directing and become a distributor of other people’s psychotronic films. But most of all, Bookwalter has changed the way I look at psychotronic film as a genre. See my discussion of the films he directed.
John Carradine (actor)
Carradine is probably best known to regular film lovers for his roles in films like Stagecoach (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). But to psychotronic lovers, he will be remembered for… Well, it’s hard to say. He was in a ton of them! Of particular note are his performances as Dracula in House of Frankenstein (1940) and House of Dracula (1940). He played Dracula again 21 years later in Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) and then 13 years after that in Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979). He was often cast as a mad scientist — as in The Unearthly (1957) with Tor Johnson and The Astro-Zombies (1968) with Tura Satana. In later years, he became the kind of actor that everyone just loved to see on screen — right up there with Vincent Price and Lon Chaney Jr.
John Carpenter (director)
Like Tobe Hooper, critics have spent most of Carpenter’s career complaining that he made different movies. But unlike Hooper, Carpenter’s career has been reevaluated by modern critics even though they would have hated him a few decades ago. It’s shocking that The Thing (1982) was panned when it came out. What did critics want to see?! He will always be known for Halloween (1978). But Carpenter’s immense skills as a storyteller go way beyond on that. My favorite of his films is In the Mouth of Madness (1994). But his films are always interesting, even when they don’t entirely work like Prince of Darkness (1987) and Vampires (1999).
William Castle (producer)
A psychotronic icon later in his career, William Castle spent the first part of his career as a studio director. Despite his reputation among idiots, he was an extremely competent director. He was also an iconic producer. My favorite of his films are Homicidal and House on Haunted Hill.
Roger Corman (director)
Probably the person most people first think of when the term “psychotronic” comes up, Roger Corman is mostly on this list because of the AIP Poe films. He also gave work to a lot of psychotronic filmmakers. But as a producer (which is really what he was, but I wouldn’t put him here as one), he mostly created middling films, which are fine but certainly not iconic.
Don Coscarelli (director)
Don Coscarelli is known primarily for Phantasm and its sequels. But he’s actually a pretty varied filmmaker and, having seen every film he’s made, I know he has never had a failure. Also of interest are his two most recent features, Bubba Ho-Tep and John Dies at the End.
David Cronenberg (director)
Cronenberg is pretty much the inventor of body horror — a term coined to explain why what are essentially art films are so much fun. His early films like Rapid (1977) and The Brood (1979) were more standard horror. He really branched out in films like Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986). And reached his artistic pinnacle with Crash (1996). Then he became much less interesting although there were still flashes of brilliance in films like eXistenZ (1999). And he is never boring.
Lucio Fulci (director)
A master of horror and giallo, Lucio Fulci was a great overall director. Many of his films are must-see for psychotronic fans. These include the Gates of Hell trilogy, Zombie, Don’t Torture a Duckling, The New York Ripper, and many more. But check out his other films too. I’m very fond of Four of the Apocalypse.
Samuel Fuller (director)
Samuel Fuller is simply one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. But from the beginning of his career to the end, he made psychotronics. Some of my favorites are Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss, and White Dog.
Bert I Gordon (director)
Gordon is known primarily for one film: The Amazing Colossal Man. But he’s been making films all along — the most recent in 2015 when he was well into his 90s. And they are pretty good! I think even I have tended to dismiss his directing talents. But even at his worst, he never made an incompetent film. Early on, he was known for creating films with very large and very small characters. But he’s a lot more than that. See my Bert I Gordon 100th Birthday article for more information.
Stuart Gordon (director)
Stuart Gordon is best known for Re-Animator, his first film. It’s hard to grok this since the film is so good. But his later work lived up to that promise. In particular, he directed Ed Naha’s Dolls, which is a personal favorite (as I write this, the poster hangs in front of me). His producer, Brian Yuzna, went on to make some wonderfully sticky horror films — including two excellent Re-Animator sequels.
Tobe Hooper (director)
One of the five legends of late 20th-century horror, Hooper is kind of a tragic figure. He’s like the Welles of horror in that no one ever got over gushing about his “first” film, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s a shame because Hooper is probably the best filmmaker of his generation whose films are endlessly entertaining. He also has a bad reputation because of the controversy about Poltergeist (1982). This is odd given that the film is one of the least interesting of anything he was ever involved in. Ultimately, I think he is criticized because, after Chain Saw, critics really wanted to see him go Hollywood. He never did. And thank God for that. Unappreciated gems: Eaten Alive (1977) and Spontaneous Combustion (1990).
Herschell Gordon Lewis (director)
More a pitchman than a director, Herschell Gordon Lewis many iconic films spanning different psychotronic genres. With producer David Friedman, he created a number of solid sexploitation films and finally the Blood Trilogy.
Richard Matheson (writer)
Matheson is perhaps the greatest psychotronic writer. But he would have hated to hear that. He seemed to spend most of his time outside of writing complaining about how little money he made from writing and how all the films made from his writing were awful. Not that he was wrong. He should have been paid better and his stories deserved better treatment than they often got. But given the time and genre, he did all right. And the films were almost always better than he claimed. His best known novels were his first: I Am Legend and The Shrinking Man. But he’s best known for his work in television: The Twilight Zone, The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror. He was also a very funny writer.
Russ Meyer (director)
Known for his nudie cuties, Russ Meyer was so much more. For one thing, when he wants to be (eg, Eve and the Handyman), he’s very funny. And his sex films were always playful (something sorely missing from almost all filmed sex). The high point of his career came with a very different film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! — one of the ten best psychotronic films ever made.
Andy Milligan (director)
Okay, I’ll admit it: I can’t think of an Andy Milligan film that I really like. But there’s something about his films that make them work. I really need to sit down and write an article going through all his films. I owe him that at least.
Vincent Price (actor)
When I was a kid, Price was horror. His face was enough to scare me — even if it appeared on The Brady Bunch. Like others, he walked a line between being terrifying and self-parodying. But at his best, in things like House on Haunted Hill, The Last Man on Earth, and Theatre of Blood, there was no one better.
George Romero (director)
You have to admire Romero’s commitment to zombies although that could just be laziness. But he is also responsible for modern cinema’s incredibly boring zombie love. I do wish he had been more varied. In particular, Martin is probably his best film. Then again, we might have gotten more films like Knightriders.
Sam Raimi (director)
I don’t especially like putting Raimi on this list because he’s largely gone mainstream. But the truth is, he continues to keep a toe in. And I think his heart will always be psychotronic.
Guillermo del Toro (director)
In some ways, Guillermo del Toro is like Sam Raimi in going mainstream. But his heart remains with horror. The Devil’s Backbone is his essential film. But his creation of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities really must be seen. Every episode is a winner.
Doris Wishman (producer)
In 1958, Wishman married an ad-man 15 years her junior. He died of a heart attack less than a year into the marriage. In order to keep herself occupied, she started making sexploitation films since “nudist camp” films had just been declared legal. Although primitive, these films are usually more sexy than competitors. She also made a horror film, A Night to Dismember.
Ed D Wood Jr (writer)
Wrongly mocked producer, director, and writer of some amazingly idiosyncratic films. He was also a competent creator of crime dramas and porn. Read my article about him: Ed Wood. See also my article on Final Curtain.