The Top 10 Outsider Auteurs: Masters of Schlock

I was recently chatting with fellow Geekscapist William Bibbiani, and he had a wonderful idea…

No doubt, horror fans remember the 2005-2007 Showtime series of TV specials called “Masters of Horror.” It was a high-concept horror series compiled by TV director Mick Garris, and the angle was that every episode would be directed by a different film director, well-known for their horror films. The idea was that the makers could direct whatever content they wanted, provided they did it within 60 minutes, and under a certain budget. He compiled high-end, well-known genre directors like John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento, Joe Dante, John Landis, and Stuart Gordon, but also landed a few talented directors whose “mastery” or horror is perhaps of dubious pedigree, i.e. Lucky McKee, James McNaughton, and Japan’s whacked-out master Takashi Miike. On paper, this is an excellent idea, and some of the short films produced for this series were indeed very good. I’ve cited “Sick Girl” and “Cigarette Burns” in previous articles.

The second season proved to be more logistically difficult, and the film produced, while still coming from some notable directors, were not lauded by much of anyone. There were plans afoot, from what I understand, to make a “Masters of Science Fiction,” which was kind of a non-starter, and a “Masters of Italian Horror” is still in the works.

And while I love to see masterful directors pour themselves into material they might be passionate about (or, at the very least, working again), I’m far more interested in the mindful workings of… let’s call them Outsider Auteurs. The filmmakers who are less known for their solid genre cred, and more for their oddball passions. By way of illustrating, imagine what, say Edward D. Wood, Jr. would make, had he the freedom to produce whatever content he wanted. And also had access to a budget only typically available to high-end directors. One can only imagine the epic weirdness he would have made. What if John Rad had lived, and had somehow secured millions to make his dream project? Would it have been as magical as “Dangerous Men?” Even more magical? To me, peering into the mind of a passionate outside is going to prove more fascinating than the workaday exploits of a bored professional.

In that spirit, I would like to pitch the following TV series to Showtime: “Masters of Schlock.” We compile a list of recent outsider auteurs, noted for some great bad movies, and give them the same content freedom afforded to the Masters of Horror. If they can make a 60-minute film, under the budget and relatively on time, then it goes on the air, uncut and untouched. This could be possibly the most interesting TV series ever produced.

Having trouble thinking of some directors for this project? Might I suggest the following?

Uwe Boll

The master behind some horrible videogame-to-film adaptations, well-known for his mastery with low budgets, German director Uwe Boll (rhymes with “provable”) has earned rancor from geeks the world over for his string of horrible movies. He has also baffled the world by managing to secure some hugely talented actors to star in such films as “BloodRayne,” “Alone in the Dark,” and “In the Name of the King.” He has also made some strangely energetic comedies like “Blubberella” and “Postal,” which play like Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker films on a mixture of rum and crystal meth.

Boll has been very vocal about his films, and very publicly defensive of them. He feels he is making great entertainments, and has even claimed that his films are far better than any of the usual Hollywood schlock (which is a claim, I think, that can actually be debated). He offered to fight any of his critics in a boxing ring. It’s rare that you see such passion from a director, talent or no.

Uwe Boll would be the perfect mastermind/producer of this project. He could contribute an episode, and then secure budgets for his fellow auteurs. He would shout and badger and publicize like no one’s business. He would make the entire series into an open criticism of the Hollywood system. He would come to alienate a lot of the other directors. Boll is just the maniac e need to kick off this series.

Claudio Fragasso

Claudio Fragasso has directed 23 feature films and TV specials in his career, but he is known in the U.S. for his opus about vegetarian goblins, “Troll 2.” “Troll 2” (no relation to 1986’s “Troll”), is probably well-known to most cult film aficionados, and was outlined in a documentary film called “Best Worst Movie,” directed by “Troll 2’s” child star. Fragasso is interviewed in the documentary, and he is ambivalent; he is clearly a little annoyed by the smart-alecky Americans who seem to be openly mocking his film, but at the same time is grateful for the exposure he’s getting. Fragasso, it becomes clear, was no mere director-for-hire, and was actually making a project he was passionate about. He proceeds to badmouth the actors for not understanding his vision.

I have seen “Troll 2” several times, and I can attest for its strangeness. Vision or no, the film has an unfathomable sense of humor, and logical leaps that make the head spin (grandpa came back from the afterlife! With a grenade!). Fragasso also had a sideways approach to English, giving the ESL dialogue a Bela Lugosi-like bent. And through it all, he insisted that this was how people actually talked.

Bring this man back to America, please. Give him a budget. Give him carte blanche on content. He can make a serious teen drama, or another cheap monster film. Whatever he makes, I want to see it. And I want to see the interview with him afterwords.

Brian Trenchard-Smith

It may be a little unfair to include Brian Trenchard-Smith on this list, as his is a legitimately talented director, and one responsible for an enormous American influx of Aussie exploitation movies, but I feel the man needs as much exposure as he can get. What’s more, he has just as much passion for genre material as anyone, having made over 50 films in his career, and responsible for some films that you know you’ve seen: “Leprechaun 3,” “Leprechaun 4: In Space,” “Dead-End Drive-In,” “BMX Bandits,” “Stunt Rock,” “Night of the Demons 2,” and the unforgettable “Turkey Shoot,” a.k.a. “Escape 2000.” If you don'[t know who this man is, I implore that you learn.

There was a recent documentary film called “Not Quite Hollywood,” which traced the rise of Australian exploitation movies in the 1970s. At the time, censorship codes were lifted, and filmmakers took to their newfound freedom with aplomb, featuring a whole slew of car chase movies, kung-fu films, sex films, and horror/gore unseen in the country’s history. At the forefront of this movement was Brian Trenchard-Smith, gleefully blowing up cars and setting stuntmen on fire.

Let’s see what Trenchard-Smith can do when he’s in the spotlight, shall we? Surely he’d be blowing shit up with more enthusiasm than any director working. Remember, an exploding car is only exciting because you know that the filmmakers had to blow up a real car somewhere. CGI can go sit in a corner. Trenchard-Smith would give the explosion its due.

Jeff Leroy

With the dull thudding impact of CGI on the world of genre film, and major studios lazily pumping out B-films as if they’re A-films, it’s comforting to hear that people like Jeff Leroy are hard at work in their garages. In 2010, Jeff Leroy made a sci-fi action epic called “Rat Scratch Fever,” and managed to land it in a few theaters around Los Angeles. This was a low-budget film to be sure, but this was no talky, conceptual sci-fi film like 2004’s “Primer.” No, this was an energetic, effects-laden monster flick with guns, killer rats, and toppling cities.

The trailer for the film makes it look like a joke at first, but a few moments scrutiny proves that a man was making an earnest sci-fi epic with what little money and resources he has. The result looks amazing, and is possessed of that old-fashioned B-movies passion that seems to have moved underground these days. “Rat Scratch Fever” is about giant rats from out space who invade Earth. Guns and explosions ensue. ‘Nuff said. Imagine if Sam Raimi had grown up in the post-CGI era, and was a little more unhinged.

Now let’s give that guy some money. The untold energy will be staggering.

Damon Packard

Those of us living in L.A. have probably heard the name of Damon Packard. A few years back, he entered the consciousness of the area’s film buffs by self-distributing a homemade DVD of his feature film “Reflections of Evil.” He would press hundreds of copies, and drive around town, leaving small stacks in newspapaer racks and in the hipper video and movie outlets. There was a perios when you couldn’t go anywhere in Hollywood without running into “Reflections of Evil.” I was one of the brave souls who actually watched the film, and it featured Packard himself, playing a homeless man, ranting, vomiting, and committing acts of violence on the streets of Hollywood. It’s a pretty gross film.

He followed up “Reflections of Evil” with a gonzo sci-fi collage called “SpaceDisco One: The Movie,” which he filmed in parks, without permits, and on the Universal CityWalk. I even wrote a review of it at one point. Packard actually contacted me, and announced that the budget for the film was only about $50, and that he was working hard to keep the spirit of independent film alive. And indeed he is. So few filmmakers these days are the pick-up-a-camera-and-go type.

Packard is supposedly living in poverty in a trailer outside of L.A. And though his films may not have any budget, he has still managed to carve out a niche for himself amongst the locals, and is still pouring passion into his projects, however odd they may be. I say we find Packard, give him a camera, give him a budget bigger than any he’s ever had, and let him go nuts. The result would be amazing.

Mark Region

One of the biggest online sensations of 2009 was the trailer for Mark Region’s “After Last Season,” a clunky “thriller” about psychic powers, an unseen serial killer (I think), and sets notably made of cardboard. I’ve seen the film, and I’ve read interviews with the director, and I’m still unsure as to whether or not he was a madman making an earnest film, or if he was a super-arch comedian making a some sort of protracted Andy Kaufmanesque satire. Either way, “After Last Season” looks like the kind of film that could never be made, with its lazy dialogue, bizarro geography, lugubrious pacing, and late-’80s era CGI.

If you haven’t seen the trailer, I encourage you to seek it out. Like all of the directors on this list, though, I want to state that Region is not a figure to be mocked. Region, along with all the others on this list, are to be praised for their gumption, their tenacity, and their willingness to share their vision. I can’t attest for the success of each of their projects, but what sets them all apart from the average director is their clear passion for the material they’re presenting.

Region is clearly passionate, and while “After Last Season” reportedly cost $5 million (!), I’d love to see what he could do with a more modest budget.

Babar Ahmed

In 2009, I got in a car, and drove out to West Covina to see a film that was only released in two theaters nationwide. That a film like “Royal Kill” could have made it to theaters at all is something of a miracle. The film is… it’s… it’s certainly hard to describe. It features Eric Roberts as a put-upon dad, trying to protect an innocent girl (Lalaine) from a wicked assassin (Gail Kim). In turn, the wicked assassin is being hunted down by a handsome counter-assassin (Alexander Wraith). Pat Morita shows up in a few scenes, even though he had died four years earlier. It’s clear that the filmmakers only had a few minutes of Pat Morita on film, so they looped his footage and dialogue backwards, claiming he was speaking in a secret assassin’s language.

“Royal Kill” is kind of special to me. It’s a badass film that’s clearly trying to touch on all the typical action tropes, but falls into a somnambulist state somewhere along the way, turning into a dream,-like experience. That I was one of maybe 10 people who saw it in theaters makes me feel special.

The film’s director, Babar Ahmed is yet another hardworking outsider who is pouring his heart into these cheapie action flicks. Who knows what’s really on his mind, and who knows what he intended with his strangely nihilistic film. All I know is I’d like to see more from him, especially when unencumbered.

James Nguyen

I have to be honest; I haven’t seen 2008’s “Birdemic: Shock and Terror,” but I have heard the stories. An ostensible cross between “An Inconvenient Truth,” and “The Birds,” made on a budget of about $100, “Birdemic” is James Nguyen’s earnest parable about pollution gone mad, and the angry birds that wreak revenge on the unwitting human populace. Cheaply made, badly acted, and oddly plotted, “Birdemic” seems like it can only be the result of a passionate mind.

Nguyen, however, unlike his outsider peers, is not out to make an exciting thriller, but clearly has an agenda on hid mind with “Birdemic,” and it’s upcoming sequel “Birdemic II: The Resurrection 3D.” He is an environmentalist who wants to defend the planet, and has made what he feels to be stirring propaganda.

I fear that with his 3D sequel that Nguyen is beginning to believe his own joke. This is a pity. Rather than continuing to be earnest and passionate, he has decided to side with the hipsters, and give them something silly. Call this the Wiseau Syndrome. It bothers me that he seems to have changed his intentions as time has passed. We need to get this guy back on his own side quick before he sells out.

Which is, I understand, an odd thing to say about the director “Birdemic.”

Stewart Raffill

Another film I drove to another county to see was 2010’s “Standing Ovation,” a small, colorful, plucky tweener musical from Stewart Raffill. I have written my review of this film, as has Geekscape’s own William Bibbiani. This is a film that has managed to win over hundreds of young men with its oddness, and has made small circles on the midnight movie circuit. I won’t spend a lot of time describing it here, but I will ask that you read the reviews and seek out some information on it. It’ll be worth it.

The film’s director, Stewart Raffill, is actually a hardworking and prolific director who has made 23 features in his career including “The Philadelphia Experiment,” “Mac and Me,” and “The Ice Pirates.” While it may be easy to dismiss him as a commercial hack, I can say from experience that Raffill is a practical man who applies himself professionally to whatever he tries. “Standing Ovation” is probably his purest vision, having grown the film organically from the personalities of the South Jersey kids he interviewed. He is like a steely father figure who will nurture whatever project he sets his mind to. This is not something that can be said of most mainstream directors.

What does this man dream of making? What would he do with his free shot? Don’t you want to see?

Tommy Wiseau

We’ve all seen “The Room,” right?

Tommy Wisau is a curious man, shrouded in mystery. His Los Angeles cult film, “The Room” opened in several theaters throughout town about 8 years ago, and he managed to four-wall theaters for years, hyping his film as a deep look into the minds of humanity. It was a clunky infidelity “thriller” about a betrayed man, and the shallow wife who mocked him. Wiseau himself starred in it. His barbarian tresses, lazy eye, and indecipherable accent gave the film a surreal edge.

But then hipsters, who could no longer avoid the ubiquitous advertising, started seeing midnight shows at The Sunset in Hollywood. It quickly became an ironic classic, attracting both the curious and the douchey would-be cultists. Wiseau, sensing his new audience, changed gears, implying that it was meant to be a comedy all this time, and gleefully appeared at midnight shows to soak up the glory. He has since become something of a household name, appearing at film festivals and events, and even the San Deigo Comic Con. I have a picture with him.

I sense, though, that at one point, Wiseau was trying to do… well something… with “The Room.” I can’t really be sure what it is; the film is lame and tepid and obvious. But there was some sort of passion there at some point. Wiseau has become such a cult icon at this point it would be foolish to exclude him from a special project like “Master of Schlock.” If you gave him freedom to make whatever he wanted, perhaps he would come out of his ironic shell, and make something even more spectacular than “The Room.” Perhaps he would also reveal where he came from, and where he got his money. Perhaps he’ll introduce us to the Chechnyan rebels he’s bankrolling.

Just save his film for last. I have a feeling he’d have trouble completing on time.

Again, I want to state that these are people selected for their passion. These are men who are auteurs. People who believe in what they do, and who infect sensitive audiences with their passion. Mock their films if you must, but have respect for the men. They made movies they believe in. That’s much more than can be said for most working filmmakers.

Witney Seibold spends most of his days in Los Angeles, watching cheesy films, and writing about them. He love donuts, waffles, cartoons, and dark existential dramas. In addition to his writing for Geekscape, he also maintains a ‘blog, Three Cheers for Darkened Years!, which compiles his works from the past eight or nine years. He also is the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast for Crave Online, where he discusses the films of the day with William Bibbiani.