Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael Fred Olen Ray Returns to Discuss Collaborating With Ed Wood, Low-Budget Filmmaking, Wild Tales from 80s Hollywood, & More!
On this edition of Parallax Views, filmmaker Fred Olen Ray returns to discuss his latest work Deep Red, a novel whose origins date back to the 1970s with an unfinished collaboration between Fred and Plan 9 from Outer Space's Edward D. Wood, Jr. In 1978, shortly before his death, Wood was writing the screenplay for Fred's Beach Blanket Bloodbath, a sci-fi horror tale that would've involved a half man-half fish monster!
But that's not all. Fred also some great tales from his filmmaking career including stories from 80s Hollywood and the world of low-budget filmmaking. There's also a great deal of advice here for people may want to get involved in filmmaking or the entertainment industry as Fred discusses working with actors, writing for television, and much, much more. There's also a fair bit of background provided in this conversation about the movies Zombie Death House and Bloody Movie, two obscurities produced by mob-connected film lover Nick Marino that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the world of 80s low-budget genre filmmaking during the VHS boom. Fred and I also talk about his work on Lifetime movies and how they're made, the fanzine culture of yesteryear, 70s/80s cult actress and sex icon Sybil Danning, marketing movies, Fred's Retromedia company and its release of movies, Fred's wacky comedy Bad Girls from Mars and why it's never seen an uncut release (hint: studios not abiding by their contract; we get into the ways some film studios do filmmakers dirty), the killer pumpkin-man movie Jack-O and Fred's wild audio commentary with the director, and more! All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views!