Utter Trash--J.R. Bookwalter

California Here I Come

An interview with filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter - Part 2

By Bob Ignizio

After making the cult classic horror film ‘The Dead Next Door’ in Akron, Ohio, filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter made his first move to Los Angeles, California and began working for Cinema Home Video. Although he learned from the experience, he was less than happy with much of his work during his stint with CHV. Eventually J.R. moved back to Akron and started doing things his own way again with the movie ‘Ozone’. ‘Ozone’ was a success both commercially and critically for J.R., and he followed it up with two more Akron based features; ‘Polymorph’ and ‘Sandman’. After finishing those films J.R. says, “I started to feel the grass growing around my feet, like “How much more can I really do here in Akron at this level?” So I was ready to come back to L.A. and give it another shot. I sold Alternative Cinema [a magazine J.R. had started to cover the ultra low budget film scene – ed.] and found another distributor for ‘Bloodletting’ [a serial killer film J.R. had produced but not directed – ed.], both of which gave me some cash to play with so I could afford to fart around in L.A. for a few months before I had to get serious about why I had moved there.”

Luckily the gamble paid off. J.R. says, “The guy who ran CHV came back into the picture and saw me helping two filmmakers from Wisconsin finish their movie ‘Sleepwalker’ in my apartment. That had been shot on 16mm, so I guess in his eyes it legitimized the post work I had been doing on my own movies, which had only been on video. Next thing I know, he offers me the job of editing and post sound for Full Moon’s ‘Shrieker’ and within a few months I was knee-deep in work for Full Moon.” It was a steady paycheck, and since J.R. always liked doing post production work it was a good situation at first. Eventually J.R. was promoted to post production supervisor, but as time went on he became less and less happy. J.R. says, “It became a drag to keep being the guys who “saved the day” on these shitty movies they were making. I began chomping at the bit to get a chance to make one of those movies, just to prove something cool could be done under the conditions of the budget and schedule.”

J.R. got his chance when he was handed the reins of ‘Witchouse 2: Blood Coven’. “That came out of nowhere and I was initially shocked that Charlie Band [head of Full Moon productions – ed.] offered it to me. But after doing all that post work, I felt I had a grasp on what worked and what didn’t and I was determined not to make many of the mistakes I kept seeing in the movies we were doing post work on,” says J.R. The movie was made in Romania and was J.R.’s first time shooting on 35mm film. “It was back to a big crew, which I had in the beginning with ‘Dead Next Door’ but the Romanians really knew what they were doing,” says J.R. “Shooting on film with a low budget is always the same. You have to get what you need in the fewest takes possible and move on, especially when the schedule only allows for 8 days of shooting! But I felt prepared and had amassed so much knowledge and experience by that point that I just walked in and did it. I thank God that I had such a wonderful director of photography in Gabi Kosuth. We really bonded on that movie and he totally supported and enhanced my idea of what the it should be. I think he was sick of working on so many Full Moon movies where the directors treated it as product when he saw it as making a work of art, regardless of the film’s content. If Gabi hadn’t shot ‘Witchouse 2’, I’m not sure it would have been such a pleasant experience!”

Making ‘Witchouse 2’ also gave J.R. the opportunity to work with British cult actor Andrew Prine (‘Simon, King of the Witches’, ---). J.R. has nothing but praise for his star, saying, “Andy is great! He really believed in the project and we hit it off fabulously. I think he dug the idea of playing two characters in the same movie, which was something new for him. I gave him a sketch of who this guy was and we had a great shorthand way of communicating with each other. Andy is one of those actors who just makes you feel like a professional director — he’s from a different generation that has a lot more respect for the directorial process. We’ve stayed in close touch since ‘Witchouse 2’ and I’m looking forward to working with him again…and for some reason, he feels the same way. (laughs) ”

Another well known performer J.R. worked with during his time at Full Moon was Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. He says, “Charlie had been friends with William Shatner’s agent from years ago, which led to Shatner meeting Charlie to see what they might do together. Next thing I know, I’m handed the producer chores on ‘Groom Lake’. Shatner was very accommodating and friendly until about 2 weeks before the shoot started. Then he became a little dictatorial and nothing could make him happy. I went into the project being very supportive of what he wanted, but as he became a monster during shooting all we did was constantly butt heads, including a few good screaming matches in front of the cast and crew! We both wanted the best for the movie, but he was not prepared to work on something this low-budget, and you have to keep in mind that ‘Groom Lake’ was already ten times more expensive than the other movies we were making for Full Moon then! I’m quite happy to brag that when it was released on DVD this past January with ‘Street Zombies’ (a re-titled ‘Ozone’) that we actually sold more units! My little $3,500 movie made money and his $1.2 million disaster sank like the Titanic. So, there is some justice in the world. (laughs)”

J.R.’s next film as a director for Full Moon was another ‘Witchouse’ sequel, ‘Witchouse 3: Demon Fire’. Although there are some minor connections to the first film, the movie really stands on its own. J.R. was back to shooting on video with a low budget for this one, but by focusing on character and story instead of special effects he was able to make it an above average thriller. J.R. says , “I have to confess I’m ready to go beyond monsters and gore. For years my family has been on me to make something other than horror, but I am a fan of that genre and it’s why I started doing this to begin with. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become less interested in the fantastic elements of these movies and more interested in working with actors and having their emotions drive the movie. ‘Ozone’ was the first one where I realized I could even do that…some of those simple, subtle looks that James Black gives in that movie say more than seeing a severed head in a pool of blood. I went a bit overboard with that in ‘The Sandman’, relying on the actors to tell the story a bit too much — some of them were very good and others not so good. But I’ve learned to balance it out over the course of making ‘Polymorph’, the two ‘Witchouse’ sequels and now my latest project ‘Deadly Stingers’.”

Despite having gone “Hollywood”, J.R. has remained loyal to many of the people who worked on his early Ohio films, having executive produced movies for old friends Danny Draven, Matthew Jason Walsh, and ‘Ozone’ star James Black among others. Of course there’s always someone ready to cry “sellout” and J.R. says, “There’s a certain person or two who worked with me in the past that feels I have “sold out” and betrayed my loyalty to them by not hiring them since leaving Ohio in 1997. One of the reasons I left was because of these people, their egos were just really out of control considering what we were making and they refused to change. So I said the hell with it and moved. I expect that kind of attitude out here, but in reality I’ve gotten way less of it than I did back in Ohio! But there’s a great group of people that I’ve already worked with and many of them I will continue to work with in the future. I feel more comfortable working with my friends, especially as the budgets get lower and you have to depend on the people you are working with even more.”

Recently J.R. severed his ties with Full Moon, and is now working full time on making his own company, Tempe Video, the best it can be. He’s made a good start so far by re-releasing many of his past films on feature packed DVDs. J.R. says, “I don’t think we’ve necessarily sold more units because the discs are better but we have gained a solid reputation for doing it, not to mention almost universally rave reviews. I see the DVD format as a good chance to give a “proper burial” to our old films — to go back, fix some mistakes and offer them in the best possible presentation, once and for all. It’s ironic because I go to all this effort because it’s what I would want to see if I were buying these discs, yet by the time they hit the stores I’m so sick of seeing them that I’ll probably never watch them again. (laughs) But with our new national distribution deal, I think you’ll see Tempe become a bigger player in the DVD world. Our first title in the system is Wayne Alan Harold’s ‘Townies’, which we originally released last July. We just got our first purchase from Best Buy and it’s a big one so we’re off to a great start!”

J.R. has learned a lot working for other companies, especially about what NOT to do. He says, “No offense to Charlie [Band], but I won’t be following his example! (laughs) I’ve never seen someone handed so many opportunities and screw them up, every time. You have to do things more intelligently and not squander your money with your lifestyle as he continues to do.” For now, J.R. plans to focus on getting brand name recognition for Tempe DVDs. He says, “We have a strong following but the problem has always been getting the stuff to a wider audience. Now that problem is vanishing because we signed with a company who will offer our stuff to all the major accounts. Eventually I just want to be able to make whatever movie strikes my fancy and have a place to sell it. I don’t agree that you should make “whatever the market wants” like most people do. Usually by the time you finish the movie, the winds have blown in another direction anyway! So I will continue to put out what appeals to me, and stick to my guns. Copying someone else’s success or “going with the flow” have never been my intentions from the beginning, and I’m not about to change after 18 years, am I? (laughs)”