Roger Corman

Probably forgot to tell you dudes, I'm now the movie reviewer for the local English newspaper the Copenhagen Post. Today begins a series of the three articles that have gone to press - there's no access online to the film section, so I'll post them here and look forward to your comments. First up, a retrospective of Roger Corman's work...

When it comes to low budget horror blockbusters like the original Saw, Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project, most people can’t stand their insipid story lines, contained locations and amateur performances. These films made hundreds of millions of dollars though on a shoestring budget and regardless of your feelings for this brand of celluloid, the man responsible is Roger Corman. He didn’t produce these movies of course, his most popular work being Little Shop of Horrors (shot in two days for $30,000 in 1960!), but he did write the playbook for horror movies to profit, no matter how terrible, in How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime (1990).

Born in Detroit in 1926, Corman’s actually made 388 movies to be precise, 56 of which he directed dating back to 1954. He was the Producer young filmmakers dreamed of working for despite his perfectionist slave driving ways and stories of locking writers in a room. Corman took chances on raw creative talent and forced people to work fast and think on their feet – a style contemporary insurance and financing models have made all but obsolete. Future legends like Scorcese, Coppola, Cameron all got their start on Corman productions – Coppola even worked as a soundman and Cameron a model builder. Generations of Hollywood names, from the top to the bottom of the credit roll learned the fundamentals of story and craft on a Roger Corman production.

The retrospective Produced By Roger Corman is on at the DFI’s cinematheque through March and includes seven titles, two of which are obscure and compelling enough to forget the fact they aren’t any good. Devil’s Castle (1963) originally titled, Dementia 13 (US), was directed by Francis Ford Coppola nine years before Godfather and stars Luana Anders (Easy Rider). The black and white, Psycho inspired horror flick plays at Sunday, March 7 @ 14hr and Tuesday, March 30 @ 19:30hr.

Togrøverne From Arkansas (1972) aka Boxcar Bertha, is the film Scorsese made prior to Mean Streets, stars Barbara Hershey and David Carradine. Shot in 24 days for just over half a million dollars, it was completed with barely enough time and money to shoot a few scenes of his current epics and will reassure most young filmmakers that even Scorsese started somewhere (Tuesday, March 2 @ 21:30hr and Saturday, March 20 @ 16hr).

Corman’s work can be tedious, even unintentionally comedic, but if your taste extends to viewing creative talent and a genre in its formative stages, then check this out.