J.R. Bookwalter

About me:

1966: Birth. My mother claims to have stayed home with me watching DARK SHADOWS every day, so I blame it all on her.

1977: Saw STAR WARS and my life was changed forever. Yeah, me and 50 million other kids...

1978: Started cranking out Super-8mm short films in my backyard and my parents have regretted it ever since. Amazingly, it would take me 20 years before I started to regret it.

1984: Graduated high school (or rather, released from prison for good behavior, take your pick) and headed to a brief stint at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

1985: My apartment was robbed so I quit AIP and came home. Two months later got financing for my first feature film, THE DEAD NEXT DOOR. It's been a blur ever since.

1989: Finally finished THE DEAD NEXT DOOR. The next couple of years are spent cranking out various levels of cinematic slop.

1991: Tired of being somebody else's lackey, I decide to start my own video distribution company (like it's that easy, to just say it).

1992: Ready to slit my wrists after a particularly bad cinematic endeavor, but I'm rescued by a little movie called OZONE, which I self-distributed in January, 1994.

1997: Goodbye, Ohio, here comes Los Angeles.

1998: I'm drafted into slavery (er, post-production work) for Full Moon. That's what I get for making fun of all their movies years ago.

2000: My servitude to Full Moon pays off (?!) when they ship me off to Romania for a month to make WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN. That year ends going toe-to-toe with William Shatner in a small border town outside of Mexico. I wish I were kidding...

2001: I make a little picture called WITCHOUSE 3: DEMON FIRE which proves that a movie about three chicks in a beach house is never a bad idea.

2003: Enough is enough, my tenure with Full Moon is over and I devote the rest of my miserable existence to the creature known as Tempe DVD.

2005: A documentary I executive produced & edited called SOMETHING TO SCREAM ABOUT hits Showtime. THE DEAD NEXT DOOR is released to DVD from Anchor Bay. But don't be fooled, the ship is still taking on water, same as always.

2006: Goodbye, Los Angeles, here comes Ohio (again!). Professionally, not much happened. Personally, it was one of the best years of my life! Got remarried on August 26 and have been enjoying life with my new wife.

2007: New year, new cat, some new directions in life. Started executive producing a line of new movies for my Tempe DVD label, beginning with Brett Kelly's remake of KINGDOM OF THE VAMPIRE (released in October as a double feature with my humble 1991 original).

2008: New flicks as executive producer will include FOREST PRIMEVAL, POISON SWEETHEARTS, PLATOON OF THE DEAD and with any luck, I'll finally get someone to make my horror anthology BLOOD BY THE FIRE, the script for which has been laying around since 1985... (gulp!)