Bad Asses of Cinema

Herschell Gordon Lewis - The Godfather of Gore. Director of nearly 40 films, including Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!, The Gruesome Twosome, She-Devils on Wheels, Something Weird, Year of the Yahoo!, Wizard of Gore and This Stuff'll Kill Ya. Visit his official site here.

"My rules were absolute: 1. Don’t shoot a rehearsal. 2. Make do. 3. Don’t quit for the day until you’ve shot every scheduled scene." - Herschell Gordon Lewis

Jack Hill - Known as the Master of Exploitation. Director of nearly 20 films, including Foxy Brown, The Big Doll House, Spider Baby and Switchblade Sisters.

"At the time I was making films and they were hitting number one at the box office, no one even knew who I was. And the next year, no one even remembered the film." - Jack Hill

Ted V. Mikels - Director of more than 20 films, including Astro-Zombies, The Corpse Grinders and Blood Orgy of the She Devils. Visit his official site here.

"I'm not in the Directors' Guild. (I'm) not in any guild. I just don't want anyone telling me what to do, or what I can not do." - Ted V. Mikels

William Grefe - Director of 15 films, including Mako: Jaws of Death, Death Curse of Tartu and Stanley. Visit his official site here.

"I wrote Mako way before (Steven) Spielberg ever did Jaws but I couldn’t get arrested as far as getting money is concerned." - William Grefe

Doris Wishman - Director of 30 films, including Nude on the Moon, Bad Girls Go To Hell, Let Me Die A Woman and Deadly Weapons.

"I made all my films out of love." - Doris Wishman

David F. Friedman - Producer of close to 50 films, including Ilsa She Wolf of SS, She Freak, Trader Hornee and Scum of the Earth.

"The whole idea of an exploitation film is to give people most of the show beforehand." - David F. Friedman

Russ Meyer - Director of nearly 30 films, including Fanny Hill, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Motor Psycho and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

"Nothing is obscene providing it is done in bad taste." - Russ Meyer

Melvin Van Peebles - Considered The Godfather of Independent Film and The Father of Blaxploitation, mostly due to Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which he wrote, produced, directed, edited, scored, starred in and guerrilla marketed. Other films includedDon't Play Us Cheap and Watermelon Man. Visit his official site here.

"Since I taught myself, I didn't know all the things you supposedly couldn't do. I just went and did it." - Melvin Van Peebles

Ray Dennis Steckler - Director of nearly 30 films, including Wild Guitar, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? and The Thrill Killers.

"Before you make a movie, you look around and see what you have, not what you want to go get. Think about all the things you don’t have to spend money for and then write your story around them." - Ray Dennis Steckler

Mike Vraney - Called the "one-man film preservation society." Co-created the 90s cult television show Reel Wild Cinema and heads up Something Weird Video. Rescued thousands of features, shorts and oddities from the past. Visit Something Weird here.

"All film is interesting, and it’s all important, and it’s all labors of love. Anybody who makes a film, it’s like having a kid." - Mike Vraney

Harry Novak - Nicknamed the "The Sultan of Sexploitation." Produced and distributed more than 50 films, including The Mad Butcher, Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks, Axe, Mantis in Lace, Kiss Me Quick! and Venus in Furs.

"When I was a kid, my Daddy told me, 'There's a buyer for everything.' And I lived to find out that he was right." - Harry Novak

B-Movie Masters

Ed Wood - Often called "The World's Worst Director." Director of nearly 20 films and writer of close to 50, including Plan 9 From Outer Space, Glen or Glenda and Bride of the Monster.

"One is always considered mad when one perfects something that others cannot grasp." - Ed Wood.

Roger Corman - Dubbed King of the Bs. Producer of close to 400 movies and director of nearly 60, including Little Shop of Horrors, The Trip, TNT Jackson, Death Race 2000, Piranha and Boxcar Bertha.

"All my films have been concerned simply with man as a social animal." - Roger Corman

Charles Band - Producer of more than 240 films and director of more than 30, including Ghoulies, Troll, Trancers, Puppet Master, The Gingerdead Man. Visit his Full Moon Entertainment empire here.

"CGI used very sparingly in very unique situations works, but it is so ridiculously overused. I don’t care how much money they spent, it looks like a cartoon." - Charles Band

Andy Sidaris - Known for movies filled with bullets, bombs and babes. Director of close to 20 films, including Savage Beach, Do or Die and Hard Hunted. Visit his official site here.

"We set the story, set the pace and move on. And, yes, we throw in nudity whenever possible and augment it with a whole bunch of chases, explosions and gunshots." - Andy Sidaris

Tobe Hooper - Director of more than 30 genre films, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive and Eggshells.

"Mothra didn't scare me. Godzilla didn't scare me. It's people that I'm afraid of." - Tobe Hooper

William Castle - Known as the "King of the Gimmicks" for his over-the-top ways of promoting his movies. Director of more than 60 genre films, including House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, 13 Ghosts and The Old Dark House

""Remember, if you scream at just the right time, it might just save your life." - William Castle

George A. Romero - The Grandfather of Zombies. Director of close to 20 films, including Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and The Crazies.

"I don't think you need to spend $40 million to be creepy. The best horror films are the ones that are much less endowed." - George A. Romero

J.R. Bookwalter - A pioneer in the shot-on-video movement of the late 80s and early 90s. Producer of more than 30 genre films, including The Dead Next Door, Robot Ninja, Skinned Alive and Bloodletting. Visit his company site Tempe Video here.

"DV has become a great equalizer, but sadly most of the movies are complete garbage because these people are not experimenting and taking the time to learn how to make movies first." - J.R. Bookwalter

Fred Olen Ray - Director of more than 100 films, including Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, The Girl from B.I.K.I.N.I., Armed Response, Evil Toons and Bikini Drive-In. Visit his company site RetroMedia here.

"Making a film with no money or schedule is ten times harder than it is to make a big budget show where you're surrounded by a gang of super-talented people." - Fred Olen Ray

Frank Henenlotter - Known for directing horror comedies, including the cult classics Basket Case, Brain Damage and Frankenhooker.  Also instrumental in rescuing a number of low-budget films for Something Weird Video.

"Exploitation films have an attitude more than anything - an attitude that you don’t find with mainstream Hollywood productions. They’re a little ruder, a little raunchier, they deal with material people don’t usually touch on, whether it’s sex or drugs or rock and roll." - Frank Henenlotter