William Lustig
Also Known As: Billy Bagg, Bill Lustig
Biography: William "Bill" Lustig (born February 1, 1955, in The Bronx, New York) is an American film director and producer who has worked primarily in the horror film genre. He is the nephew of former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta. As a film director, Lustig is best known for his low-budget horror films Maniac, Vigilante, Uncle Sam, and the Maniac Cop series. Lustig has also worked as an actor playing small roles in his own films as well as in films by Sam Raimi, most notably as a fake shemp in Army of Darkness and a dockworker in Darkman. As of 2009, Lustig is the CEO of Blue Underground; an entertainment company specializing in the release of obscure films and exploitation films on DVD. He also produced a remake of his film Maniac (2012) and is rumoured to be producing a new upcoming Maniac Cop with Nicolas Winding Refn. In an interview with Vulture in January 2023, Refn, when asked whether the creation of the series was still under discussion, said: "All I can say is, unfortunately, it’s not going to happen."
Department: Directing
Place of Birth: The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Adult: No
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Known For:
VHS Revolution
Overview: Using testimonies by pioneers and witnesses of the times, delve into the feverish visual culture the media generated – with far-fetched examples of canine television games, seduction manuals, aerobics class while holding a baby, among others.
Genres: Documentary TV Movie History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2017-08-28
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In Search of Darkness: Part III
Overview: The conclusion to the ‘In Search of Darkness’ '80s trilogy. In this epic final chapter, our focus turns to the straight-to-video horror classics that populated the bottom shelves at the video rental store. Imaginative, gory, experimental—but always entertaining—these hidden gems are ripe for rediscovery.
Genres: Documentary Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2022-11-25
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Hollywood Rated 'R'
Overview: A roller-coaster ride through the history of American exploitation films, ranging from Roger Corman's sci-fi and horror monster movies, 1960s beach movies, H.G. Lewis' gore-fests, William Castle's schlocky theatrical gimmicks, to 1970s blaxploitation, pre-"Deep Throat" sex tease films, Russ Meyer's bosom-heavy masterpieces, etc, etc. Over 25 interviews of the greatest purveyors of weird films of all kind from 1940 to 1975. Illustrated with dozens of films clips, trailers, extra footage, etc. This documentary as a shorter companion piece focusing on exploitation king David F. Friedman.
Genres: Documentary Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-06-19
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Maniac Cop
Overview: Innocent people are brutally killed on the streets of New York by a uniformed police officer. A young cop, Jack Forrest, finds himself marked as the chief suspect after his wife is murdered.
Genres: Crime Horror Mystery Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-05-13
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American Grindhouse
Overview: This documentary explores the hidden history of the American Exploitation Film. The movie digs deep into this often overlooked category of U.S. cinema and unearths the shameless and occasionally shocking origins of this popular entertainment.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2011-02-04
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The Joe Spinell Story
Overview: The Joe Spinell Story is a An outstanding and eye-opening documentary, made in 2001 for the Anchor Bay DVD release of Maniac (1980). His most notable roles were as mafioso Willi Cicci in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and as loan shark Tony Gazzo in Rocky and Rocky II. Although primarily known as a character actor, Spinell co-wrote and starred as a serial killer in the 1980 film, Maniac.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2001-08-21
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Maniac: The Making of Documentary
Overview: Behind the scenes documentary on the 2012 film MANIAC directed by Franck Khalfoun.
Genres: Documentary Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2013-10-15
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42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street
Overview: The story behind the rise and fall of New York's 42nd Street. The cinemas, the films, the people, the crime and the rebirth of the block as "New 42nd Street" - this is the document of the world's most notorious movie strip.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2015-07-15
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Returning to the scene of the crime
Overview: Four decades after directing "Maniac" Bill revisits the filming locations to reflect on 1970s New York & his leading man, Joe Spinell.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-12-11
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Maniac: The making of a living pulp novel
Overview: An interview with William Lustig about Maniac.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2020-06-08
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Vigilante
Overview: New York City factory worker Eddie Marino is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. When a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, he goes berserk and vows revenge.
Genres: Crime Action Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1982-05-18
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Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth
Overview: A documentary primarily focusing on the filming and release of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-09-21
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Maniac
Overview: A psychotic man, troubled by his childhood abuse, loose in NYC, kills young women and local girl American models and takes their scalps as trophies.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1980-05-10
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Darkman
Overview: Dr. Peyton Westlake is on the verge of realizing a major breakthrough in synthetic skin when his laboratory is destroyed by gangsters. Having been burned beyond recognition and forever altered by an experimental medical procedure, Westlake becomes known as Darkman, assuming alternate identities in his quest for revenge and a new life with a former love.
Genres: Action Science Fiction Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-08-24
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Direct Your Own Damn Movie!
Overview: Legendary director Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment and Creator of the Toxic Avenger, reveals 40 years worth of maverick cinematic know-how in Direct Your Own Damn Movie! Lloyd offers you the magic key to operating outside the film studio system as well as providing you with the roadmap to script writing, pre-production, casting, managing your set, post-production and the secrets of selling you movie!
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2009-05-19
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Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror
Overview: Documentary that explores Argento's film career.
Genres: Documentary Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2001-04-15
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Trepanator
Overview: Dr. Herbert East is working in his uncle's clinic and experimenting with brain transplants.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1992-01-01
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The Outsider: The Cinema of Antonio Margheriti
Overview: Documentary on the life and films of Antonio Margheriti.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2013-04-17
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Cameron's Closet
Overview: A father who experiments with his son's psychokinetic powers is unaware that these experiments have released a demon from hell which lives in his son's closet, preparing to take over the young boy's soul.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-12-02
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Relentless
Overview: Two Los Angeles police detectives hunt for a serial killer who randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.
Genres: Mystery Thriller Horror Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-08-30
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Tax Shelter Terrors
Overview: The first feature-length documentary that fully explores how the toxic social and political Canadian context after 1968 created some of the most nihilistic and imaginative Canadian cult films of the 1970s and 80s and beyond.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2017-12-31
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13 Scarier Movie Moments
Overview: Final entry in the Bravo scary movie moments countdowns that aired in 2009.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2009-10-10
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Army of Darkness
Overview: Ash, a handsome, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed department store clerk, is time warped backwards into England's Dark Ages, where he romances a beauty and faces legions of the undead.
Genres: Fantasy Horror Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-10-31
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Maniac Men
Overview: Documentary about the origins of the song "Maniac".
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2010-10-26
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Post Traumatic: An American Nightmare
Overview: This thirty minute documentary features interviews with Giovinazzo's key contemporaries discussing the continued impact and influence of Combat Shock twenty-five years later.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2009-07-28
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Scream and Scream Again: A History of the Slasher Film
Overview: Documentary tracing the rise of the 'slasher' movie.
Genres: TV Movie Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-10-28
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Masters of the Grind
Overview: The shocking true story behind the most outrageous movies of all time and the directors who made them.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2023-10-25
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