Jim Wynorski

Jim Wynorski is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is known for making B movies, action films, creature films, softcore pornography and exploitation films, such as Deathstalker II, The Return of Swamp Thing, Raptor, Virtual Desire and The Witches of Breastwick.

In 2009, the documentary Popatopolis, directed by Clay Westervelt (and named after Tom Popatopolous, one of Wynorski's pseudonyms) chronicled his work during the making of his softcore horror film The Witches of Breastwick. The film serves as a partial biography, with clips from many of his previous films, and includes interviews with Wynorski himself, as well as his contemporaries, cast and crew.

Career Jim Wynorski grew up in Long Island. He flunked out of film school and went to work at the fiction department of Doubleday Publishing from 1972 to 1977. Wynorski relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the movie industry. He got a job as location manager on the TV show Breaking Away, but was fired during production. Flying back to Los Angeles, he met a fellow passenger who knew Roger Corman and arranged an introduction. Wynorski then went to work for Corman. He did publicity and began writing screenplays.

Wynorski 's first produced screenplay was Forbidden World (1982). He also wrote Sorceress for $1,000 and wrote and produced Screwballs (1983), a Porky's-style comedy.

Directorial debut and Roger Corman Wynorski made his directing debut with The Lost Empire (1984).

His second film, Chopping Mall (1986), which Wynorski also produced and co-wrote, was made for Julie Corman. Julie's husband Roger Corman liked it, and hired Wynorski to make Deathstalker 2 in Argentina, then Big Bad Mama II (1987) with Angie Dickinson, and a remake of Not of this Earth (1988) with Traci Lords. He was creative consultant on Purple People Eater (1988).

Wynorski was given a $7 million budget to make The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) with Louis Jourdan. He then made Transylvania Twist and The Haunting of Morella back to back for Roger Corman.

He also made Sorority House Massacre II (1990) for Julie Corman, on sets left over from existing films. Roger Corman was impressed and got Wynorski to remake it as Sorority House Massacre III: Hard to Die. Corman "taught me all the lessons on how to make a film and how to make it look expensive when you don't have a lot of money," Wynorski says.

He worked on the scripts for Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991), House IV (1992), and Final Embrace (1992), but did not direct them.

He directed 976-Evil II (1992), which was produced by Paul Hertzberg, with whom Wynorski would frequently collaborate.

Wynorski made two films for Corman's Showtime series, Roger Corman Presents: a remake of The Wasp Woman (1995) and Vampirella (1996). Vampirella was an unhappy experience for him; in 2013 he said that film and Victim of Desire were the only films he regretted making in his career.

Fred Olen Ray With his friend Fred Olen Ray he directed, wrote and produced Scream Queen Hot Tub Party (1991), starring Kelli Maroney, shot in one day. The two friends later collaborated on Dinosaur Island (1994) and co-executive produced Dark Universe (1993) and Biohazard: The Alien Force (1994) together. Ray produced Sorceress (1995), which Wynorski directed, and Wynorski helped produce Bikini Drive-In (1995), Fugitive Rage (1996), Friend of the Family II (1996), and Hybrid (1997), which Ray directed.

Family films Wynorski made Munchie (1992), marking the film debut of Jennifer Love Hewitt; and its sequel, Munchie Strikes Back (1993). Hewitt was not part of the cast in the sequel, but he later directed Little Miss Millions (1993), which starred her. He also executive produced The Skateboard Kid 2.

In recent years, Wynorski has returned to the family film genre, making Nessie & Me (2016), which is in a shared universe with DinoCroc, Supergator, Dinocroc vs. Supergator, and Piranhaconda, due to the lead character referencing said films' title monsters, and Monster Cruise, from which many characters returned for Nessie & Me. He also directed A Doggone Christmas (2016), which spawned a sequel A Doggone Hollywood (2017).

Erotic thrillers In the early 1990s he specialised in erotic thrillers, starting with Sins of Desire (1993). "I was good and I was fast," Wynorski said. "They knew the product would be solid... They were easy to make. It didn’t require any action. You could get them done well in 12 days. The trick was making them for low money. There was plenty of competition, so you had to be good and you had to get those big stars naked. Shannon Tweed, Andrew Stevens, Shannon Whirry, Tanya Roberts all started working double time."

Wynorski's other erotic thrillers included Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III (1994), Victim of Desire (1995), Body Chemistry IV: Full Exposure (1995), and Virtual Desire (1995). He later directed The Escort III (1999).

In 1998, Wynorski appeared in a documentary Some Nudity Required where he said he got into film "for the money and the chicks" and said "breasts are the cheapest special effect in the business".

Sunset Films Wynorski established his own production company, Sunset Films, which he ran with Andrew Stevens. It was a division of Cinetel Films. Sunset's films included Midnight Tease and its sequel; Vice Girls (1997); Sorceress II: The Temptress (1997).

He directed some of Sunset's films including Hard Bounty (1995), Demolition High (1996), Against the Law (1997), Storm Trooper (1998), and Desert Thunder (1999).

He did not direct the sequel to Demolition High, Demolition University (1997), but produced and co-wrote it.

Action movies These were action movies, as were The Pandora Project (1998), Stealth Fighter (1999), Final Voyage (1999), Militia (2000), Rangers (2000), Extreme Limits (2000), and Ablaze (2001).

He produced some films that he did not direct, such as Fugitive Mind (1999); Sonic Impact (2000); Active Stealth (2000), Submerged (2000), Kept (2001), Air Rage (2001), Critical Mass (2001), Venomous (2001), all directed by Ray; Storm Catcher (2000); Jill Rips (2000) with Dolph Lundgren; Intrepid (2000), with James Coburn.

He often worked with producer and actor Andrew Stevens, who called in Wynorski to shoot additional scenes for Agent Red (2000).

Thy Neighbor's Wife (2001) was a thriller. Gale Force (2002), Lost Treasure (2003, with Stephen Baldwin) and Treasure Hunt (2003) were action films. Bad Bizness (2003) was Wynorski 's first film with a predominantly black cast.

Later action films he helped produce included Blue Demon (2004) and Sub Zero.

The Bare Wench Project and parody films In 2000, Wynorski made The Bare Wench Project, a sex parody of The Blair Witch Project. It was popular and led to several sequels. Wynorski made several other erotic parody movies, including Busty Cops (2004) and its several sequels, The Witches of Breastwick (2005) and its sequel, Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade (2005), The Da Vinci Coed (2007), The Breastford Wives (2007), House on Hooter Hill (2007), The Devil Wears Nada (2009), Cleavagefield (2009), Para-Knockers Activity (2009), and The Hills Have Thighs (2010).

Creature films In 2001, Wynorski returned to Roger Corman with Raptor (2001). He later made a series of "creature" films. For Corman he did some uncredited work on Wolfhound (2002). He made Project Viper (2002) for the Sci Fi Channel.

He later made Curse of the Komodo (2004) and its sequel, Komodo vs. Cobra (2005), Gargoyle: Wings of Darkness (2004), Cry of the Winged Serpent (2007), Dinocroc vs. Supergator (2010), Camel Spiders (2010), and CobraGator (2016).

Filmography Film Forbidden World (1982) - writer Sorceress (1982) - writer Screwballs (1983) - writer The Lost Empire (1984) - director, writer, producer Loose Screws (1985) a.k.a. Screwballs II - writer Chopping Mall (1986) - director, writer Deathstalker II (1987) - director, writer Big Bad Mama II (1987) - director, writer Not of This Earth (1988) - director, writer, producer The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) - director Think Big (1989) - story Transylvania Twist (1989) - director, writer The Haunting of Morella (1990) - director, writer (uncredited) Sorority House Massacre II (1990) - director (as "Arch Stanton") Hard to Die (1990) - director (as "Arch Stanton"), producer Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991) - writer 976-Evil 2: The Astral Factor (1991) - director Munchie (1992) - director, writer Final Embrace (1992) - writer House IV (1992) - story Sins of Desire (1993) - director, story Little Miss Millions (1993) a.k.a. Home for Christmas - director, writer Dark Universe (1993) - co executive producer Biohazard: The Alien Force (1994) - executive producer Munchie Strikes Back (1994) - director, writer Dinosaur Island (1994) - director, producer The Skateboard Kid 2 (1995) - executive producer Sorceress (1995) - director Victim of Desire (1995) - director Midnight Tease II (1995) - executive producer Bikini Drive-In (1995) - executive producer Hard Bounty (1995) - director, producer Virtual Desire (1995) - director, producer Friend of the Family II (1996) - producer The Assault (1996) - director, producer Fugitive Rage (1996) - writer Hybrid (1997) - producer Vice Girls (1997) - producer Sorceress II: The Temptress (1997) - executive producer Demolition University (1997) - producer Against the Law (1997) - director The Pandora Project (1998) - director, writer Desert Thunder (1999) - director, producer Final Voyage (1999) - director (as Jay Andrews), producer, writer (as Noble Henry) Sonic Impact (1999) - producer Storm Catcher (1999) - producer Active Stealth (1999) - producer Fugitive Mind (1999) - executive producer Agent Red (2000) - director (uncredited reshoots), producer (2000) a.k.a. Extreme Limits - director Jill Rips (2000) - producer Intrepid (2000) - producer Submerged (2000) - producer Ablaze (2001) - director Kept (2001) - producer Air Rage (2001) - producer Thy Neighbor's Wife (2001) a.k.a. Poison - director, story Critical Mass (2001) - producer Venomous (2001) - producer Lost Treasure (2003) - director Bare Wench Project: Uncensored (2003) - director Curse of the Komodo (2004) - director Blue Demon (2004) - producer Deep Evil (2004) - producer Crash Landing (2005) - director, writer Vampire in Vegas (2009) - director Fire from Below (2009) - director, writer, producer Lost in the Woods (2009) - director, producer Para-Knockers Activity (2009) - director Monster Cruise (2010) - director, writer Lucky Bastard (2014) - producer Sexually Bugged! (2014) - director Water Wars (2014) - director Nessie & Me (2016) - director, writer A Doggone Christmas (2016) - director, writer A Doggone Hollywood (2017) - director, writer CobraGator (2018) - director Bigfoot or Bust (2022) - director Giantess Battle Attack (2022) - director Murderbot (2023) - director

Direct-to-video Scream Queen Hot Tub Party (1991) - director, writer, producer (as "Arch Stanton") Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III (1994) - director Ghoulies IV (1994) - director Body Chemistry IV: Full Exposure (1995) - director Demolition High (1996) - director Vampirella (1996) - director, producer Storm Trooper (1998) - director The Escort III (1999) - director (as Tom Popatopolous) Rangers (2000) - director, producer Raptor (2001) - director, writer The Bare Wench Project (2000) - director, writer, producer Gale Force (2002) - director, producer Wolfhound (2002) - director (some scenes, uncredited) The Bare Wench Project 2: Scared Topless (2001) - director, writer, producer Cheerleader Massacre (2003) - director The Bare Wench Project 3: Nymphs of Mystery Mountain (2002) - director, writer, producer Bad Bizness (2003) - director Treasure Hunt (2003) - director, writer The Thing Below (2004) - director, producer Busty Cops (2005) - director, producer Gargoyle: Wings of Darkness (2004) - director, writer, producer Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade (2005) - director Sub Zero (2005) - director The Witches of Breastwick (2005) - director, writer, producer The Witches of Breastwick 2 (2005) - director, producer Busty Cops 2 (2006) - director The Breastford Wives (2007) - director, writer House on Hooter Hill (2007) - director, writer Strip for Action (2009) - director (uncredited) The Hills Have Thighs (2010) - director, writer (as Salvadore Ross) Attack of the 50 Foot CamGirl (2022) - director

TV movies The Wasp Woman (1995) - director Project Viper (2002) - director Lust Connection (2005) - director, writer, producer Komodo vs. Cobra (2005) - director, writer Bare Wench: The Final Chapter (2005) - director, writer, producer A.I. Assault (2006) - director, writer Cry of the Winged Serpent (2007) - director Bone Eater (2008) - director, writer The Da Vinci Coed (2007) - director, writer, producer The Lusty Busty Babe-a-que (2008) - director Cleavagefield (2009) - director, producer The Devil Wears Nada (2009) - director, writer Busty Cops and the Jewel of Denial (2010) - director, writer (Harold Blueberry) Busty Cops Go Hawaiian (2010) - director, writer (Harold Blueberry) Dinocroc vs. Supergator (2010) - director, writer Sexy Wives Sindrome (2013) - director, writer Camel Spiders (2011) - director, writer, producer (as Jay Andrews) Busty Coeds vs. Lusty Cheerleaders (2010) - director (as Sam Pepperman) Piranhaconda (2012) - director Gila! (2012) - director Pleasure Spa (2013) - director Hypnotika (2013) - director Sexipede! (2014) - director (as Sam Pepperman), writer Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre (2015) - director, writer Shark Babes (2015) - director Scared Topless (2015) - director, writer Legend of the Naked Ghost (2017) - director, writer