Robert Tinnell

Robert Tinnell is an American writer, film director and producer. Notable directing credits include Feast of the Seven Fishes, Frankenstein and Me (1996), and Kids of the Round Table (1995). Producing credits include Back Fork (2019), The Hunted (2013) and Surf Nazis Must Die (1987).

Career Filmmaking Tinnell's work as a director includes the films Kids of the Round Table (1995), Frankenstein and Me (1996), which was very popular with fans of classic horror, and Believe (2000). Tinnell has frequently acknowledged his passion for horror, particularly classic horror films. Hammer Film Productions aficionados seek out Frankenstein and Me because of a sequence inspired by the 1960 Terence Fisher film Brides of Dracula, which starred Peter Cushing. Tinnell's film actually recreates a windmill set that is used in the Hammer film. In the same film, Tinnell meticulously recreated a scene reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead as well as other horror classics. All of the sequences featured children in the adult roles. Burt Reynolds and Louise Fletcher starred in Frankenstein and Me, alongside a young Ryan Gosling. (Stars Elisha Cuthbert and Gosling both had early film roles for Tinnell.)

As a producer, Tinnell worked in both the music video world as well as feature films. Among his credits as producer are the MTV Award-winning Paula Abdul music video "Straight Up," directed by David Fincher, and the notorious cult film Surf Nazis Must Die (released through Troma).

Authorship

Tinnell is best known in comics for a series of horror graphic novels, including The Black Forest, The Wicked West, The Living and The Dead, and Sight Unseen. His book Feast of the Seven Fishes was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album – Reprint. While promoting Feast of the Seven Fishes, Tinnell was a guest on several popular radio cooking shows, including The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper, the Rocco Dispirito Show, and KCRW's Good Food.

Teaching Tinnell has served as a guest professor at several institutions, including West Virginia University, West Virginia State University, and Queens College.

Personal life Tinnell is the brother of film producer and graphic novel publisher Jeffrey Tinnell. Robert lives in West Virginia with his wife, Shannon, and two children, Isabella and Jack.

Works