All All. Sign In. People involved in West Coast Exploitation Cinema of the '60s and '70s. List activity. Forrest J. He was married to Mathilde "Wendayne" Wahrman. Al Adamson. Adamson's first foray into filmmaking was helping his father as director and producer on the film Halfway to Hell Frankenstein , Brain of Blood , Nurse Sherri and even a tongue-in-cheek softcore porn science fiction musical Cinderella Moreover, Adamson served as producer for both the exciting Fred Williamson blaxploitation vehicle Hammer and the acclaimed made-for-TV drama Cry Rape The casts of Adamson's films were made up of oddball but enthusiastic amateurs and faded professional thespians whose careers were on the wane, including Kent Taylor , Russ Tamblyn , Lon Chaney Jr.
Adamson frequently gave his wife, Regina Carrol , sizable parts in his films. He was also instrumental in launching the career of ace cinematographer Gary Graver. Al Adamson's life came to a brutal and untimely end at 66 when he was murdered by his live-in contractor, Fred Fulford, on August 2, Samuel Z. By the early s, future movie mogul Samuel Z. Wood Jr. As a shark, Arkoff was physically imposing and capable of scaring the snot out of anyone who opposed him. One of his penny ante clients was Alex Gordon , a screenwriter who had submitted an unsolicited script to Realart Pictures, an outfit that was profitably re-releasing year-old movies, often under new titles conjured up by its owner, Jack Broder.
One such film, Man Made Monster , had just been re-issued as "The Atomic Monster", coincidentally the same title of Gordon's screenplay. Broder's sales manager, James H. He met with Arkoff and proposed a partnership, which led to the formation of American Releasing Corp. The company's first release was Monster from the Ocean Floor , a low-budget feature by year-old producer'Roger Corman'.
Initially focusing on westerns on the premise that shooting on location was cheaper than renting space in a studio. Although the films were profitable, Arkoff was unhappy with the returns and solicited theater owners for advice on what types of films filled seats.
By the mid-'50s, thanks to television, movie audience numbers had dwindled considerably, with the key demographic now teenagers and young adults, who craved horror movies and, especially, drive-ins where they could gather together without their parents.
