Gluttony
11-30-2004, 02:30 PM
A while back I did a thread on Peter Hyams with the moniker of "Underrated Directors." Well, I'm finally going to post a second! This time, I'm really digging into the odds and ends of low budget cinema to find a director that never really got the attention he deserved.
Jonathan Winfrey started out with action movies. Films like The Assassination Game, New Crime City, and Excessive Force 2: Force on Force. None of these early movies gained him any sort of noteriety besides the fact that he was a talented director, but he dadn't found the film that would bring him into the pale shadow of the lime light.
Working with New Horizons/Concorde for Roger Corman, he finally got the film that would make him famous amongst those attuned to the B-movie air ways. That movie was the super hero movie Black Scorpion, which is often affectionately referred to as "Batman with Cleavage!" The movie was a big hit and starred some capable genre actors to help the good script and dead on direction.
His third film in 1995 was the completely gratuitous Blood Fist 7: Manhunt, the movie was of shakey quality as a whole, but it again proved that Winfrey was adept at handlign fast action sequences and colors. He continued his budding career with a personal favorite movie of mine, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species. Another great low budget film in the bag didn't help the fact that Winfrey was hitting all of the same notes. Every script he directed had ample action, gun fights, and a pace that goes as fast as it can without losing all of it's consistency.
Winfrey wouldn't change his ways though; instead, he helmed the inferior, but still good, sequel to the movie that gave him some "cred." Black Scorpion 2: Aftershock did a better job of guising the fact that there's no fight choreographer on board, but the shakey cam ploy became infuriating at times. the script and cast weren't as strong either. It wasn't the big hit Winfrey needed to continue coasting along.
Since that time, Winfrey has helmed some TV shows like "America's Most Wanted" and some other kid oriented shows. He made a TV movie in 1999 called Legend of the Lost Tomb and most recently has done another movie called Detonator, which finally gave Winfrey a try at something different than bang up action films.
Winfrey has never written a movie script to common knowledge (imdb anyway) but has taken small roles in all of his movie as well as a few movies he didn't direct. I don't know if he's willing to jump back in the game, but if he does, I think he could make something great.
If you've seen any of the movies I've mentioned above, then please comment on your thoughts on this sadly forgotten director.
Jonathan Winfrey started out with action movies. Films like The Assassination Game, New Crime City, and Excessive Force 2: Force on Force. None of these early movies gained him any sort of noteriety besides the fact that he was a talented director, but he dadn't found the film that would bring him into the pale shadow of the lime light.
Working with New Horizons/Concorde for Roger Corman, he finally got the film that would make him famous amongst those attuned to the B-movie air ways. That movie was the super hero movie Black Scorpion, which is often affectionately referred to as "Batman with Cleavage!" The movie was a big hit and starred some capable genre actors to help the good script and dead on direction.
His third film in 1995 was the completely gratuitous Blood Fist 7: Manhunt, the movie was of shakey quality as a whole, but it again proved that Winfrey was adept at handlign fast action sequences and colors. He continued his budding career with a personal favorite movie of mine, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species. Another great low budget film in the bag didn't help the fact that Winfrey was hitting all of the same notes. Every script he directed had ample action, gun fights, and a pace that goes as fast as it can without losing all of it's consistency.
Winfrey wouldn't change his ways though; instead, he helmed the inferior, but still good, sequel to the movie that gave him some "cred." Black Scorpion 2: Aftershock did a better job of guising the fact that there's no fight choreographer on board, but the shakey cam ploy became infuriating at times. the script and cast weren't as strong either. It wasn't the big hit Winfrey needed to continue coasting along.
Since that time, Winfrey has helmed some TV shows like "America's Most Wanted" and some other kid oriented shows. He made a TV movie in 1999 called Legend of the Lost Tomb and most recently has done another movie called Detonator, which finally gave Winfrey a try at something different than bang up action films.
Winfrey has never written a movie script to common knowledge (imdb anyway) but has taken small roles in all of his movie as well as a few movies he didn't direct. I don't know if he's willing to jump back in the game, but if he does, I think he could make something great.
If you've seen any of the movies I've mentioned above, then please comment on your thoughts on this sadly forgotten director.