If an actor’s nightmare is forgetting your lines once you’ve hit the stage then a writer’s nightmare is losing part of the recording of an important interview. Therefore, while my chat with the legendary director-writer Jim Wynorski, initially, was supposed to be a document of two very different men (one notoriously straight filmmaker and one not so well known gay horror journalist)and their mutual love for gorgeous women, it has now turned into something a bit more somber. The below section of our conversation, the result of promoting Wynorski’s appearance at The Massacre in Chicago this weekend, chronicles Wynorski’s experiences on the set of Vampirella, a film he seemingly wishes didn’t exist, and his encounters with such tragic figures as Corey Haim and deceased 90s video queen Lorissa McComas (Pirhana, Cyberzone, Slaughter Studios) whom he directed in 2001’s Raptor. Despite the darker remembrances, though, Wynorski’s lust for life and love for filmmaking, fully, shines through.
BGHF: Jim, you have worked so many amazing women. Icons! Angie Dickinson, Morgan Fairchild, Erika Eleniak, Traci Lords, Melissa Moore, Deborah Dutch…
Jim Wynorski: The list is pretty much endless. It’s practically every great looking woman from 1983 onward. They’re all good. Traci was and is wonderful. Dominique Swain is wonderful. I worked with Jennifer Love Hewitt. I put her in her first two movies. She was a gorgeous little kid and a very talented little kid.
BGHF: She was in Munchie, right?
Wynorski: She’s in Munchie and she’s also in a film called Home For Christmas which was with Howard Hesseman. It was done for the USA Network. Those were her first two movies and she went onto great things.
BGHF: Onto not so great things…As a cheese nut, I kind of enjoy Vampirella. I know your take on it isn’t as kind, though.
Wynorski: My take on Vampirella is that it’s a mess. The last time I watched it was to do the commentary which was awhile ago. It’s a film I cannot watch. Everything went wrong. Everything! I like Talisa Sota as a human being. She’s very pretty and she’s very sexy. But she’s not Vampirella. They forced me to use her. She just didn’t have the body for the costume. Roger Daltry was great. But, yeah…it was in Vegas. There was embezzlement on the set. It was really a nasty, nasty picture to work on. And it came out badly, too. So, I’m just saying that’s one that I look at and say, it could have been and it wasn’t.
BGHF: With everything creative you do, there is a real chance that it may not turn out how you want.
Wynorski: I wish I could go back now and redo it with the CGI of today. But even then, I just don’t ever feel like going back to that. It was 110, everyday, in Vegas. Everybody was gambling, everybody was up all night. Everyone was blurry eyed. There was a thief on set who was stealing money. It was awful.
BGHF: (Laughing) Well, you had Brian Bloom, at least!
Wynorski: Brian Bloom was a great actor. I’m telling you, the actors were fine. Talisa was great. She was a nice lady. I knew she wasn’t Vampirella, ya know? I should have had Julie Strain. But they didn’t think Julie Strain meant anything. So they put somebody wrong in the role. I should have stopped and said let’s just not do this. But, I was going to lose the rights in 6 months, so I did what I had to do. At least, I got the film made. But I should have said no. But that’s Monday morning quarterbacking. So, it is what it is. But, I’m glad you like a little bit of it. It’s got a good Joel Goldsmith score. And…It’s almost twenty years ago… it’s almost twenty years ago.
BGHF: Speaking of sad situations, you worked with Corey Haim. Can you talk about that?
Wynorski: Corey Haim -I did two movies with him. I did Demolition High and I did Demolition University. I produced that last one and, I think, I kind of wrote it. Corey Haim was a nice kid who was totally fucked up in the head. You could see the path he was going down even then. I wish I could have turned him around. But I had to have a paid babysitter with him all the time. Believe it or not, he had to have a babysitter. The kid was in his early 20s and still didn’t have it figured out yet.
Lorissa McComas
BGHF: Being in such a destructive business, you must come across that from time to time. You’ve worked with Lorissa McComas who had a tragic history, as well.
Wynorski: I loved Lorissa! She was the greatest. She was the greatest. We went out quite a bit. I saw her decline. It was not pretty.
BGHF: That hurts me. She was another one of my favorites.
Wynorski: She was such a sweetheart. Her kind of on and off again boyfriend – he hooked her on all these drugs. He was a walking nightmare, that kid. The idea of her pulling a shotgun out and shooting herself in the face…I mean c’mon. I don’t think that’s what happened. But that’s just me talking. That’s just my opinion. I loved Lorissa. I loved…God there is so many of them.
BGHF: I know, I know.
Wynorski: There’s so many of them. The one that I’ve stayed with for 24 years is Melissa Brasselle. She’s the one that I’ve been with for 24 yrs, most of the time, and she’s still looking hot.
BGHF: Cool! I really enjoyed Cheerleader Massacre, your Slumber Party Massacre follow-up. She’s in that, correct?
Wynorski: Yeah, she’s in Cheerleader Massacre. I wasn’t following anything up, (laughing) I was just out in the snow the whole time. It was cold and I was having a good time. There are a lot of hot chicks in that show, too.
BGHF: Yeah, Brinke Stevens…
Wynorski: Brinke Stevens and Charity Ramer. Half of these girls I don’t even know where they are right now. But they were fun to make movies with at the time. So, there you go.
BGHF: Well, that’s the most important thing – to have fun.
Wynorski: Yes, it is!
Be sure to share in the fun as Wynorski visits Chicago, this weekend (10/18/2014), for The Massacre. More information is available at https://www.facebook.com/events/683261171729311/.
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Big Gay Horror Fan 