I've always had a bit of an overactive imagination -- I was a big daydreamer in school, and loved classic monster movies, creature features, sci-fi films, etc. By the time I graduated high school and went to college, I definitely knew I wanted to be a writer, producer, director and actor. I should add that my father, Bobby Winckler, had been a famous and successful child actor in the 1930s and 1940s. He worked in more than 80 films and over 200 radio shows with all the stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. However, in all honesty this didn't really have that big of an influence on my decision to go into showbiz. Rather, it was my overactive, crazy imagination that did it!

          Either way, after college I jumped straight into the business. In the 1980s I worked as an actor on a bunch of television shows, movies and commercials. Later I started producing TV programs, such as the animated series "Tekkaman," originally created in Japan by Tatsunoko Productions (the same company that had done "Speed Racer"), and a live-action comedy variety series called "Short Ribbs," which starred the late Billy Barty.

          It's tough to answer that question, because I love both! As I mentioned, in the 1980s I had a ton of bit parts on shows like "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "The Fall Guy," "Murder She Wrote," "Silver Spoons," etc. One show I worked on was Michael Landon's bio-drama, "Sam's Son," and I recall being directed by Landon. He was a hell of a nice man, and he balanced acting, directing and writing perfectly. At the time I remember thinking, "God, if Landon can do everything, why can't I?" He's proof it can be done -- you can successfully wear all those different hats!

"The Double-D Avenger" is a sexy action comedy, and famous as the Russ Meyer movie-star "reunion picture." We deliberately made it as a goofy, Ed Wood-style comedy. It was designed as a total campy farce, and we all joked at the time that it would make "Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Gone With The Wind!" And I think we succeeded. [laughs] Still, all joking aside, in launching my own production company (intentionally patterned after Sam Arkoff and James Nicholson's old American International Pictures (AIP)), we needed to start out small before we could make big, expensive horror films. This is really why we did a camp, super-heroine comedy first, and then "William Winckler's Frankenstein Vs. The Creature From Blood Cove" -- a larger, more lavish, classic-style horror movie/creature feature -- second.

          Peter Jackson, in addition to Tim Burton, is one of the few truly creative filmmakers working for the major Hollywood studios today. The Hollywood system is run by a small group of corporations, and it's amazing to me that Jackson and Burton can do what they do within those corporate confines. I'm very happy following the AIP/Roger Corman path as a successful independent filmmaker. The goal of William Winckler Productions is to make entertaining, classic-style monster movies, and make them the old-fashioned way: with love and care. There's no way in hell that a major contemporary Hollywood studio would make smaller, character-driven retro films like the ones we're making ... especially in black and white! Which is sad. Nevertheless, what I can offer to fans of those types of films is this promise: a William Winckler film will entertain you. It will take you back in time via fun, character-driven horror -- like the classic Vincent Price films -- and will offer pure escapism you won't ever get from the majors. My films will provide fans a genuine "good old days" feeling -- a true trip down monster memory lane!

          I actually came up with the idea several years ago. I missed the old monster movies and felt it was a real tragedy that, starting in the 1980s, the slasher film had hijacked and destroyed the horror genre. For over 60 years, the horror genre was a big, wide, wonderful world of different types of frightening but entertaining movies. The kernel of the idea for the film came from a dream I had of Frankenstein's monster battling a horrible half-man, half-fish creature on a sandy beach, with waves crashing in the background, and lightning crackling and thunder rolling across the skies. I built the entire story from that single visual seed.

          As I previously mentioned, all of the film's early reviews have been great! I know the fans will love it too, especially since there's absolutely nothing like it out there today. Again, I want people to know that they'll get a truly entertaining, fun, retro-monster movie, which successfully captures the essence of the Universal monster classics, the AIP drive-in creature features and the Hammer horror films. We intentionally played our movie totally straight and -- out of respect for the classics -- not as a silly comedy. When fans purchase the DVD when it comes out this October at Amazon.com, they will get a little gem of a movie they can add to their horror collections, and hopefully watch over and over again.

          As the writer, producer and director, I was concerned about staying on time and on budget. And while I'm well aware of the fact that visual-effects make-ups take time, I was always concerned about the long time it took to get some of our monsters into make-up. Other than that, everything else worked smoothly. Fortunately, all of our monsters looked great on camera. Of course, we spent a good amount of money on them, and we had a large group of artists responsible for that, but I think our cinematographer and editor, Matthias Schubert and Kate Sobol respectively, really gave them true on-screen credibility. Sam and Ted Hamer's wonderful sound effects and sound editing added credibility to the monsters, too.

          As cliché as this may seem, I knew from day one that the scenes were playing out perfectly. From the initial moment of shooting, "William Winckler's Frankenstein Vs. The Creature From Blood Cove" smelled like a hit to me. When Larry Butler, the actor who portrayed Dr. Monroe Lazaroff, put on his lab coat and we began shooting the dining room scenes, with Larry playing a Vincent Price-type character and reciting his monologues about why he created the monsters, I thought, "God this is great! This is going to be a hell of a fun picture!" And in between takes, as I glanced at the different performers in costume around the table, I knew the scenes were working. The whole scenario sounded and looked like an old-fashioned monster movie!

          I have a great group of actors that I work with on a regular basis -- talented people like Larry Butler, who I previously mentioned. And I would've loved to hire classic actors for my films, especially Vincent Price! Sadly, they're almost all passed on now. Still, what I've learned is that in today's market you really don't need star names, at least for horror films. I have lots of celebrity cameos in my new film, and cult stars like Larry, but most fans are buying horror movies today based on the subject matter and not who's in them. I guess it would be fun to cast Johnny Depp in a picture, but I'm sure his salary, for even one day, would be above and beyond anything the average independent moviemaker could afford.

          That having been said, I would love to sometime hire Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. He totally supports indie filmmakers and in fact, when he got into big trouble with Screen Actors Guild (SAG) for helping out an independent filmmaker friend by acting in his low-budget picture, Voight semi-resigned from SAG declaring Financial Core status, freeing him up to work on all levels of films. This caused incredible shockwaves throughout the industry. Well, I take my hat off to him for doing so! Most major stars are too fearful and cowardly to do this, or in some cases simply too greedy to walk away from their gravy trains. Jon Voight seems to be a man of character and integrity -- for that alone I would hire him!

          The best advice I can give aspiring filmmakers is this: Hollywood today is run by a small group of monopolies -- actually an oligopoly -- which is technically illegal and a violation of state and federal anti-trust laws. In so doing, these monster corporations act as a cartel, controlling 90 percent of all film and TV production and distribution. And it's that distribution control that's the most dangerous threat to up-and-coming filmmakers, because if you can't get distribution, you're out of business. So you have to fight like hell to get your film seen -- and not just seen, but also to make profits so you can stay in business. It is a very tricky thing to do, but luckily William Winckler Productions has been able to do it. So in short, hopeful filmmakers have to know not only how to make movies, but also how to sell those films to potential fans. Otherwise, they're going to be out of business before they start!

          The future involves more classic-style, retro, black-and-white horror films. I have written several scripts, and in fact our next film has been read by a few people who say it's even better than "Frankenstein Vs. The Creature From Blood Cove." My goal is to produce a great, classic monster movie library -- a library of true gems -- that audiences will want to collect and watch over and over.

          I think that "William Winckler's Frankenstein Vs. The Creature From Blood Cove" is really a one-of-a-kind film. If you like entertaining horror films and monsters, and really want something different than the typical "paint-by-numbers" slasher flicks and gross-out gore-fests, you'll be able to purchase your DVD copy (which also includes a ton of extras, including a theatrical trailer, a "making of" featurette and a fun commentary track) very easily through Amazon.com this October. Watch for it!!