David L. Hewitt

David L. Hewitt (born August 12, 1939) is a film director and producer. Among the films he has directed are The Wizard of Mars, Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (both 1965), Journey to the Center of Time (1967), The Mighty Gorga (1969) and The Girls from Thunder Strip (1970).

David L. Hewitt
Born (1939-08-12) August 12, 1939
San Francisco, California
Occupationfilm director
Years active1965–2003

Background

As a teenager he was an illusionist in the Dr. Jeckyll's Strange Show, a travelling spook show.[1] Later, with an interest in getting into the movie business, he contacted Forrest J. Ackerman and offered him a film script. The original script was called Journey into the Unknown. The script was rewritten by Ib Melchior and given a new title of The Time Travellers. His directing debut was Monsters Crash the Pajama Party.[2]

Film work

In addition to The Time Travellers, which he also provided special effects for,[3] and his directional debut, The Monsters Crash the Pajama Party,[4] he would direct a number of films.[5]

In 1967, he wrote, directed, and co-produced the horror anthology Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors, which featured John Carradine. This is also known as The Blood Suckers, Gallery of Horrors, Gallery of Horror, Return from the Past, and even The Witch's Clock, which is the title of the first segment.[6] The film, which was basically a capitalization on Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, had in later years achieved a degree of cult status.[7] In 1968, he directed Hell's Chosen Few, a biker movie starring Jody Daniel and Kelly Ross. He also directed The Mighty Gorga and The Girls from Thunder Strip, both of which featured Megan Timothy.[8] In The Mighty Gorga, he also played Gorga.[9] He directed the Nazisploitation film The Tormentors which was released in 1971.[10]

Two of Hewitt's films were retitled Alien Massacre. The retitling appears to have been the unauthorized work of Regal Video, Inc. of New York, New York. The cover, released on both films, proclaims "Blood flows like water...", and shows a woman in helmet and epaulets (and apparently nothing else) standing in a barren landscape with her arm, bleeding profusely, modestly covering her chest. These films are The Wizard of Mars (1965), retitled Horrors of the Red Planet in 1988, an uncredited science fiction takeoff of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which became public domain in 1957) in which astronaut Dorothy (Eve Bernhart) and three male astronauts follow a golden road to an ancient city to find that the Martians' greatest desire foreshadows Zardoz (1974), another Oz-influenced science fiction film, and the aforementioned Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (1966), which, in spite of the new title, the film does not feature any aliens.[11] The package description described neither film, but rather described an attack on a scientist and his daughter aboard their space vessel. Neither film depicts a parent-child relationship.

Later years

In later years, he was a visual effects producer for The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Inspector Gadget 2.[12]

Filmography

As director

References
  1. The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors - By Fred Olen Ray Page 89 American General Pictures David L. Hewitt
  2. Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998 By Dennis Fischer Page 297 - David L. Hewitt
  3. The Dinosaur Filmography By Mark F. Berry Page 153. Journey to the Center of Time
  4. Letterboxd The Monsters Crash the Pajama Party
  5. The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors - By Fred Olen Ray Page 89 American General Pictures David L. Hewitt
  6. Eye on Science Fiction: 20 Interviews with Classic SF and Horror Filmmakers - edited by Tom Weaver Page 190 - Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (American General, 1967)
  7. About.com February 29, 2016 Horror Anthology Movies 101, Three Stories Are Better Than One - By Mark H. Harris
  8. Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s By Brian Albright Page 202 The Girl from Thunder Strip, Megan Timothy
  9. A Year of Fear: A Day-by-Day Guide to 366 Horror Films By Bryan Senn Page 189 - May 16. The Mighty Gorga
  10. Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture - edited by Daniel H. Magilow, Elizabeth Bridges, Kristin T. Vander Lugt Page 320 - Selected Filmography
  11. franc's cinema March 2, 2015 biker, grindhouse, nazisploitation, The Tormentors
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