David Schmoeller (born December 8, 1947) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is notable for directing several full-length theatrical horror films including ''

Tourist Trap A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souveni ...

'' (1979), '' The Seduction'' (1982), ''

Crawlspace A crawl space is an unoccupied, unfinished, narrow space within a building, between the ground and the first (or ground) floor. The crawl space is so named because there is typically only enough room to crawl rather than stand; anything larger t ...

'' (1986), '' Catacombs'' (1988), '' Puppet Master'' (1989), and ''

Netherworld Netherworld (''nether'', ″beneath, lower″) may refer to: *Underworld, a region thought to be beneath the surface of the world in many religions and mythologies Film and television * ''Netherworld'' (film), a 1992 American horror film *''Nethe ...

'' (1992). In May, 2012, Schmoeller was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Fantaspoa Film Festival in Porto Alegre, Brazil where his new feature film, ''2 Little Monsters'' (2012) was screened along with his other notable films.

Life and career

Schmoeller was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, and was raised and educated in Texas. He completed a Masters program in Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Fluent in Spanish, he was briefly an interpreter for ABC Sports during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. He spent six months as an intern with writer-director

Peter Hyams Peter Hyams (born July 26, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing ''Capricorn One'' (which he also wrote), the 1981 science fiction-thriller '' Outland'', the 1984 science fiction film '' 2010: Th ...

on the film ''

Capricorn One ''Capricorn One'' is a 1978 British-produced American thriller film in which a reporter discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been faked via a conspiracy involving the government and—under duress—the c ...

'', before writing and directing his first theatrical feature, ''

'' (1979). ''

'' was based on Schmoeller's University of Texas thesis film ''The Spider Will Kill You''. Shot in 24 days, it features a score by

Pino Donaggio Giuseppe "Pino" Donaggio (born 24 November 1941) is an Italian musician, singer, and composer of film and television scores. A classically-trained violinist, Donaggio is known for his collaborations with director Brian De Palma, and for his work i ...

, performances from

Chuck Connors Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...

and

Tanya Roberts Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Leigh Blum; October 15, 1949 – January 4, 2021) was an American actress. She played Julie Rogers in the final season of the television series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1980–1981), Stacey Sutton in the James Bond fi ...

, and contains sound effects culled from ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'' (1960) and ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

'' (1939). Though it was not a major hit at the time, it has since developed a cult following and been praised by renowned horror author Stephen King (who lauded the film as an obscure classic in his book ''

Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

'' (1981)). ''Tourist Trap'' would also mark Schmoeller's first collaboration with executive producer

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

, who would produce several of Schmoeller's films, first though his own production company and later with

Empire International Pictures Empire International Pictures (aka Empire Entertainment) was an American small-scale theatrical distribution company. Charles Band formed Empire in 1983, prompted by his dissatisfaction with distributors' handling of films made by his previous b ...

and

Full Moon Features Full Moon Features is an American motion picture production and distribution company headed by B-movie veteran Charles Band. It is known for the direct-to-video series '' Puppet Master'', ''Trancers'', and ''Subspecies'', as well as the film ''C ...

. For his sophomore film, Schmoeller directed '' The Seduction'' (1982), a thriller film starring

Morgan Fairchild Morgan Fairchild (born Patsy Ann McClenny; February 3, 1950) is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series since. Fairchild began her career on the CBS daytime soap opera ''Search for T ...

and Andrew Stevens. The film was not well-received and generated several Golden Raspberry nominations (though it won none of them). He followed ''the Seduction'' with 1986's ''

'' (which he wrote and directed), a horror film starring famously difficult actor Klaus Kinski. Kinski's on-set antics would later inspire Schmoeller's short film about the subject entitled '' Please Kill Mr. Kinski''. Next, he co-wrote and directed '' Catacombs'' starring

Timothy Van Patten Timothy Van Patten (born June 10, 1959) is an American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He has directed episodes of '' Perry Mason'', ''Boardwalk Empire'', '' Black Mirror'', '' Deadwood'', '' Ed'', ''Game of Thrones'', '' The Pacific ...

. The film was shot in only 20 days, and was subsequently delayed from being released for almost five years due to the financial problems of distributor

. When it was finally released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

in 1993, it was re-titled ''Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice'' by Columbia TriStar Home Video, despite being completely unrelated to the series of films which began with '' The Curse'' in 1987. With ''Catacombs'' completed but still not released, Schmoeller moved on to direct another horror film, '' Puppet Master'', in 1989. Producer and writer

—previously the head of the now-failed Empire International Pictures—produced the film under the name of his new company Full Moon Productions (later renamed

). Many of the puppet characters Schmoeller created for '' Puppet Master'' have appeared in the various sequels produced by Full Moon Features, though Schmoeller himself was not involved. In 1991, Schmoeller directed horror-themed science fiction tale ''The Arrival'' starring

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

. The following year, he released another horror film, the

'' (again produced by Band for Full Moon Entertainment). In 1998, he directed the

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

film ''The Secret Kingdom''. Following its release, he would not direct another feature film until 2009. In the early 1990s, he directed several episodes for television series such as ''

Silk Stalkings ''Silk Stalkings'' is an American crime drama television series that premiered on CBS on November 7, 1991, as part of the network's late-night ''Crimetime After Primetime'' programming package. Broadcast for two seasons until CBS ended the ''Crim ...

'' and ''

Renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *'' Comman ...

'', and also directed a TV movie called ''Search for the Jewel of Polaris: Mysterious Museum'' in 1999. In recent years, Schmoeller has produced many of his own film projects including the full-length feature ''Thor at the Bus Stop'' (2009) as well as the notable shorts '' Please Kill Mr. Kinski'' (1999), ''Spanking Lessons'' (2007), ''Wedding Day'' (2008) and the short horror film ''Ha, Ha Horror'' (2012). He also served as a voice director for the English dubbed version of the anime film '' Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' in the 1980s when it was re-titled as ''Warriors of the Wind''. His most recent film, the full-length feature film titled ''2 Little Monsters'', was released in 2012. The film is a psychological drama fictionalizing the modern life of notorious child killers

Robert Thompson Robert or Bob Thompson may refer to: Entertainment * Bobby Thompson (comedian) (1911–1988), English comedian * Bob Thompson (musician) (1924–2013), American orchestra leader, arranger, composer * Robert E. Thompson (screenwriter) (1924–2004 ...

and Jon Venables, who in 1993 were convicted of the murder of James Bulger. The film's subject matter marks a departure for the director, who had previously been associated with films in the fantasy and horror genres. To get the film made, Schmoeller self-financed it for what he describes as, "a really small sum, about 30 times less than ''Tourist Trap''." The same year, Schmoeller also appeared in the 2013 documentary '' Rewind This!'' about the impact of VHS on the film industry and home video. He is currently employed as a film professor at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

Filmography (as director)

Films

* ''The Spider Will Kill You'' (1976) * ''

'' (1979) * '' The Seduction'' (1982) * ''

'' (1986) * '' Catacombs'' (1988) * '' Puppet Master'' (1989) * '' The Arrival'' (1991) * ''

'' (1992) * ''The Secret Kingdom'' (1998) * ''Mysterious Museum'' (1999) * '' Please Kill Mr. Kinski'' (1999) (documentary

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

) * ''Wedding Day'' (2008) (short film) * ''Two Frenchmen Lost in Las Vegas'' (2010) * ''The Price of Beautiful'' (2010) * ''The Rules of House-sitting'' (2010) * '' Ha, Ha Horror'' (2012) (Short film) * '' 2 Little Monsters'' (2012)

Television series (as director)

* ''

'' (TV series) (1992–1993) * ''

'' (TV series) (1992)

References

External links

*
Official WebsiteThe Man Behind...Tourist Trap!: An Interview with David Schmoeller - November 1999David Schmoeller Interview: Dr. Gore's Funhouse - September 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmoeller, David 1947 births American male screenwriters Film directors from Kentucky American voice directors Living people Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Screenwriters from Kentucky Film producers from Kentucky