Roger Corman passses away at age 98!

Can't say that I'm actually shocked about Roger Corman's passing (he was, after all 98, and after age 85 you are on borrowed time). That said, Corman was a remarkable piece of my history in that one of the first horror films I recall seeing on Chiller Theater was Beast With A Million Eyes (1955). In fact, with Sci-Fi theater on channel 9 mid mornings Saturdays, I caught all the Corman sci-fi's way before I had the Poe films, which actively played channel 7 on the 4:30 movies throughout the 1970's. The Poe films are still my largest influence, my first feature Bloody Ape based on Murders in the Rue Morgue. My fourth-coming Three Slices of Delirium also based on Poe. I had two small instances with Corman. First, I had seen him at a convention in Manhattan late 90's, in fact I gave him the promo teaser for Bloody Ape and told him I'd work for free for his company (by the way, that was total bullshit, I would not have worked for free for him, but I thought it sounded good). Later, when Corman had a presence on Facebook, he congratulated me on the Blitzkrieg premier at the Two Boots Cinema in Manhattan. That meant a lot. I've interviewed many folks over the years who had worked for Corman, Jack Hill and Mel Welles in particular. One of the nicest guys was David DeCoteau, who was kind enough to interview several key personal in exploitation cinema for a forthcoming documentary from both myself and Robert Hauschild of Visual Vengeance. This was over 12 years ago, but some things are meant to marinate, believe me once done it will be worth it. That said, Dave had nothing but braise for Corman. Corman was a rare force of nature. A once in a life time type of guy. He will be forever missed. The below photos come from a French magazine in my collection dated from 1964.