Roger Corman

Roger Corman is an American film producer and director of low-budget movies, many of which have developed an established critical reputation over the years. In Corman's most active period, he would produce up to seven movies a year. His fastest film was perhaps The Little Shop of Horrors, which was reputedly shot in two days and one night. Although highly cost-effective, Corman's parsimonious approach to filmmaking was not without its critics; Charles B. Griffith, who wrote the original screenplay for Little Shop, later remarked that "[Corman] uses half his genius to degrade his own work, and the rest to degrade the artists who work for him."

Corman is probably best known for his filmings of various Edgar Allan Poe stories at American International Pictures, mostly in collaboration with writer/scenarist Richard Matheson, including House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum, The Premature Burial, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Tomb of Ligeia. All but Premature Burial starred Vincent Price. After the film version of The Raven was completed, he reportedly realized he still had some shooting days left before the sets were torn down and so made another film, The Terror on the spot with the remaining cast, crew and sets.

Notes & Trivia

 * Corman is also a sometime actor, taking minor roles in such films as The Howling and Silence of the Lambs.