Tim Ritter is a hero of underground horror. His film Truth or Dare? A Critical Madness is a cult classic that fans of low-budget hack-em-ups have adored for over 30 years, even the likes of Elijah Wood, who has mentioned the film in interviews. The films are gory, over-the-top, and straight from the heart.
Horror Geek Life caught up with Ritter to talk about his work on the new anthology film Hi-Death, his working relationship with beloved b-movie actor Joel D. Wynkoop, and his impressive career.
Read our review of Hi-Death here!
Horror Geek Life: You were only eighteen years old during the making of your cult classic, Truth or Dare? A Critical Madness. What can you tell us about your experience being such a young filmmaker?
Tim Ritter: It was a good learning experience, and it was a way to actually make a movie in lieu of going to film school. A way to get something I wanted to do out there. It really was a great learning experience. Obviously, I had already done some films myself, do-it-yourself style, but this was kind of a crash course in everything. I was able to see it all first-hand and work on it personally. Production boards, storyboarding, location scouting, and pre-planning. It was a really good experience.
HGL: For the new anthology horror film Hi-Death you were tasked with contributing segments. Do you enjoy working in the short format?
Tim Ritter: I definitely enjoy working on these. I contributed one to Hi-8 as well, Brad Sykes and I made that one with eight filmmakers total. This was the follow-up to that. In the original, the criteria was like 10 minutes, and for this one, we could expand it a bit and do 20-25 minutes. I enjoyed that. Ten minutes is almost a little too short, but at the same time, it gets right to the point and doesn’t bore people, I guess (laughs). Especially when attention spans are so short these days for this kind of stuff. I enjoy working on that format.
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You can do a lot more, the budgets are smaller, which is a good thing. It’s also good to just keep your name out there with other moviemakers. Somebody else might purchase this for them and then discover your work. Then somebody who likes my style might look at it and say, “Oh, I’m missing a bunch of other filmmakers here.” So, we all just collaborate and do our thing and hopefully get new fans and returning fans as we do it. I think it’s kind of a win-win thing.
Compared to a feature, which these days could take you, with just getting the script and getting it shot and distributed, like 2 or 3 years. Granted, this has taken just as long, but the actual production and completion of the short can be done in 6 months or so. So, it can be a lot less time-wise. That’s a good thing too.
HGL: Your early films, like Killing Spree and Truth or Dare?, are still finding new audiences to this day through revival screenings and reissues. What do you think it is about these films that still make them so popular with fans?
Tim Ritter: That’s a good question. It’s hard to say. I never expected them to last this long. Especially Killing Spree. It’s showing all over the country this month in theaters. Video Vortex and Alamo Drafthouse have had a lot of sold-out showings. Asbestos Felt and some of the cast are going to be at the one in North Carolina or South Carolina. One of the movies that inspired me starting out was Last House on the Left, which is a very do-it-yourself early Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham movie. I think that’s one reason people like Killing Spree.
If you want to make movies, it kind of inspires you because it’s something simple, and you can emulate it pretty easily. Especially these days with very little money. Also, the passion behind the project. People can really pick up on the love of the horror genre, H.G. Lewis-type movies and John Waters movies; there’s a passion.
Fans are bringing this to you, and if you’re a fan of that kind of material, you kind of pick up on that. I think that’s what kind of carries it forward. Plus, it’s been around 30-some years now. Word of mouth has gotten around with the internet and everything else. The people who like this kind of material end up finding it pretty easily. I’m flattered and honored that it’s continuing on, and it’s definitely unexpected and cool.
HGL: Eccentric actor Joel D. Wynkoop is a recurring performer in your films. Can you tell us a little about working with Joel over the years?
Tim Ritter: Oh yeah, Joel was my babysitter when I was a little kid across the street. He made super-8 movies back then. We ended up teaming up together when I was a little kid and wanted to make movies, and he was already making movies. I think I was in one of his called The Bionic Boy, I was a bad guy in it. Which is pretty cool. Then later, in 1984, his nephew was at the same high school I was at; he had moved away. He saw an ad for Day of the Reaper after I took out a page in the school newspaper to try to sell and advertise the movie. His nephew got Joel and me back in touch, and we ended up doing Twisted Illusions together, we followed up with Truth or Dare?, Creep, Dirty Cop, No Donut, all those.
Joel was always creative, and he wanted to think up cool things. He had a little bit of the directing bug, he made his own super-8 movies, but the main thing he wanted to do was act. Which was great for me. I was always looking for cool actors to be in my projects. Especially adult actors. I was 17 years old, and here was a guy that was like 20! He could attract other actors of that age, so we can have an adult movie here! (laughs) So, that was cool.
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He grew with each project, he got better and better. We started out with Twisted Illusions. He played the first Mike Strauber in the short film which became the feature version of Truth or Dare?. I thought he went all out in that. In the end, he just went crazy, and people responded to that, and we were able to get a budget for it. As we did each project, he kept perfecting the craft. He’s always got ideas, he’s always ready to come to the table with whatever it takes to finish a project. He would finance movies, produce them, the whole nine yards. He’s always great to collaborate with. Now he’s done so many movies.
Speaking of H.G. Lewis, he was the star of The Uh-Oh! Show, one of Lewis’ later movies. Joel’s really perfected the craft, he memorizes everything. If you hire him for a role, you can expect someone who is very prepared, very professional, comes in and does the job, and does it well. He does what’s expected, and sometimes you don’t know what to expect if you let him improvise and stuff, which is really cool. It’s always excellent to collaborate with Joel.
HGL: Lastly, what advice might you give aspiring filmmakers who want to get started making horror films? And what do you think makes for a great horror film?
Tim Ritter: As far as starting a career these days, I say always use what you have. The equipment that you have. Get out there. Do it. Learn by doing it. You’re going to make mistakes. Then just release them. You should be able to just go out there and do the best you can and grow. I’d say start with shorts, that seems to be the best way to do it. You can take them to conventions, sell them, do film festivals, that sort of thing. There are all kinds of success stories where people have made fake trailers. So, there’s really no set path, it’s just actually going out and doing something. Assembling it as best as you can and getting it out there so people will see it. Hopefully, from there, it gets some attention. One project will usually lead to the next project. Once you do something that catches someone’s eye somewhere, the next project comes together with people approaching you saying, “Hey, let’s collaborate on something.” Hopefully, from there, you can get to a stage where people are paying you to do it.
As far as what makes a good horror movie these days, for myself, I still like retro. I like the older slasher movies and that kind of thing. There are so many sub-genres, it just depends on what you’re into. You can now find anything. Whether it’s an older film or a newer film that’s kind of an imitation of that. I still like the old-school slasher movies, and they don’t make a lot of those anymore for the theaters. Everything like that is typically direct-to-streaming. What works for me is the old-school stuff, the exploitation movies, and stalk-and-slash and practical FX. That’s what I like best, but you don’t see too much of that these days.
Hi-Death is available now on DVD from WildEye Releasing. You can catch the classic Killing Spree playing on select dates around the country at Alamo Drafthouse.
