DANIEL GRIFFITHWhether or not "Bride of the Monster" and "Vampire Circus" belong in the ranks of high-brow cinema doesn't diminish that they survived the creative gauntlet, said Griffith, 34, a local filmmaker who has worked for the last three years producing documentaries of such films as extra material to accompany their releases on DVD.
"I feel like, in some way, these are people who are human beings who had dreams," he said. "While what they accomplished doesn't live up to Orson Welles or Cecil B. DeMille ... they're still human beings with a dream."
In the last few months, Griffith's filmography has swollen with the release of three projects from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, his one-man production company.
The first, a documentary of the film "The Beast of Yucca Flats," was included in the June nationwide release of the 18th box set for the B-movie lampooning show "Mystery Science Theater 3000." In August, Griffith released a project chronicling the making of the Audie Murphy spaghetti western "Apache Rifles."
On Oct. 26, Griffith released "Let There Be Light," a two-hour behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Dark Star," a cult classic student sci-fi film that helped launch the careers of director John Carpenter ("Halloween") and writer Dan O'Bannon ("Alien").
Tuesday, three more of Griffith's documentaries will be released to accompany the 19th box set for "Mystery Science Theater," his third release with entertainment company Shout! Factory.
Jordan Fields, Shout! Factory's senior director of acquisitions, said Griffith's passion is obvious and has been crucial to his work on those projects.
"Daniel has done some extraordinary work for our box sets," Fields said. "He brings together passion for 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' and the films they are riffing on.
"He also has a very unique visual style, which I've come to appreciate. I think it gives our box sets a distinctive quality and helps them sell." (CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE)
