Daniel Kraus

A young boy's horror comic book comes to life in this anthology series of terrifying tales.

An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.

The Guardians of Arcadia reunite to battle the nefarious Arcane Order, who've reawakened the primordial Titans.

A scuba diver in search of his deceased father's remains gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. After giving up on life, the young man is surprised to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.

jefftowne is a 1998 documentary shot and directed by Daniel Kraus and distributed by Troma Entertainment. It chronicles the life of Jeff Towne, a 40 year old Iowa City resident who suffers from Downs Syndrome, obesity, alcoholism, and circulation problems. Towne also enjoys pornography and lives with his 90-year-old adoptive grandmother.

Jeff Towne revisited four years after the release of the original film.

Based on the 10 Best Books of 2025 by The New York Times, 'Angel Down' follows Private Cyril Bagger, who has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of WWI through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together. As jealousy, greed, and paranoia take hold, the group is torn apart by their inner demons, threatening to turn their angelic encounter into a descent into hell.

Common sense says you can't make a living in America playing avant-garde improvisational jazz. But Ken Vandermark does it anyway. Among musicians, Vandermark's work ethic is almost mythic. The Chicago reed player has released over 100 albums with nearly 40 ensembles, spends over eight months per year on the road, and lives every other waking moment composing, arranging, performing—and trying to discipline his two hyperactive canines. Though Vandermark was the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur genius grant, he still spends most of his life in smoky clubs and low-budget recording studios, hoping people will plunk down hard-earned cash to hear his wholly non-commercial music. Following the artful cinéma vérité style of the internationally acclaimed Sheriff (Work Series #1), Musician (Work Series #2) forgoes all interviews and voice-overs. It is a fly-on-the-wall time capsule that expertly captures every subtle sound and texture of this most American of art forms.

A college education has become part of the American dream. But what are we learning and who is teaching us? For nearly four decades, Rabbi Jay Holstein has been one of the University of Iowa's most popular professors. With a foul mouth, a raunchy sense of humor, and a piercing brilliance, Holstein uses massive 500-student lectures to turn inside-out the most fundamental assumptions on topics as divergent as sex, suicide, and the Holocaust. His courses, including "Quest for Human Destiny," have become the stuff of campus legend, and between firing a Glock and running 10 miles per day, the 69-year-old Holstein spends his office hours wrestling with students over animal experimentation, alcohol use, and homosexuality. Following the internationally acclaimed cinéma vérité of Sheriff and Musician, Professor tackles intellectual labor and in doing so grapples with some of life's greatest and most elemental enigmas.

Sheriff Ronald E. Hewett pursues cold-blooded killers, escaped bank robbers, illegal video poker and stolen ceramic bunnies.

A mother and her children who become stranded in a dying Georgia town overrun by yellowjackets, uncovering an evil from within the swarm that will do anything to protect the hive.