Bret Wood
Directing
Known For

Carmilla comes to a rural town where her mother mysteriously disappeared years earlier. She is aided in her quest by an emotionally troubled local girl, with whom she becomes romantically involved. Their relationship ignites the wrath of the girl's father, who holds the key to the dreadful truth Carmilla is seeking. Inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's famed Gothic novella.
The Unwanted

Multi-narrative adaptation of Richard v. Krafft-Ebing's notorious medico-forensic study of sexual perversity.
Psychopathia Sexualis

This film covers the early history of post World War II educational films, especially those involving traffic safety by the Highway Safety Foundation under direction of Richard Wayman. In the name of promoting safe driving in teenagers, these films became notorious for their gory depiction of accidents to shock their audiences to make their point. The film also covers the role of safety films of this era, their effect on North American teenage culture, the struggle between idealism and lurid exploitation and how they reflected the larger society concerns of the time that adults projected onto their youth.
Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films

An erotic thriller from the director of Psychopathia Sexualis, The Little Death offers a peek into the seedy boudoirs of a Victorian-era brothel, where a strong-willed reformer and a corrupter of innocence battle over the fate of a young woman who seems to be held there in sexual captivity. While the owner attempts to mesmerize and seduce the would-be rescuer, a meek student wanders into the house and becomes a tragic pawn in the psychological game of cat-and-mouse that is rapidly unfolding.
The Little Death

An illegitimate child of the slums comes to faith. Later, she chooses to labor in a canning factory in order to investigate its poor conditions, not realizing she has a significant connection to the cold-hearted factory owner.
Children of Eve

A glimpse at how genre film-focused home video companies have taken the charge in preserving, restoring, and releasing so many works which otherwise might have been lost to time.
Against the Grain

Narrated by Rod Steiger, this documentary examines the frightful conventions from which the modern-day horror movie has evolved, featuring clips from classics like Dante's Inferno and Leaves from Satan's Book.
Kingdom of Shadows

Four visual essays by Silent Echoes author John Bengtson identifying Buster Keaton's shooting locations for his many short films produced between 1920-1923, many in the streets surrounding his former Hollywood studio, the same studio where, a few years earlier, Charlie Chaplin had made his brilliant series of Mutual shorts.
Silent Echoes

A troubled veteran returns home to resume his life, but first he must fulfill a dreadful family obligation.
Those Who Deserve To Die
This visual essay by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton, reveals the locations where Keaton's 1923 comedy feature Three Ages was filmed in Hollywood, USC, and Los Angeles.
Three Ages: Tour of Filming Locations

This visual essay by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton, reveals the locations where Keaton's 1924 comedy feature Sherlock Jr. was filmed in Hollywood and Orange County.
Sherlock Jr.: Tour of Filming Locations
Documentary on Day Dreams (1922), a Buster Keaton silent comedy.
Day Dreams and the Problems of Missing Film
The special effects in The Play House (1921) are discussed.
The Play House: An Accidental Masterpiece
Ben Model discusses scoring music for silent movies.
On Scoring Cops and Helping Silent Films Live Again
An interview with American playwright Ed Graczyk, regarding his play Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, famously adapted into a 1980 film directed by Robert Altman.
Return to the 5 & Dime: An Interview with Ed Graczyk
The evolution of The Scarecrow (1920) is discussed in this documentary.
Savoring the Scarecrow: Or Buster & the Sybil Trilogy
Documentary on the making of The Dark Power.
The Terror of Tarheel State: Making The Dark Power
A mysterious assemblage of men use led by a man in red use a tarot deck to determine what punishment to mete out to those they've already determined to be guilty.
Judgement.
Documentary about Buster Keaton's The 'High Sign' (1921) and Keaton's developing style.
The High Sign: A Filmmaker Emerges

A documentary on the life and career of actor Lon Chaney, with clips from his films and interviews with people who knew him.