Calum Waddell
Directing
Biography
Calum Waddell was born in Fife, Scotland. He is a producer and director, known for 42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street (2015), Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed (2014) and Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film (2015).
Known For

This documentary explores the hidden history of the American Exploitation Film. The movie digs deep into this often overlooked category of U.S. cinema and unearths the shameless and occasionally shocking origins of this popular entertainment.
American Grindhouse

An insightful look at the history of Hong Kong's exploitation cinema, from the early days of the Shaw Brothers and such shockers as "Killer Snakes" through to the advent of the Category III rating in 1988 and then the June 4th massacre in Beijing. The latter led to a panic in Hong Kong, before the Handover of the former UK colony to Mainland China, and a number of motion pictures proceeded to take freedom of speech (and sometimes political symbolism) to the extreme. This is the story of one of the most curious and invigorating periods in exploitation filmmaking.
Category III: The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation Cinema

The history of Italian zombie cinema, beginning with the breakout worldwide influence and success of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and continuing through to Lucio Fulci's trend-setting Zombie Flesh-Eaters (Zombi 2) and its many imitators.
From Romero to Rome: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Zombie Movie

A "talking head" documentary that relives the fascinating and furious career of John Woo - from his early work, and emergence as a director, to his heroic bloodshed classics which changed the face of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s. Woo then moved to America and shook up Hollywood, as many of his peers and colleagues discuss in this extensive discussion of one of the 20th century's most important and vital celluloid names. Also features Woo himself, sitting down for an exclusive on-camera retrospective.
The Hero of Heroic Bloodshed: A John Woo Documentary

A celebration of slasher cinema - from PSYCHO to the present day, with a focus on highlighting many of the genre's forgotten cult classics, deconstructing how to survive a slice and dice movie and meditating upon why it is almost always a final girl and rarely a final guy... this is a documentary which is designed for both the biggest fan of "mad maniac" movies and the person who may only have seen HALLOWEEN and SCREAM. Either way, this is a documentary that proves the SLASHER FILM is truly FOREVER!
Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever
A documentary centered on The Brave Archer series featuring actors from the films alongside critics detailing the making of them.
Fine Archery: The Brave Archer Franchise

A feature-length documentary exploring the history of the Spanish zombie film.
Marauders from the Mediterranean: The Macabre Magic of the Spanish Zombie Film
Andrei Konchalovsky reflects on the making of Runaway Train.
Running on Empty: An Interview with Andrei Konchalovsky

A look back at the largely undocumented period of early Chinese-language horror cinema, beginning in Hong Kong and the Shaw Brothers and graduating to Taiwan and the production of Calamity of Snakes in 1983.
From Shaw to Snakes: The Venom and Violence of Early Chinese Language Horror Cinema

Italian horror fan and academic Calum Waddell speaks with some of the original makers of the controversial horror classic "Cannibal Holocaust" before venturing into the Amazon jungle and surrounding city port, Leticia, to uncover some of the local stories behind the making of the motion picture. What is uncovered, however, leads to a wider and unexpected "true crime" story.
Searching for Cannibal Holocaust

A High Rising Productions documentary on the short-lived craze of Italian cannibal films in the '70s and '80s, featuring interviews with Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato, Sergio Martino, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, and Robert Kerman. Featured on the Grindhouse Releasing Blu-ray for "Cannibal Ferox" in the US, and the upcoming UK Blu-ray for "Zombi Holocaust" by 88 Films.
Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film

Directed by UK-horror scene stalwart Calum Waddell and hosted by scream queen Debbie Rochon (Terror Firmer, Tromeo and Juliet) Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed features, in a change of pace for horror documentaries, especially those focusing on females in the genre, an all-female line-up, discussing horror movies from their perspective – exploring the challenges of being an actress in a genre predominantly made by and for men, from how they came about to be defined as a “scream queen”, about the vagaries of the genre: nudity, violence, misogyny, etc., and about how they feel about the genre and the label
Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed

The story behind the rise and fall of New York's 42nd Street. The cinemas, the films, the people, the crime and the rebirth of the block as "New 42nd Street" - this is the document of the world's most notorious movie strip.
42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street

Feature-length in-depth documentary by High Rising Productions chronicling the Giallo film genre from its beginnings as early 20th century crime fiction, to its later influences on the modern slasher film genre. Featuring interviews with Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi, Richard Stanley, and more.
Yellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo
An in depth look at the making of The 'Burbs, from High Rising Productions. This feature-length documentary includes interviews with director Joe Dante, actors Corey Feldman, Courtney Gains and Wendy Schaal, director of photography Robert M. Stevens and production designer James H. Spencer.
There Goes the Neighborhood: The Making of The 'Burbs
Extensive documentary on the making of Tobe Hooper's infamous 1985 science fiction flop LIFEFORCE. Features interviews with Hooper, producer Michael J. Kagan, editor John Grover, actors Aubrey Morris and Nicholas Ball, makeup artist Sandra Exelby, screenwriter Michael Armstrong, sound designer Vernon Messenger, artistic designers Tom Adams and Roger Stewart and effects artist John Schoonraad.
Cannon Fodder: The Making of Lifeforce

As a child, Lenore was tormented by nightmares and obsessed with the dark poems and stories of Edgar Allan Poe. As the lead singer in a Los Angeles band, the adult Lenore (Jillian Swanson) finds herself, friends and colleagues haunted by a murderer from beyond the grave. Only in her dreams -- in which she's visited by Poe's ghost -- will Lenore find the key to defeat her supernatural stalker and finally escape the spirits battling for her soul.
The Raven

A revealing insight into the short life and times of Michael Reeves.
The Young General: Reflections on Michael Reeves
Catriona MacColl relives the events taken place during the making of Lucio Fulci's classic horror film The Beyond.
One Step Beyond: Catriona MacColl Remembers a Spaghetti Splatter Classic

Documentary on actress Me Me Lai, who's best known for playing native girls in several controversial Italian cannibal jungle adventure movies.