From Steve Nekoda to Cope Ransom: The Many Faces of Joel D. Wynkoop
An Interview by Mario Dominick
Those familiar with the works of indie filmmakers like Tim Ritter, Phil Herman, Ryan Cavalline, and John Bowker have probably seen the name Joel D. Wynkoop turn up in the credits of many of their movies. Born in Minnesota and having moved to Florida at a young age, the low budget movie actor and filmmaker has been working since 1985 and has built up an extensive career and has become a familiar face among many B-movie fans. Whether it’s playing Dr. Dan Hess in the sequels to Tim Ritter’s Truth or Dare or psychopath Angus Lynch in Ritter’s Creep or the twisted Officer Gus Kimble in Dirty Cop No Donut or Cope Ransom in Kevin J. Lindenmuth’s Alien Agenda and Alien Conspiracy movies, Wynkoop has always brought his own style to each character he plays with inspiration and has developed good relationships with many actors and filmmakers on the underground scene with collaborations with such people as scream queen Debbie Rochon, actress Krista Grotte, Florida filmmaker Jason Liquori, effects artist and 100 Tears director Marcus Koch, Rick Danford of Enigma Films, Minnesota filmmaker Jason Stephenson of Not for the Squeamish Productions, horror author and actor Joe Knetter, and most recently, the legendary “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis.
A fan of Chuck Norris and Star Trek, and also a karate expert, the following interview with Joel covers his start in acting and filmmaking with Tim Ritter in the mid-1980s up to his directorial debut with the micro budget martial arts/action/revenge film Lost Faith in 1992 and to his work in most recent years with the above mentioned filmmakers and actors and his appearances in new and recent low budget horrors such as Kristian Day’s Body in a Dumpster, Rick Danford’s Alarum, Andrew Allan’s Brainjacked, Ryan Workman’s Shaawanokie, and Cameron Scott’s all-star cast Post Mortem, America 2021.
Joel also hosts “Wynkoop TV” for Vater Entertainment Films (VEF) in which he does web broadcasts from events such as film festivals and horror and comic book conventions in Florida. For more information on Wynkoop TV and VEF, you can visit them on the web at https://home.roadrunner.com/~wbscifi/
Joel’s wife Cathy Holseybrook is also an actress and frequently works with him and his production company Wynkoop Productions. Their various works together include segments for Before I Die and Always Midnight for Phil Herman’s Falcon Video, a segment of Twisted Illusions 2 for Sub Rosa Studios, cameos in Ryan Cavalline’s Dead Body Man Chronicles (third entry in the Dead Body Man trilogy), Day of the Ax and Aspiring Psychopath, and The Bite directed by and starring Joel and co-written by Phil Herman.
Now, in Joel’s own words, he discusses his biggest influences as an actor, past filmmaking experiences, his current and upcoming film projects and much more.
Are you a lifelong Florida resident?
Joel D. Wynkoop: Well, I moved here back in 1972 I believe, from Minnesota. I have no intention of leaving Florida. It is my home now. We moved to Florida because of my dad’s heart condition. It was warmer here and it probably bought him ten more years on his life. I think Florida is a great state and I am glad to be a permanent resident.
You’re a fan of Star Trek and Chuck Norris movies. Were these among the things that helped inspire you to get into acting and filmmaking?
JDW: Yes, most definitely. I watched Star Trek as a kid and would act out what Kirk would do. I remember one time rough housing with my brother and saying, “Could we fight like in Star Trek?” and he said, “Yes.” So I said, “Everybody, hand-to-hand,” and kicked him in the groin. I didn’t know. I was only 7 or 8. He ran upstairs and called me up after him and he told me, as he was in much pain, that you never kick anyone there unless you absolutely have too. When Good Guys Wear Black came out I wanted nothing to do with it. “Karate is a bunch of crap,” I used to say. My nephew wanted me to get into it with him but I said, “Nah, there’s always a way around it.” But then I joined, taking classes from my instructor Richard Wingate. I had a blast! I learned to break boards, kick box, the whole deal. I didn’t use karate in a movie till 1989 though. I wrote Lost Faith and wanted to do an action/martial arts movie like Chuck Norris. So yes, both Star Trek and Norris had a lot to do with wanting to become an actor.
How long have you known Tim Ritter and how did the 1985 production of the anthology Twisted Illusions come together?
JDW: I first met Tim in 1972, I believe. We moved to Lake Park, Florida and Tim lived across the street from us. I think he would have been around 8 or 9 then. He used to play The Six Million Dollar Man theme all day long on his trumpet. It was annoying and cool at the same time. I though The Six Million Dollar Man was a great show. His mom actually asked if I could watch them, Tim and Wendy (his sister), while she and her husband were at work. I said yes. Tim and I became good friends back then and he appeared in my Super 8 movies like The Eight Million Dollar Boy Meets the Invisible Transport Boy and Robin. He even lent me his model dinosaurs for another Super 8 movie I was making. In or around 1975 or so we moved away from that area of town and I didn’t see Tim anymore. However, after moving around a while I ended up back in West Palm Beach about ten years later. My nephew called me one day and said he saw in his school newspaper this kid was selling a movie called Day of the Reaper. The kid’s name was Tim Ritter. “Was this the same Tim Ritter I knew in 1972?” I thought. It was. I got in touch with him and we met that same night and started to plan making a movie. We went out with a video camera I borrowed from my boss and shot all around West Palm: People’s yards, the hospital, US1, even getting pulled over for being in a “not good” area of West Palm. Tim and I came up with a movie called Inner Forces, but it was pretty complicated so we came up with something easier to shoot, seven short stories about different things that would end with a twisted finish. We talked for a long time about what we would call it, I think Tim said it’s got to be Twisted and I said something like some kind of reality or Illusion and that was it, Twisted Illusions was born, the movie and the company. All we had to do was shoot the segments and we were off and running.
In 1986 when Tim made Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness, the first in the “Copper masked Madman” trilogy, you had played the part of a security guard and did some stunt work. What were some of the more difficult shoots and stunts that came along during the production and how did you guys manage to pull off what you were able to with the little money that you had?
JDW: Actually, that was Tim and I that pulled this whole thing off. We sent Twisted Illusions to a Chicago-based company called Peerless Films and they liked the “Truth or Dare” segment in Twisted Illusions so much that they financed one million dollars to do a full feature “Truth or Dare” movie called Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness. I was actually supposed to play Mike Strauber in this but the producer/director Yale Wilson did not think I could pull it off. However I was still on board as Tim’s partner, a property master, PA, stuntman and actor. I played Steve the security guard in the film. That’s what the nametag said anyway. Later we said in our other two Truth or Dare movies that I was a young Dan Hess working his way through college and it was Dan’s fault that Strauber had escaped. Man, that was so long ago. The production team pulled all the permits so Tim and I didn’t have to deal with that. But I think most of the problem was when Tim was fired from the movie. I hated that and even asked Tim if he wanted me to quit and he told me no that at least I could keep him informed as to what was going on. The executive producer told me, “If you quit I will blackball you from the industry,” not that I cared what he was saying, I was upset because this is what Tim and I had worked so hard for and now it wasn’t any fun anymore. I saw the effects guy have a total meltdown and watched him get fired, it was horrible, those things anyway. Tim was there for the car crash scene. That was cool! Jere (Prom Night, Heavenly Kid) Berry crashes his car into Bob (Ghostbusters, Invasion USA) Shelley’s car and it blows up. One thing that did happen that no one expected was when the cars exploded the flames went straight up and exploded when they hit the phone poles above. You can see them arc and explode in the movie. That was kind of scary. Wendy, myself, and Tim’s dad built a shed in the movie that Bob Shelley later blew up. That was pretty cool to do. There is behind the scenes footage of me helping build that thing. I’m up on the roof nailing away. I also did stunt work in this as well. One of the stunts I did was running from the hospital with the copper mask on and jumping into the air and landing on the hood of the black car and kicking it’s owner in the face and escaping in the car. I kept landing on the car and then I would kick, but Jere would yell to me, “It has to be quicker, land and kick!” I did it several times, but still not doing it the way he wanted, finally I did it again and this time I got it right, except I did kick the guy right in the face, I jumped off the hood, jumped in the car and took off. After when I found out what I did I told the guy I was so sorry. Oh, another scene that really went wrong was when the cars started to chase each other over the bridge. Those cars were supposed to go back to the car lot unscratched and Jere and Bob smashed them together in the chase scene. I remember the guy’s face when I brought the black car back. It was a mess. The moon roof window was shattered and the sides were all smashed up from where the cars were crashing into each other. It was banged up good. The other one we blew up. Also during the chase the cars almost ran down the whole crew, we actually had to run to keep from being hit. Wild. Little money? One million dollars? Why do I feel an Austin Powers joke coming on here?
In Tim’s 1987 film Killing Spree, shot on 16mm like Truth or Dare was, you played the part of the TV repairman that gets strung up, disemboweled with a chainsaw and then has his intestines wired into a TV set. What was it like working with Joel Harlow, the make-up effects artist, and how were you guys able to pull off that effect? Also, what were the guts made out of?
JDW: Killing Spree was completely Tim’s baby. Where in Truth or Dare I got to help Tim with ideas and help write it but in Killing Spree I did nothing but act in it. I have to tell the story because Tim will bring it up if I don’t. My agent at the time, Rising Star, didn’t want me to do Killing Spree. He said, “It would be bad for your career.” When I told Tim this he said, “What career?” So I did Killing Spree, and I am glad I did. Joel Harlow is awesome! I mean he has my first name. He’ll try and tell you I have his name but I am telling you, he has my name. He was great and he did my make-up effect. Not that I had a lot in the forehead area but he worked on me. Kind of cool to see his name in the credits of movies like Slaughter of the Innocents, A.I., The Stand, and so many more big cool Hollywood movies and I can say, “Yeah, he did my make-up and effects way back when.” He drew a cool zombie in my Killing Spree autograph book and wrote some really nice things about working with me and signed it. He is an awesome guy! Ah, the guts. Man did that smell. Asbestos Felt kept shoving more dinner items into the nylons that were my entrails. Gross. It was leftovers from dinner and sausage and stuff Joel had created all jammed into these women stockings and then shoved into my cut open shirt. It smelled horrible, and like I said Asbestos got a kick out of shoving more stuff in me. I was tied up and couldn’t do a thing except feel nauseous. The chainsaw coming at me was kind of scary not to mention all the electrical cords on the floor with all the wet karo syrup used for blood all over everything, I was afraid the whole thing was going to burst into flames. Also, the chainsaw still had the chain on it and Asbestos was wielding it like an out of control Babe Ruth with his baseball bat. At one point the chainsaw did hit the glass that was protecting one of the overhead cameras, you can see this happen in the film. Lots of fun though.
What was the main inspiration for your 1992 feature film Lost Faith and the character Steve Nekoda whom you played?
JDW: Well, like I said earlier, Chuck Norris was a huge inspiration for my karate flicks. After learning Tae Kwon Doe I wanted to do something where I could use my martial arts. I got to do a little in Killing Spree but I wanted to do more. I wrote the script for Lost Faith while I was still working on Killing Spree and started making TV appearances talking about (Lost Faith) making it. I wrote, directed, produced and starred in the movie. Someone out there right now is saying, “That’s a line from Ed Wood.” Remember the scene when Johnny Depp thinks he is talking to Orson Wells? Actually, I had written the script about six times. All different story lines and finally coming up with the one that is out now. In the final draft it was Steve Nekoda and another guy that were going to assault the island. But, by the time I was ready to shoot the one guy moved to Georgia so I had to combine the two roles into one, Steve Nekoda became both characters. I wanted to also bring religion into this as my dad was a minister and I thought this would be a cool way to tell people about God. I could do a cool little karate movie but also give a message about God. I thought that would be cool. My dad would have been proud! Of course the title, which my nephew Mark Heidebrecht came up with, was exactly what the movie was about. Yeah, the guy knew karate and was kicking the crap out of the bad guys but he also had “Lost Faith” in God. By the end of the movie he gets his faith back, beats the main bad guy and saves the women, all but one. That one was one of the girls that called me on the last day of shooting from Miami and said, “I’m in Miami. Can you come get me?” I said, “No, we’re shooting in ten minutes.” (Keep in mind we were in Fort Pierce, a good 200 miles from Miami.) She said, “What about my character?” I said, “She’s been eaten by an alligator.” In the movie Donna asks, “Where’s Connie?” and I say, “One of the search and rescue guys found her body around the back, she’s dead.”
How big of a budget did you guys have shooting Lost Faith?
JDW: Budget? What’s that? Basically any money that had to be spent came out of my pocket. My cameramen put up their time and tape stock. (Three quarter inch video is what we shot on. Remember this is the day of video cameras and one inch was the best to shoot on but we couldn’t afford that and the next closest was three quarter.) My catering was all free, places like Finally Good Food Catering, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Dale’s Bar-B-Q, and even my sister made lunch for a crew of six one day. It was all pretty cool. My actors didn’t get paid but they ate really good. The food places did all this for screen credit. Even the weights I throw in the movie were on loan to us from WalMart, believe it or not, on loan. The most money I spent on Lost Faith was in the end. I borrowed three thousand dollars from my mom to make the boxes, that’s artwork included. I paid her back with in one week of sales from the movie. That was it. The biggest part of money was spent on making the boxes for the movie.
What did you initially do as far as distribution was concerned with Lost Faith? Was it pretty much self-distributed on VHS and was Ron Bonk mostly in charge of handling wholesale quantities through Sub Rosa Studios?
JDW: Well the same thing we did with Day of the Reaper, Twisted Illusions, Truth or Dare and Killing Spree, we got in our cars and went store to store. Actually for Lost Faith, the first bit of selling was on my own. The week I was supposed to get the boxes I started an ad campaign. I did TV appearances talking about the movie coming out and newspaper interviews that covered from Miami to Cape Canaveral, Florida. I stated that my movie would be available in stores that weekend. I went to the stores and pre-ordered with everyone and also told them if they committed to three sales of the movie I would include them on my TV interviews and in my newspaper interviews. Everybody did it and when I showed up they kept their promises and would buy three copies and sometimes as much as six. After the interview ran people were calling the stores looking for it. So by the time I got there the owners were like, “It’s about time. I’ll take six of them.” I remember one day taking my mom with me and we made a whole day of it. The first run I did from Fort Pierce to Miami and the second run I think my mom and I did from Fort Pierce to Cape Canaveral. Afterwards, Ron picked up some from me for Salt City Home Video and later Sub Rosa but I don’t know how many he sold. Also, I sent ten to Mike Raso of Alternative Cinema but he said the box had sadly been torn open and all the copies were gone except the one he had to sell through his magazine. I still sell Lost Faith now at my table at the different conventions I am a guest at, and also on my MySpace and Facebook pages.
Around what time did Tim Ritter start working on Wicked Games, the sequel to Truth or Dare, and was the part of Dr. Dan Hess primarily written for you?
JDW: Tim called me and said, “Are you done with Lost Faith?” I said yes. He said, “Good, it’s time to start another movie, Wicked Games: Truth or Dare Part 2.” I was all ready to do it too. Hum, I’m having deja vu, I’ll get into this later. Just remind me of Baine. Tim and I were talking to another guy and Kermit Christman about becoming involved with Wicked Games. The other guy went over my head and went down to West Palm to meet Tim and Kermit and he went ballistic with screaming he knew how to make it look like a 35mm film. Anyway, he was cut out almost immediately. Kermit was cool though. He knew Tim and I were partners and it was our show. I think originally it was Truth or Dare 2: Screaming for Sanity but Kermit wanted Wicked Games and the more times we heard it the more we liked it so it was changed to Wicked Games. Yes, Dr. Dan Hess was always written for me. I remember Tim telling me, “He’s kind of like Loomis in Halloween.” Another thing, Tim had always backed me up, we’ve had times when people tried to sell themselves as the lead but he would always say, “No, Joel is the lead.” I mention this because on a recent project my partner did not back me up at all and basically sold me out because this other group had some cool locations. Tim has always been cool to me and never stabbed me in the back.
When you and Tim went on to make Creep, a dark, disturbing serial killer story, besides starring in the lead role, you had also worked as executive producer and location manager and you guys managed to bring in Kathy Willets as the co-star and Michael D. Moore of MDM Productions and Tom Karr of Deranged fame had signed on as associate producers. I understand at one point, Tim and you guys were thinking about calling it Deranged 2. How long was that idea thrown around and why did it ultimately end up being scrapped?
JDW: Creep was right after Wicked Games. Tim called me and said, “It’s time for another movie man.” I was going to star as well as be the executive producer as well as lock in some cool locations. I heard about Kathy Willets in 1992, the guys at Crystal Water and myself were talking about her when all the hype went down. Tim told me on the phone at the same time we were doing Wicked Games, “Man if we could get her in one of our movies we’d have it made man,” followed by “She would probably never work for us though.” Jump ahead to 1995 and Tim gets a phone call from a guy saying his name was “Ed” and he had a woman he wanted to put in one of our movies. He told Tim it was Kathy Willets and he wanted her to be in one of our movies as she was trying to start a movie career. “Ed” turned out to be Jeff Willets. Tim said, “The guy in the closet taping his wife?” Jeff laughed and said that was him. Tim called me and told me about the new connection. Tim and I went round and round with this if we were going to do it or not. Tim went to his lawyer who advised stay away from it, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, and Rich Hoopes dropped out and didn’t want to work on it. Then something happened, I told Tim I was in and wanted to do it. So she was a nymphomaniac, so what? She was still a human being. She was just trying to become a star in her own way. Anyway, the photo shoot was lined up with her and we met her in Fort Lauderdale at a photography studio. We did a photo shoot and it was an awesome time. Tim told me how he made a contact with Michael D. Moore and Tom Karr. Michael had done plenty of his own moviemaking and of course Tom did Deranged with Tom Savini. A lot of our props were brought to Creep through Tom Karr. They were Savini props that were used in Deranged. Tim did talk about it but I thing we both agreed Creep should stand on its own and not be put under the Deranged name. I think it was a good choice. Creep still stands up against a lot of splatter horror flicks. I think we squashed the title Creep: Deranged 2 almost right away.
What was it like working with Kathy Willets, who was known as “Florida’s Naughty Nympho” and had been arrested on prostitution charges before launching a career in the adult film industry?
JDW: Actually she was known as “America’s Favorite Nymphomaniac” or maybe both titles for all I know. Like I said, I was at Crystal Water when I first heard about her in 1992 and us guys were all like, “I wish she was on my route,” and then in 1995 when Jeff called us we were like, “Wow, they’re calling us?” Kathy was cool. We had a lot of fun. I always tell the story when Kathy and I were kissing when Tim says, “Freeze, don’t you guys move, stay just like that,” and we did. That whole movie was a blast to do. It was when Current Affair did a story on us that C Moore Butts saw Kathy and offered her a role in his movie. Tim told Kathy, “You sure you want to do that? You could keep doing movies with me and Joel.” Her response was, “No, I like to f**k, you wanna f**k?” Tim responded by saying, “Let me go see what Joel’s doing over here.” But all that behind she was a lot of fun to be with and shoot the movie with. Jeff also was very cool to be on set. He told Tim one day, “I got the camera, thee camera,” meaning the one he used when he was in the closet taping Kathy having sex with different people. Pretty funny.
What was Tim’s main inspiration for Dirty Cop No Donut 1 and 2, and was the role of a psycho like Officer Gus Kimble generally easy to model after your previous role as the psycho in Creep?
JDW: The TV show Cops. He wanted to make a movie about a rogue cop doing whatever he wanted. I remember sending him a Cops Raw TV episode where the guy’s skin was melting off his body and after seeing that he didn’t want to make the movie. I convinced him he and I wouldn’t be making fun of the cops. (Heck, my brother was a cop then a detective and now retired from the force.) It was about a guy who thought he was a cop. Tim told me my character’s name in this would be Gus Kimble. Gus came from the original Creep script. The Creep’s name wasn’t Angus Lynch. It was originally Gus Finklestein. He took the Gus name from this and gave it to officer friendly, Gus Kimble. Gus really wasn’t like the Creep. He thought he was a good guy delivering his own brand of justice, even though Gus hated comic books as seen in Dirty Cop special edition, he probably though he was Judge Dread or Batman, righting the wrongs no matter how many rules he broke along the way. It was a great outlet for me because I really got to explode like Angus but Gus would know when to mellow out where Angus wouldn’t. Gus was a lot of fun to play, anyone wanna make Dirty Cop 3?
Both Dirty Cop movies were recently edited together as one on the recent DVD release from Sub Rosa Studios (SRS Cinema, LLC). What did you think of the new cuts and were you overall happy with what Ron Bonk and Tim did with that package?
JDW: Some of, or rather one of the scenes was really hacked up but I understand why Tim did that. I even have my own feelings on that one and I know everyone knows which one I’m talking about. I didn’t like the cover. I like the VHS cover better but I’m not the man calling the shots. All in all it was cool to watch. Loved the commentary in character and Deep Red and Donald Farmer’s commentaries. My sales on Dirty Cop are better in the original box than the donut one, but I push it because it has more to offer the viewer. All in all it is still cool.
You had worked with filmmaker Phil Herman of Falcon Video on more than one occasion in his productions like Tales Till the End, Jacker 2: Descent to Hell, HorrorTales.666, Before I Die, Always Midnight, and Into the Woods. Which collaboration with Falcon Video was your favorite?
JDW: I don’t know. I loved doing them all. Each one I had fun doing and I’m still doing stuff for Phil today. Tales Till the End was fun because I got to work with Tim’s wife Kathy (that’s her opening the refrigerator) and Tim shot my scenes at Rich Hoopes’ house. Jacker 2 was fun because we were linking the scenes together, mine in Florida with Phil’s in New York. Also, I got to work with Michelle again from the movie Creep. She was a lot of fun and a pleasure to work with. HorrorTales.666 was a lot of fun too. Although I was goofing around a lot as I’m breaking into the house and the director Mike Hoffman was getting so mad at me and I finally told him, “If I can’t have any fun doing this I’d just as soon go home man.” We finished it. Before I Die was Phil’s baby. He just asked me to shoot a segment for it. I had already shot something that I had starred Cathy in for Twisted Illusions 2 but Tim and I agreed it was too racy for Twisted Illusions 2, so I had a short I shot but nowhere to put it. I told Phil about it and he put it in Before I Die. We did have a premiere for “The Part” and “Time for Dessert” at a hotel in 1999 where they both played before ending up in Twisted Illusions 2 (“The Part”) and (“Time for Dessert”) in Before I Die. “Time for Dessert” I wrote for Cathy and I but I opted out and made it Cathy’s coming out movie and starred Gus Perez with her and I just wrote and directed it and shot it too. Always Midnight was a long run. Phil actually called me and wanted me to do something for After Midnight, a vampire short. He sent me a three-page synopsis, which I turned into something bigger than it had to be. I added to it and before I knew it Phil was calling me saying, “I need that short.” When I told him I was taking my time with it he said he had to move on with someone else’s short so I turned his three-page epic into a 60-page script and we started shooting The Bite. The Bite came from that three-page synopsis. Anyway, I owed Phil a short so I promised him I would shoot something else for his next installment of the Midnight movies and that was “Kill Her, Arnold,” the story of a man obsessed with vampires taking over the world. But on top of everything it wasn’t getting edited as quickly as Phil wanted so we took it out of the editor’s hands and I took on the responsibility of editing it. I got wraparound footage from Phil but didn’t understand how it was supposed to go together so I wrote my own which I heard later everyone hated. I also shot another short, which everyone hated called “The Bronze Princess” incorporating a lot of Phil’s scenes and scream queen Nancy Feliciano’s scenes. I got the raw footage for “I Want To Be a Vampire” and with the help of John Matheney, a friend and editor, we put this short together. Cathy and I shot “Kill Her, Arnold” three days before our wedding. Also teamed with John Matheney, we put together “Kill Her, Arnold.” The only short that was edited was “Tainted Blood.” Anyway, the two of us put them all together, laid down some music (Matheney is also a musician) and some effects and we were done. Oh, I almost forgot, I shot one more short for Always Midnight just to give it a creepy opening, “Andrea’s Revenge.” This starred horror writer Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc. Into the Woods (which I thought was cool) was pretty cool to do. Cathy and I had scenes but it was just the two of us at a monitoring screen, more of a cameo than anything. But Phil and I have always put each other in our movies and it’s hard when you’re shooting long distance. It’s fun to collaborate like this. On one movie I was working on I went to the blackboard, which was in the shot, and wrote his name on the board. You can see it in All Wrapped Up in the “Bogged Down” segment. In Screaming for Sanity my character’s girlfriend says, “Mr. Phil Herman thinks he’s the Jacker.” We chat on instant messages all the time online.
How did you get to know filmmaker and FX artist Marcus Koch (director of 100 Tears) and how did you get the part of Dr. Olsen in his 1999 film Rot? Marcus and you had also collaborated on Alien Agenda: Endangered Species for Kevin J. Lindenmuth and Brimstone Productions. Which film came first?
JDW: I believe Tim and I had just finished shooting Creep. Actually, I think it had been released for a while when Marcus Koch had seen the movie and loved it. Marcus contacted my partner Tim and told him he wanted to use me in his movie called Rot. Tim got a hold of me and I got a hold of Marcus. We struck a deal and I was off to Tampa to shoot Rot, some of it. Marcus wanted me to play this weird doctor type guy and I thought that was right up my alley. Well, Marcus didn’t have a whole script yet and he sent me what he had and said he would write the rest later. I went up for four days, using my vacation time from Crystal Springs to shoot part of the movie. After shooting was done I returned home but shortly afterwards I went back to Tampa as Marcus had completed the script and we finished the movie. I think I showed some of Alien Agenda: Endangered Species to the movie cast and crew when I was shooting Rot. In between trips to Tampa I think we told Marcus we needed an alligator head, a mutant alligator head. Marcus actually came to Fort Pierce where I was living at a later date and made the alligator head in a motel room I had gotten him and his two man crew. He hung out with us as we did the fight scenes and then we went to Jonathon Dickenson State Park but because there were real alligators there we didn’t do the alligator scene. We did do the scene where I am out in the canoe and Kathy (Tim’s wife) yelled to me, “Joel, your surrounded by alligators!” They had been circling the canoe I was in. Tim and Kathy and Marcus and crew walked right up to one and Tim saw it at the last second and said, “Everyone, back away slowly.” Real adventures, huh? Adventures in moviemaking. That same shoot, the cops pulled their guns on me. Like I said, I think I started Rot first but then we went into making Kevin’s Alien Agenda then I went back to Tampa to finish Rot. I remember when Marcus was leaving he said, “Well, I guess I’ll take the alligator head back till you need it.” I said, “We paid you 200 bucks for this thing. We’re keeping it.” He just smiled and said, “Oh, okay.” We later shot the gator attack in a non-gator waterway.
You often reprised your role of Dr. Dan Hess in other movies by filmmakers like Phil Herman, John Bowker, Ryan Cavalline, etc. Your wife M. Catherine Holseybrook-Wynkoop has often been at your side in some of these other Dan Hess reprisals. Is Dan Hess a favorite character among filmmakers you’ve worked with?
JDW: I think so. I think Dan is a cool character. I think Ryan had me reprise the role to lead into a Dan Hess movie in Aspiring Psychopath 2 but no money always screws things up. I don’t think I did Dan Hess for John Bowker though. Phil Herman has had me do Dan Hess three times I believe, or Ryan had two or three times and so did Phil. Yes, Cathy teamed with me to either play another doctor or a police detective. I told Tim I wanted to do a movie called Dan Hess: Monster Hunter. It would be a series of movies where Hess tracks down different monsters whether they are people or zombies or aliens or whatever, but again, no money. Think Night Stalker (the original) merged with the TV show Supernatural. That would be cool.
You had also appeared as Cope Ransom again in Kevin J. Lindenmuth’s Beyond the Lost World: The Alien Conspiracy, a character you previously appeared as in Alien Agenda: Endangered Species. Which personally do you think is the better series of films, Alien Agenda or Alien Conspiracy?
JDW: I think I liked Alien Agenda: Endangered Species better. Ah, I don’t know. They’re both pretty cool. As a whole they were both cool. Speaking for our Ransom stories, I like them both too. At one point I liked Endangered Species better but I like the fight scenes in Conspiracy. I guess I just like them both, not one more than the other. Ransom was a fun character to play. I’d love to play him again.
You’ve collaborated with Ryan Cavalline and 4th Floor Pictures of Kersey, PA on many occasions acting in Serial Killer, Day of the Ax, Aspiring Psychopath, Dead Body Man Chronicles, etc. What has it been like working with Ryan?
JDW: Ryan is very cool. I first hooked with Ryan when Phil Herman said he was talking to him about moviemaking and he said, “If I could get a name in one of my movies…” and Phil had said, “What about Joel Wynkoop?” Ryan answered, “That’d be awesome!” Phil told him then he knew me and Ryan was excited and asked Phil if I would work for him. Turns out Ryan had my Dirty Cop poster up in his college dorm room and used to tell his friends, “One day I’m going to meet that guy and make a movie with him cause he knows what it is like to drip blood, sweat and tears into moviemaking.” Ryan told me this, years later. So I did my first short for Ryan called Tales for the Midnight Hour where I hosted several short stories as a character called Reaper, which I reprised again in Always Midnight. Then I started working with Ryan pretty regularly. I remember I was working on Mike Hoffman’s Scary Tales 2: The Return of Mr. Longfellow when shooting the movie shut down for a while. For a time, I had lost touch with Mike and didn’t know if the movie was going to be finished. Ryan called me and asked if I would do Serial Killer. Again, I tried to get in touch with Mike to no avail. I didn’t know what was going on so I cut my hair for Ryan to do Serial Killer. Funny story too, Ryan sent me some dialogue to do, I read it and said, “I can’t do this Ryan,” so he said, “I’ll write something else for you to read.” He sent me another script and again I said, “Ryan, I can’t do this man, I can’t read this out loud,” so he told me, “Just do something demented like it but what you will say.” I wrote my own dialogue, shot it and sent it to him. He said, “This is way worse than anything I wrote for you to say and I love it.” That’s how that got used in the movie. Shortly after this I heard from Mike and he said, “I’m ready to finish Scary Tales 2,” and I told him, “I’m sorry man, I didn’t know what happened to you. I tried to get a hold of you. I didn’t even know if you were going to finish the movie. I got another part offered to me by Ryan and I cut my hair for it.” “What?” he said. Again, I explained and said I was sorry, “But I didn’t know what was going on with Scary Tales. I couldn’t get in touch with you.” Anyway, he was upset but I think he understood that I didn’t know what was going on and had to move on. Anyway, it all worked and we wrapped Scary Tales after my hair grew back. In Day of the Ax I reprised my Dan Hess role again and talked about the killer in the movie, J.R. Sorg. In Aspiring Psychopath I got to reprise Hess again as the killer’s father. In Dead Body Man I played a TV evangelist and it was pretty bizarre. I just had fun with that one. It’s always a pleasure working for him, so Ryan, if you’re reading this fly my ass to Pennsylvania and put me in your next movie, damn it.
When did you first become acquainted with filmmaker Jason Liquori of Hocus Focus Productions and what lead to him casting you in All Wrapped Up, Death Plots, and Stopped Dead which all featured Debbie Rochon and in Indiscretions, which featured Rachael Robbins?
JDW: I was at The Halloween Picture Show in 2003, or was it 04, and I asked this guy next to me if I could borrow an extension cord. He said yes. He was cool so I gave him a VHS copy of Creep. That person was Jason Liquori. He was and is very cool and a blast to work with. We talked and swapped stories about making movies and stuff and also swapped phone numbers. So months go by and I get a call from Jason. He tells me, “I was looking at your movie Creep and I’m thinking what can I put this guy in?” He told me he had a movie he wanted to shoot called Death Plots and he had a role for me in it, maybe more. The main role was of a Reaper called Swansong, a dead guy that reaps the souls of the recently departed. It was pretty cool, like Cops for dead people. I also played Agent Worther in “My Stalker, Death.” Not too long after this, Jason called me and said, “Hey, I’m doing a sequel to Reaps from Death Plots and this movie is called All Wrapped Up.” “Bogged Down” was the name of the segment where I reprise the role of Swansong once again. Jason also put me in “Jaguar’s Bite” (with my wife also) as a security guard with a cheesy goatee. It’s pretty funny. I had asked him about the third story and if I could be in that as well. “I can’t put you in three stories”, he said. “Why not?” I asked. “Think Data (Brent Spiner) in Independence Day.” I didn’t recognize him with that wig until the girl in front of me said, “That’s Data.” Jason agreed and I took on a third segment in All Wrapped Up, “Millennium Man.” Jason, at the premiere of All Wrapped Up, turned it into a game called “Spot Wynkoop” in three stories and win a Hocus Focus prize. Pretty funny, huh?
A while after this, I think a year, Jason asked me to be in Indiscretions as a forest ranger and I said yes. I never got to meet Rachael but I know she is beautiful and a very talented actress. Someday I hope to work with her. Then came Stopped Dead. As soon as I received the script, Cathy read it (she always gets to my scripts before I do) and came into the living room and said, “Baby, this script is awesome. You have to do this movie.” I read it and loved it too. It was a time before this Jason and I hacked out a rough story, which became the script that Jason would write. Debbie Rochon was always slated to play my wife in the movie. At one point it almost didn’t happen. Well, I can’t say that, at one point Jason told me, “Do Herschell’s movie. I’ll get someone else.” Believe it or not, I was already cast for Jason’s Stopped Dead, but then I went to an audition and in days I found out I was wanted for two roles in this new movie but they said that was impossible, but they wanted me for the part of Fred Finagler. The movie was Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Grim Fairy Tale (now The Uh-Oh Show). Anyway, long story short, their shoot was the same exact days as Stopped Dead. As my partner Tim Ritter often said, “Unbelievable man!” I was asked to quit Jason’s movie and do the other but I said, “No, we have to be able to work something out,” but they said, “We can’t.” When I told Jason my predicament he asked me what I was going to do. At one point he said, “Herschell can pay you more than I can so do his movie and I’ll get someone else. Just tell me now so I can get someone else to learn the lines.” I called back the producers of Grim Fairy Tale and said, “Isn’t there something you can do? If Herschell really likes me for the part, can’t he or you all reschedule my scenes?” They asked to collaborate so we did. Jason got me off Stopped Dead a day early and they agreed to work around me till I arrived. Awesome! I did both movies back to back. I mean really, I worked for Jason for seven days straight, drove back to Tampa, went to bed and the next morning drove to St. Pete and started work on Grim Fairy Tale. I didn’t even look at the lines till the night I got home from Stopped Dead.
What can you tell us about Stopped Dead and the characters Debbie and you play?
JDW: Debbie and I play a married couple who are going with our best friends (Karen and Kevin White) on a road trip. We’re in a big mobile home traveling cross-country when all hell breaks loose. It’s a tad like Race With the Devil. Well not really, I mean there’s an RV in Stopped Dead, two couples, a road trip, motorcycle gangs and the same can be said about Race With the Devil but Stopped Dead has its own twists and turns. So, the same but different. You need to see it and make your own decision. I think it is going to be great! When Jason and I were talking about it, we kind of both agreed, it wasn’t just a thriller movie because it has those comedy elements as well. Finally I told Jason, “It’s Tremors.” Tremors had suspense, it was a thriller and it had those comedy elements just like Stopped Dead. I guess my character Bob is sexually frustrated and kind of off the hook and Debbie is just the pretty normal wife that is just stuck with me. I can’t tell you anymore or Jason will never hire me for another part in anymore of his movies. It will be a cool ride. I guarantee it. The premiere is February 16 in Orlando at The Best of the British Pub at 9pm, can’t wait.
You had worked for filmmaker Michael Hoffman Jr. of Wet Floor Productions playing Mr. Longfellow in Scary Tales and Scary Tales 2: The Return of Mr. Longfellow. What was it like working with Michael?
JDW: I touched on Scary Tales 2: The Return of Mr. Longfellow above but this was a cool story. I met Mike through a friend of mine, Bill Cassinelli. Mike was at Bill’s when Bill and I were watching Lost Faith, my karate movie I did in 1989. Mike enjoyed it. Mike was messing around with moviemaking then. Flash-forward to a movie Mike did that I thought was really funny. It was like a “What Did You Do Last Friday the 13th on the Nightmare Before Halloween” something or other. Mike should release it. It was very funny. When I saw it I was laughing so hard I was crying. Flash-forward again, Mike was supposed to be in Screaming for Sanity (Tim and I shot this in 1997) but it didn’t work out. We promised Mike a role in one of our movies in the future. That movie was Dirty Cop No Donut. Then we lost touch until one day I was at the theatre with my mom and I ran into Mike at the movies. He said he wanted me for an anthology movie called Scary Tales. He said he had already shot the movie but left scenes open for me. Soon we got together and we were shooting Scary Tales. Then we worked on HorrorTales.666, which was fun, and then I believe Scary Tales 2: The Return of Mr. Longfellow. Midway through the movie, production shut down for a while and the rest you know from the above mentioned. Working with Mike was a lot of fun and I would love the chance to do it again someday. How bout it Mike? Hire me brother. Let’s make another movie.
How did you get the part of “Probation Officer Wynkoop” in Conrad Brooks’ Jan-Gel 2: The Beast Returns?
JDW: Garland Hewlett contacted me and told me that Conrad Brooks was going to be in town and Conrad wanted me to be in his new movie Jan-Gel. I said, “Cool, working with Conrad would be a pretty neat thing to do.” I mean, he worked with Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood, how awesome is that? I met Conrad at Garland’s and he told me about the role I would do. We shot it at Tampa’s Public Access building and the scene called for Gus Perez and Conrad come to talk to me about this guy named Rockula. Remember in Ed Wood when Depp said, “Doctor… Ocula”? Same kind of thing. Anyway I told Conrad, “Don’t I have a character name?” and he said, “No just use Probation Officer Wynkoop, Joey.” He would call me Joey or kid the entire shoot, but that was cool. Conrad is a great guy. Like I said, Conrad just wanted me for the role. It was a blast working with him and would love to do it again soon.
You had directed and starred in a segment for Twisted Illusions 2 which also featured segments by Tim Ritter and John Bowker. Did you also write your segment?
JDW: Yes. Tim and I had talked for almost 20 years about making Twisted Illusions 2. In fact, if you look at the original Twisted Illusions, at the end it says, “Coming Soon, Twisted Illusions 2.” Well it took us 20 years but we did it. Tim said he was going to do a short, John Bowker was doing one and I said I would do one. Actually I wrote “The Part” for Twisted Illusions in 1984 but I opted out and did the other stories instead. So I gave it an update and rewrote it and shot it in 1999, I think. It was a lot of fun to write, produce and act in it.
How did you come up with the idea for your 2005 film The Bite, which had been co-written by yourself and Phil Herman?
JDW: Phil needed a short for his anthology movie After Midnight. He sent me a three-page synopsis for a short story. Well, I didn’t want to do a simple short, so I spent some time to elaborate on the story and make it a little more interesting. As time went on Phil asked me, “Have you got that short?” “Not yet,” I told him, “I need more time.” You see he just wanted a simple short-short. I wanted more. Anyway, as I was writing Phil called again and said, “Joel, I got to go with someone else if it’s not done.” I said, “Okay, I’ll make it up to you for the next Midnight movie.” I turned that three-page script into a 60-page script and started shooting The Bite. We added 20 minutes to the 60 we shot and made an 80-minute feature out of it. Later I shot “Kill Her Arnold” for Phil and sent it to him for Always Midnight, which a year later all came back to me to edit.
How did you become acquainted with filmmaker Garland Hewlett who made Brain Robbers from Outer Space?
JDW: When I was in Tampa shooting Rot, Marcus, the director was talking to Garland Hewlett and he happened to mention that he had me up here shooting his movie Rot, Garland said, “Joel Wynkoop from Creep?” Marcus said yes and Garland asked him, “Do you think he would do an appearance in my movie?” He asked me and I said yes. It sounded like it would be fun. But, I wasn’t content to be some ex-boyfriend watching his woman from the bushes. I asked Garland if he wouldn’t mind if I made a suggestion, he said, “No, please do.” I thought it would be cool if I confronted my girlfriend while she was with her new boyfriend and while I’m talking to her, a zombie comes out of the dark and I karate fight the zombie, then he kills me. Garland loved it and we shot it. That’s it. Garland and I became good friends that night and are still friends today.
Brain Robbers was completed in 2004. Has it been released yet?
JDW: Oh yes, Brain Robbers was released in 2005 through a business called thecollectorzone.com. Actually, Brain Robbers was started in 1993. I think it was shot over ten years until it’s final release in 2005. It is over four hours long and it is released on two discs in two different DVD cases. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
The IMDB lists you as appearing in Richard R. Anasky’s 2005 film Actress Apocalypse but I don’t seem to remember you being in it. Did you shoot a scene for it that was cut out?
JDW: That’s because I was in the original “The Lincoln Brothers” which morphed into Actress Apocalypse minus Joel Wynkoop. However, I am in the extra section with the original movie, or scenes. So technically I am in Actress Apocalypse. In fact there wouldn’t have been an Actress Apocalypse if Ritchie and I never shot that original short.
What was it like to work with Rick Danford and Enigma Films on Alarum, which you had starred in with Krista Grotte?
JDW: I worked with Rick Danford and Krista Grotte on Alarum. It was cool how it came about. I was at Screamfest in Orlando at my table and I spotted Krista walking my direction when she yelled to me, “Joel Wynkoop, I want to work with you,” and I yelled back, “I want to work with you.” Not long later, Krista called me and asked me to be the voice of the “Alarum.” I said yes. It was a blast! I really got to throw my voice into the character of the alarm clock, which I was able to talk Krista and Rick into letting me be the radio announcer and the phone as well. The bloopers on this are funny. When my wife would ask me, “How did the shoot go?” I would tell her, “Well, Krista and I spent most of it in bed together.” My wife can punch really hard. No, I told her later, “No baby, we just went over our lines on the bed, that’s all, really.” No, all joking aside, it was a pleasure working for the both of them. We had a lot of fun making it and the outcome I thought was pretty damn cool. Both Krista and Rick are very talented and I would love to work with them again soon. Rick I worked for before Alarum on The Nightmare Collection 2 with Mike Christopher from Dawn of the Dead. Krista and I have worked together on Alarum, The Uh-Oh Show, Brainjacked, and Rendevois at Room 215. Actually, I think a couple other things but I can’t remember offhand.
A couple recent films you had appeared in which featured effects work by Marcus Koch were Kristian Day’s Body in a Dumpster, which also features Larry Laverty and Lloyd Kaufman, and Andrew Allan’s Brainjacked, also featuring Krista Grotte. What can the fans expect from these two as far as effects go and were they both fun productions to be a part of?
JDW: I’m hoping Body in a Dumpster comes out within a couple of months. I finished my scenes for that like two years ago and it was almost complete then so I am waiting for its release. I think it is going to be really cool and I am really anxious for it to come out. Marcus excels on anything he works on. All his work is awesome. He was great on The Uh-Oh Show as well. This ain’t no ass kiss either, he does a great job. There are plenty of moviemakers that we’ll confirm that. On Body in a Dumpster we got busted by campus security, Brainjacked I came back a day early from my vacation in Georgia to accommodate the producers and help finish the movie on time, and The Uh-Oh Show was just awesome to work on. But even with my one day early return and being kicked off campus they were both fun movies to work on. I’d do it all over again in a second. Also, Kristian is very cool to work for and so are Andy Lalino and Andrew Allan.
Currently in post-production is Christopher Kahler’s Grave Robbers from Outer Space, which features you yourself along with Shawn C. Phillips, Kim Sonderholm, Steven Grainger, David “The Rock” Nelson and others. Is this one supposed to be a remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space?
JDW: Yes, their version of it. I’m not sure I’m still in this though. It’s been a hard time to get me to Chicago to shoot this. Now the weather isn’t helping. If it does happen you’ll see me in it. I think Shawn is really cool and I would love to meet him and do scenes with him. “The Rock” was in my movie Fall of an Actor and I am in his Demon Monster from Outer Space. Hopefully, I will get a call any day and I will be flying to Chicago to shoot my scenes. Only time will tell.
What can you tell us about the part you play in Cameron Scott’s upcoming Post Mortem, America 2021 which features an all-star cast of yourself and Jim O’Rear, Linnea Quigley, Monique Dupree, Larry Laverty, Kimberly Lynn Cole, Isabelle Stephen, Lloyd Kaufman, Nicola Fiore, etc.?
JDW: I’ve met Jim O’Rear. He is awesome. We hung out at a con one weekend. He is too cool. Linnea I met about six months ago at her place when we were shooting a documentary and some other scenes for Post Mortem. We wanted Linnea for Truth or Dare way back in 1985 but we just couldn’t afford her. I’ve never met Monique but I would love to. Larry I met on the set of Body in a Dumpster. He and I and Bruce Spielbauer killed a couple of six packs in my hotel room when we were shooting in Iowa. Kimmy I know through Phil and I have chatted with her online from time to time. She is a doll and I’d love to work with her face to face. I think Isabelle is in Strip Club Slasher, I think. Lloyd I met in 2004 at Screamfest and have since see him at many cons and also have worked with him in Body in a Dumpster and The Uh-Oh Show. Nicola I worked with in For Christ’s Sake, For Nicole’s Sake and Jason Liquori’s Shelter, Nicola played my daughter. Interesting enough, my daughter looks like Nicola. I play a bar owner who gives up info to Rattlesnake (Melanie Robel) Sally. It was a fun scene to do. Especially when Melanie slammed her heal into my stomach. I had the bruises to prove it. She caught her thumb on fire from the lighter she was using but she carried on cause she’s a trooper. In the bar scene she comes in demanding info from me and when I tell her to F off she busts a bottle over my head, knocking me out. She ties me to a chair and douces me in alcohol, strikes the lighter and… Oh you’ll have to see the movie, Post Mortem, America 2021. I am supposed to come back as my character’s brother, I don’t know if that’s a for sure thing yet or not. Hope so. Cameron was a pleasure to work for.
How did you get the part of a cop in Strip Club Slasher from Jason Stephenson and Not for the Squeamish Productions in Minnesota and what was it like working with Jason and writer/star Joe Knetter and actress Scarlet Salem? Did you get to work at all with any of the other stars like Elske McCain or Rachel Grubb?
JDW: I was on my MySpace one night and I got a message from Not for the Squeamish Productions and it was Jason Stephenson asking me if I would be interested in taking a role in Strip Club Slasher. I said yes. He got my plane ticket almost before I hung up the phone and the next thing I knew, I was in Minnesota shooting Strip Club Slasher. Elske and Rachel were not there at the time I was. I hope to meet them one day though. Scarlet is a living doll but she’s Joe’s and he said, “If you look at her again I’ll kill you.” I told him, “Do your worst.” He made his move and I kicked his ass and now Scarlet lives with Cathy and I. Okay that was a dream. Sorry. Joe was very cool and even let me choreograph the fight scene between him and myself. Jason Stephenson is very cool and really made me feel at home, his whole team did. They really got it going on.
You had recently appeared in Herschell Gordon Lewis’s new film The Uh-oh Show, previously titled Grim Fairy Tale. What was it like getting to work with the “Godfather of Gore” himself?
JDW: He is awesome! That movie was a blast to work on and Herschell was so easy going. He let me re-write some of my lines and he would let me add things to give the lines more umph. At one point I approached him and said, “Herschell, I kind of added something to this,” and he said, “Are you changing my script?” and I said, “Just a little,” and he replied, “You are the only one I will allow to do that.” He was great to work with and I hope to get to do it again soon. After this, every time I would approach him he would say, “Are you changing my script again?”
What are some other movies coming out soon that we can look for you in and what upcoming projects will you be working on?
JDW: Ryan Workman of Hindsight Films just premiered Shaawanokie at a theatre over in Clearwater four nights ago. Shaawanokie is about a Bigfoot monster and I play the Cryptozoologist that knows all about her. Of course I have Stopped Dead coming out in two weeks and The Uh-Oh Show should be out in a couple months, I hope. Also, I am hoping to see Body in a Dumpster, For Christ’s Sake and For Nicole’s Sake and a couple more are supposed to be coming out before August, I just can’t think of them right now. Fall of an Actor just came out also. Future? I don’t know, whatever comes down the line. I keep pretty busy with auditions and TV commercials but I always try to work in the movies. I have the most fun on them.
Is there anybody else you hope to work with in the future?
JDW: Chuck Norris! I did work with Brooke McCarter from The Lost Boys. That was awesome! Jim O’Rear, David “The Rock” Nelson, Jeff Dylan Graham, James L. Edwards, oh man, the list goes on and on.
Thank you for your time.
JDW: Mario, you are welcome. Thank you for taking interest in this old guy. Sorry it took so long.
You can check out Joel’s IMDB profile at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0943944/ and you can check out his MySpace page at https://www.myspace.com/joeldwynkoop and his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/joel.d.wynkoop
