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Showing posts with label Camel Spiders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camel Spiders. Show all posts

inmate re-profile: Director Christopher Olen Ray

So, with only three weeks before the DVD release of 2 Headed Shark Attack, I thought it time we start shining the Committed spotlight on the creative personnel involved, starting with the man in the director's chair of this impending classic, one Christopher Olen Ray.

That's Mr. Ray on the left there.
Ray has directed twice before for the Asylum - last year's Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus with Jaleel White and this year's Almighty Thor with Richard Grieco - as well as twice before that: in 2008 he directed Reptisaurus, a made-for-TV movie starring Gil Gerard, and a series called "Road to Rhythm." 

I've made mention here before of Mr. Ray's cinematic pedigree - his father is noted exploitation director Fred Olen Ray, who in more than thirty years of filmmaking has unleashed nearly one hundred titles, among them Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Evil Toons and Scalps. Ray honed his skills spending years as an assistant director, PA and coordinator on more than a dozen of his father's films, so you know he received a lot of firsthand, on-set training from a master of the field. In fact, C-Ray's still works as a first assistant director on occasion, most recently on two other Asylum films - A Haunting in Salem and Zombie Apocalypse - and also on an upcoming C. Thomas Howell film I've made mention of before, Camel Spiders.

Christopher Ray, therefore, is no stranger to the creature-feature game - as MSvC clearly and deftly proved - he is weathered, learned, and more than capable of delivering to us, the ever-expectant masses, simply one of the Greatest Shark Films of all time (please please please).

Decades from now when they mention the best B-Movies of the early 21st Century, I have every faith 2 Headed Shark Attack will be on the tip of every tongue, as well as the name of its director, Christopher Olen Ray. Watch the magic unfurl before your very eyes when the greatest story ever told hits DVD January 31st, 2012, only a few short weeks from now...

inmate profile: Christopher Ray

So yesterday the Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus trailer at long last hit the web, therefore I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at the man in the director's chair for this impending classic, one Christopher Ray (who is kinda tough to find a picture of online. that's supposedly him on the left).

I've made mention here before of Mr. Ray's cinematic background - his father is noted exploitation director Fred Olen Ray, who in more than thirty years of filmmaking has unleashed near one hundred titles, among them Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Evil Toons and Scalps. So you just knew it was only a matter of time before Ray the Younger stepped behind the camera, and fortunate for us, this progeny chose The Asylum for his feature debut!

Ray has directed twice before, but never for a feature release: in 2008 he directed Reptisaurus, a made-for-TV movie starring Gil Gerard, and a series called "Road to Rhythm." So it seems he has a little experience with creature features, and a little with TV, which makes him, in my book, the perfect mediator between Mega Shark, Crocosaurus, and Jaleel White.

Ray honed his Hollywood skills as an assistant director, PA and coordinator on more than a dozen of his father's films back in the 1990's, so you know he received a lot of on-set training from a master of his field. In fact, C-Ray's still working as a first assistant director, forever learning, on an upcoming C. Tom Howell film I've made mention of before, Camel Spiders.

So though this might be his feature directorial debut, Christopher Ray is no stranger to the game, no mere novice plunging feet-first into sacred, chummed waters -- he seems weathered, learned, and more than capable of delivering to us, the ever-expectant masses, simply one of the greatest monster shark films of all time (please please please).

No doubt Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus marks the beginning of a prosperous and proliferate directing career, so get on the bandwagon while there's still room. The film debuts on DVD December 21, 2010, only 19 short days from now.