Samuel Z. Arkoff: FANEX Files - The Incredible Story of the Founder of American International Pictures

If you're interested in the first 10 to 15 years of AIP's 26-year history of independent film production, as related not by filmmakers or anyone directly tied to AIP...in other words, if you want fan perspectives on the Beach movies and a few Poe adaptations, this lightweight documentary may satisfy your curiosity. The only interview footage of Arkoff himself is taken from the last few months of his life, when he was speaking at a convention or film festival; his stories are always amusing, fairly informative, but not nearly as detailed or as in-depth as those same anecdotes were in his autobiography, Flying Through Hollywood By The Seat Of My Pants.If the filmmakers had spent more time on AIP's Seventies output, and had access to some of the studio's behind-the-scenes footage, as well as interviewed some actual talent that worked with Arkoff at AIP, the DVD would've been much more satisying. As is, it leaves a lot to be desired. It plays like a 70-odd-minute EPK, very shallow and innocuous in its approach to the subject matter, barely skimming the surface of the handful of AIP pictures it does focus on.

Based solely on an interview with Arkoff at a fan convention. Roger Corman is the only other non-Fanex person who speaks.Yes, it's interesting. I had forgotten that Arkoff started the Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon beach movie series!But really, this is a very modest production that looks cheaply made. It's only a keeper for serious Arkoff fans.

This was nothing more than an interview with an old man who'd made a terrific contribution to the movie-going public. I'm a junkie for AIP movies, and only wonder why so many aren't available on DVD..."It Conquered the World", "Invasion of the Saucer Men"...This overview of Mr. Arkoff's career is loving and respectful, as it should be. There are things he doesn't talk about, like his relationship with Nicholson, but the bottom line is that it's a fun romp thru the life of a great man with some great ideas, and I like his ideas very much.

DVD DRIVE-IN REVIEW BY JASON MCELREATH: Midnight Marquee Productions and Longthrow Multimedia International, through Alpha Video, present the story of the founder of American International Pictures full frame and barebones. The quality of the picture varies from crystal clear to covered in nicks and scratches due to its editing together of recent and archived interviews with vintage trailers. Taken as a whole, the presentation is quite nice with very little worth fusing over. Audio fares similarly, with the majority of Arkoff's convention interview, which really is the meat and potatoes of this release, easy enough to follow. While I was already aware of AIP's history and a huge fan of its eclectic library, hearing Arkoff relive the glory days of AIP was like listening to an old relative spinning a yarn on lazy Sunday afternoon. I may have heard his story a hundred times before, but there's something about the way he tells it that holds my attention every time.****DVD VERDICT REVEIW: When Samuel Z. Arkoff saw the declining fortunes of the downtown movie houses due to television and the exodus to the suburbs after World War II, he said to himself, "This is the time to get in and make pictures."Arkoff, the co-founder of American International Pictures, saw markets in neighborhood theaters, drive-ins, and eventually television. Since he was a father, he also saw a market in teenagers--although you'll notice his movies featured a lot of old hands like Morey Amsterdam, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, Peter Lorre, Ray Milland, and Buster Keaton.In today's multicasting and niche environment, his ideas seem obvious, but they were unusual back in the Fifties when AIP and predecessor ARC first came onto the movie scene.Arkoff discussed his work during a convention in Arlington, Virginia, in 2000. An interview with Arkoff, supplemented by interviews apparently done later, provides the backbone for FANEX Files: Samuel Z. Arkoff.The production isn't big budget, but it augments what could have been a dry succession of talking heads with clips and trailers, adding photos and film that back up the discussion. Close-up shots give it more intimacy than you'd expect for a discussion at a convention. It looks like it's cheap video, but done with care, making it a good way to preserve Arkoff's legacy.The result is mainly an overview of AIP's history that'll give you a sense of its gradually increasing importance to our culture, starting with the early pop-culture impact of I Was A Teenage Werewolf and continuing through the box-office success of The Amityville Horror. Stops along the way, illustrated with trailers, include Beach Party and its sequels with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, House of Usher and the other Poe movies starring Vincent Price, biker pictures like The Wild Angels with Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra, and Blaxploitation films like William Marshall's Blacula.Arkoff's in good humor. He stays mainly on an outline of his work but has room for a few stories or impressions about people like Martin Scorcese, Roger Corman, or Vincent Price. He has some insights which could help an indie filmmaker today, but the Arkoff formula, while mentioned and briefly discussed in the documentary, is mainly demonstrated by example from those trailers.Even if you don't get anything else from it, the sight of a horror movie host, in this case Count Gore De Vol, looking more like Mister Rogers when he's out of character could provide some mild amusement.This modest documentary is surprisingly entertaining. Even if you don't learn anything about low-budget moviemaking, you'll get a kick out of all the trailers, full of ominous narration and promises that viewers knew wouldn't be kept.