Norman J. Warren

Norman John Warren (born 25 June 1942) is an English film director best known for such 1970s horror films as Satan's Slave (1976), Prey (1977) and Terror (1978).[1] Warren is also known for sex comedies such as Outer Touch (also known as Outer Spaced and Spaced Out, 1979).[2][3][4][5]

Norman J. Warren
Born
Norman John Warren

(1942-06-25) 25 June 1942
Hammersmith, London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationFilm director, editor, producer
Years active1959–present
Notable work
Satan's Slave (1976)
Prey (1977)
Terror (1978)
Outer Touch (1979)
Inseminoid (1981)
StyleHorror
Science fiction
Sex comedy

Along with the films of Pete Walker, Warren's movies are sometimes dubbed "New Wave" British horror, on the basis that they upped the ante in terms of sexual explicitness and gore from that of the Hammer and Amicus productions that dominated the genre in UK cinema up to the early 1970s.

Career

An avid film fan from childhood, Warren entered the film industry as a runner on The Millionairess (1960) and as an assistant director (The Dock Brief, 1962) before directing the short film Fragment in 1965. Calcutta-born Bachoo Sen (1934–2002), owner of the Astral Cinema in Brewer Street, London, who had an interest in film production, saw Fragment and subsequently hired Warren to direct two feature-length sex films, Her Private Hell (1968) and Loving Feeling (1969). Both were successes, but Warren saw little of the profits.

Not wanting to be typecast as a director of sex films, Warren turned down a third directing offer from Sen (Love is a Splendid Illusion, 1970) and had to wait several years to raise the money required to make Satan's Slave (1976), the first of a series of horror films that he directed. Warren's final two films, Bloody New Year and Gunpowder (both 1987), were hampered by low budgets imposed by producer Maxine Julius.

Although Warren did not release a feature film between 1987 and 2016, he continued to work in the industry directing music videos and educational short films such as Person to Person, a BBC film designed for students of English. His horror films developed a following, culminating in the making of Evil Heritage, a 1999 documentary about his work, and the release of a DVD box set in 2004.

In 2007 Warren worked on the supplementary features for the Region 1 DVD releases of Corridors of Blood (1958), The Haunted Strangler (1958) and First Man into Space (1959). He is a regular guest at Manchester's Festival of Fantastic Films.

In 2016, Warren announced whilst being interviewed by journalist Steve Green[6] that he was in post-production on a new feature film, a thriller set in London's Chinatown. The completion of Susu was confirmed at Birmingham FearFest in May 2017, at which Warren was a guest of honour.[7]

Filmography
  • Incident (1959, completed 2007) (director, editor)
  • The Millionairess (1960) (runner)
  • The Dock Brief (1962) (third assistant director)
  • Shellarama (1965) (assistant editor)
  • Fragment (1965) (director, editor)
  • Night of the Generals (1966) (third assistant director)
  • The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967) (third assistant director)
  • Her Private Hell (1968) (director, editor)
  • Loving Feeling (1969) (director, editor)
  • Rod the Mod (1970) (assistant editor)
  • Oink! (1970) (editor)
  • Satan's Slave (1976) (director, editor)
  • Prey (1977)
  • Terror (1978) (director, sound editor)
  • Outer Touch (a.k.a. Spaced Out and Outer Spaced, 1979)
  • Inseminoid (a.k.a. Horror Planet, 1981)
  • Warbirds Air Display (1984) (director, editor)
  • Person to Person (1985)
  • Gunpowder (1986)
  • Bloody New Year (1987)
  • Meath School (1992) (producer, director)
  • Buzz (1993) (director, editor)
  • Doing Rude Things (1995) (interviewee)
  • Evil Heritage (1999) (interviewee, subject)
  • Christopher Lee: a Life in Films (2003) (post-production supervisor)
  • Corridor Gossip (2007)
  • Haunted Memories (2007)
  • Making Space (2007)
  • Horror Icon (2007) (interviewee)
  • Into the Dark: Exploring the Horror Film (2008) (interviewee)
  • Norman J. Warren Presents: Horrorshow (2008) (host)
  • Grave Tales (2009) (promotional director)
  • Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever (2010) (interviewee)
  • Daddy Cross (2011) (voice-over)
  • Daddy Cross: The Ten Commandments (2012) (voice-over)
  • The Devil Made Them Do It (2013) (teaser-sample)
  • Turn Off Your Bloody Phone: Norman J. Warren and the Ghost (2013) (produced with Xiaoxiao Sun)
  • Mark Of The Times (2013) (interviewee)
  • Invasion Of The Body Snatchers: Discussing The Pod (2013) (panel contributor)
  • 9.5mm Film Documentary (2014) (interviewee)
  • Susu (2017) (producer / executive producer)
  • Dr. Balden Cross: Beyond The Void (2018) (Cameo appearance)

References
  1. "The New York Times Profile". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  2. "Spaced Out, a Comedy". The New York Times. 12 December 1981. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  3. Sheridan, Simon (2007). Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema (3rd edition) (Reynolds & Hearn). ISBN 1-903111-92-7
  4. McGillivray, David (1992). Doing Rude Things: the History of the British Sex Film, 1957-1981 (Sun Tavern Fields).
  5. Fenton, Harvey (2001). Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970s (FAB Press, Guildford).
  6. Rose of Eibon (10 December 2016). "Birmingham News, 2016-12-03: Norman J Warren, 27th Festival of Fantastic Films". YouTube. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  7. "Birmingham FearFest – Celebrating All That is Spooky in the Second City". Birmingham-fearfest.co.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2017.

Bibliography
  • Gods In Polyester, or, a Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura (2004, Succubus Press) (contributed pieces on Satan's Slave, Prey, Terror and Inseminoid)
  • Gods In Spandex, or, a Survivors' Account of 80's Cinema Obscura (2007, Succubus Press) (contributed pieces on Bloody New Year and Gunpowder)

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