Samuel Z. Arkoff

Production

Samuel Z. Arkoff

Born — Died

1918-06-12 — 2001-09-16

Place of birth

Fort Dodge, Iowa, USA

Known for

Production

Credits

52 titles

Known for

Rebel Highway poster
8.0

Rebel Highway is a 1994 revival of American International Pictures, created and produced by Lou Arkoff, the son of Samuel Z. Arkoff, and Debra Hill for the Showtime network. The concept was a ten-week series of 1950s "drive-in classic" B-movies remade "with a '90s edge". Each episode shares a title with a late 1950s-early 1960s-era AIP film. However, they are not remakes; each installment is a different story from that which they are titled. The impetus for the series, according to Arkoff was, 'what it would be like if you made Rebel Without a Cause today. It would be more lurid, sexier, and much more dangerous, and you definitely would have had Natalie Wood's top off'.

Rebel Highway

1994

The Dunwich Horror poster
5.3

Dr. Henry Armitage, an expert in the occult, goes to the old Whateley manor in Dunwich looking for Nancy Wagner, a student who went missing the previous night. He is turned away by Wilbur, the family's insidious heir, who has plans for the young girl. But Armitage won't be deterred. Through conversations with the locals, he soon unearths the Whateleys' darkest secret — as well as a great evil.

The Dunwich Horror

1970

The Tomb of Ligeia poster
6.4

Verden Fell is shattered after the death of his lovely wife. But, after an unexpected encounter with Lady Rowena Trevanion, Fell soon finds himself married again. Nevertheless, his late wife's spirit seems to hang over the dilapidated abbey that Fell shares with his new bride. Lady Rowena senses that something is amiss and, when she investigates, makes a horrifying discovery -- learning that Fell's dead wife is closer than she ever imagined possible.

The Tomb of Ligeia

1964

Force 10 from Navarone poster
6.3

World War II, 1943. Mallory and Miller, the heroes who destroyed the guns of Navarone, are sent to Yugoslavia in search of a ghost from the past.

Force 10 from Navarone

1978

Reptilicus poster
3.6

A portion of the tail of a prehistoric reptile is discovered in Denmark. It regenerates into the entire reptile, which proceeds to destroy buildings and property and generally make a nuisance of itself. It can fly, swim, and walk, and has impenetrable scales, which makes it difficult to kill.

Reptilicus

1961

Futureworld poster
5.9

Two years after the Westworld tragedy in the Delos amusement park, the corporate owners have reopened the park following over $1 billion in safety and other improvements. For publicity purposes, reporters Chuck Browning and Tracy Ballard are invited to review the park. Just prior to arriving, however, Browning is given a clue by a dying man that something is amiss.

Futureworld

1976

Film credits

2000s · 5 titles

Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies poster
6.9

Hollywood is a town of tinsel and glamour; but there is another Hollywood, a place where maverick independent exploitation filmmakers went toe to toe with the big guys and came out on top.

Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies

2001

Drive-In Movie Memories poster
8.0

A nostalgic, informative history of drive-in movie theaters, featuring extensive archival photographs and interviews with Leonard Maltin, John Bloom, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Barry Corbin and many others... Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of America's greatest icon of youth, freedom and the automobile. What began as an auto parts owner's business venture to make some easy money accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished. This film chronicles the drive-in's birth and development, its phenomenal popularity with audiences of all ages, its tragic decline, and its inevitable comeback as a classic form of Americana.

Drive-In Movie Memories

2001

It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures poster
7.4

A 60-minute salute to American International Pictures. Entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff founded AIP (then called American Releasing Corporation) on a $3000 loan in 1954 with his partner, James H. Nicholson, a former West Coast exhibitor and distributor. The company made its mark by targeting teenagers with quickly produced films that exploited subjects mainstream films were reluctant to tackle.

It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures

2001

Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre poster
6.1

Director Garry S. Grant’s insightful documentary celebrates the work and legacy of auteur filmmaker Mario Bava, the grand master of Italian horror and the man known by many as “the Italian Hitchcock.”

Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre

2000

The Fanex Files, Volume 2: Samuel Z. Arkoff poster
NR

Samuel Z. Arkoff, along with James Nicholson, founded the immensely successful American International Pictures. AIP discovered an untapped audience in the American teenager and proceeded to turn independent filmmaking on it's head as they churned out drive-in double features overflowing with misunderstood teen heroes, horrific monsters, reform school girls, and leather-jacketed tough guys. Many titles were notable for their spectacular poster art, still highly sought by collectors today. Arkoff, with his unerring eye for talent, helped launch the careers of Roger Corman, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, Robert Deniro, Michael Landon and Dennis Hopper. Midnight Marquee, Longthrow and Alpha are proud to honor the legendary Samuel Z. Arkoff, a perfect subject for the FANEX Files documentary series.

The Fanex Files, Volume 2: Samuel Z. Arkoff

2008

1990s · 8 titles

Playboy: The Story of X poster
6.8

The Story of X takes you to the earliest days of adult films when men peddled stag reels and projectors out of the trunks of their cars, then through the movie house years to the arrival of the home video business, and now the Internet. Meet the men behind the camera, such as "King of Sexploitation" Dave Friedman and the preeminent breast man Russ Meyer. Considered pariahs at the time, they're now hailed as pioneers in the fight against censorship. The Story of X visits the '60s when women's rights, not nudity, became the issue and recounts porn's arrival in Hollywood, led by director Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. In the '70s, several groundbreaking films, including Behind the Green Door featuring Marilyn Chambers and Deep Throat featuring Linda Lovelace, took the genre to a new level.

Playboy: The Story of X

1998

Some Nudity Required poster
5.0

A woman working in the B movie industry begins examining the industry and the damaged, desperate people who work in it.

Some Nudity Required

1998

Pitch poster
6.5

A Canadian documentary featuring two young filmmakers attending the Toronto Film Festival to pitch a film concept to various celebrities. Their film idea, titled "The Dawn", concerns a Mafia don who goes for a hernia operation but gets a sex change instead. During the 1996 Toronto Fest, they approach Roger Ebert, Norman Jewison (at a packed press conference), Eric Stoltz (leaving a limo), Al Pacino, and others without much success. On a roll, they leave Toronto for Hollywood, getting advice from Arthur Hiller and Neil Simon and finding an agent who expresses interest in their pitch.

Pitch

1997

The Dark Side of Hollywood poster
9.0

Behind the scenes of Hollywood's low-budget movie industry. It is a powerful portrait of the fragility of fame and the cost of stardom. B-pictures have long been the spawning ground of today's and tomorrow's stars. They started the careers of Jack Nicholson and Sylvester Stallone among many others, as well as now super star directors Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Howard and James Cameron. The film examines the evolution of starry-eyed newcomers arriving in Hollywood and discovering the harsh reality of getting into pictures.

The Dark Side of Hollywood

1998

Runaway Daughters poster
6.0

After Mary tells her boyfriend she's pregnant, he enrolls in the Army and skips town, leaving her to fend for herself. With her friends Angie and Laura by her side, Mary steals a car, fakes a kidnapping and heads down to San Diego to chase her errant beau. It's a bumpy ride, however, as the girls are pursued by corrupt cops and homicidal hillbillies, not to mention their own flabbergasted parents.

Runaway Daughters

1994

The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters poster
7.5

This documentary celebrates the work of illustrator Reynold Brown, whose colorful and compelling art graced over 300 movie posters during the 1950s and '60s, ranging from star-studded westerns and studio epics to sensational creature features and low-budget B-movies. Art historians, writers, and movie producers discuss Brown's art within the context of the post-war social climate and an ever-changing movie industry.

The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters

1994

The Troma System poster
9.0

A 30 minute infomercial that originally aired on Comedy Central in 1993. The idea was that by purchasing Troma Inc. movie products you could better yourself as a person.

The Troma System

1993

After Sunset: The Life & Times of the Drive-In Theater poster
5.8

A video documentary/road trip that celebrates the drive-in movie theater's impact on the United States, and pays homage to the people who keep the few remaining ones fully operational. Features interviews with horror movie maker John Carpenter, movie critic John I. Bloom (aka "Joe Bob Briggs"), Michael Wallis, author of "Route 66: The Mother Road," and others.

After Sunset: The Life & Times of the Drive-In Theater

1995

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Dunwich Horror poster
5.3

Dr. Henry Armitage, an expert in the occult, goes to the old Whateley manor in Dunwich looking for Nancy Wagner, a student who went missing the previous night. He is turned away by Wilbur, the family's insidious heir, who has plans for the young girl. But Armitage won't be deterred. Through conversations with the locals, he soon unearths the Whateleys' darkest secret — as well as a great evil.

The Dunwich Horror

1970

The Tomb of Ligeia poster
6.4

Verden Fell is shattered after the death of his lovely wife. But, after an unexpected encounter with Lady Rowena Trevanion, Fell soon finds himself married again. Nevertheless, his late wife's spirit seems to hang over the dilapidated abbey that Fell shares with his new bride. Lady Rowena senses that something is amiss and, when she investigates, makes a horrifying discovery -- learning that Fell's dead wife is closer than she ever imagined possible.

The Tomb of Ligeia

1964

Force 10 from Navarone poster
6.3

World War II, 1943. Mallory and Miller, the heroes who destroyed the guns of Navarone, are sent to Yugoslavia in search of a ghost from the past.

Force 10 from Navarone

1978

Reptilicus poster
3.6

A portion of the tail of a prehistoric reptile is discovered in Denmark. It regenerates into the entire reptile, which proceeds to destroy buildings and property and generally make a nuisance of itself. It can fly, swim, and walk, and has impenetrable scales, which makes it difficult to kill.

Reptilicus

1961

Futureworld poster
5.9

Two years after the Westworld tragedy in the Delos amusement park, the corporate owners have reopened the park following over $1 billion in safety and other improvements. For publicity purposes, reporters Chuck Browning and Tracy Ballard are invited to review the park. Just prior to arriving, however, Browning is given a clue by a dying man that something is amiss.

Futureworld

1976

Wuthering Heights poster
6.4

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

1970

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? poster
6.2

Mrs Rosie Forrest, aka 'Auntie Roo', has a holiday tradition of inviting orphans to her mansion for a party. But Roo isn't completely sane; she lost her husband and is obsessed with her deceased daughter, whose corpse she still keeps in the house. When Katy Coombs sneaks into the party with her brother, Christopher, the deranged biddy abducts the young girl with the hopes of replacing her daughter.

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

1972

The Premature Burial poster
6.3

An artist grows distant from his new wife as an irrational fear of premature burial consumes him.

The Premature Burial

1962

Night of the Eagle poster
6.7

A college professor who discovers that his wife has been practicing black magic for years forces her to stop but soon learns the true power of the occult.

Night of the Eagle

1962

Bikini Beach poster
5.6

A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.

Bikini Beach

1964

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine poster
5.3

Mad scientist Dr. Goldfoot has invented an army of bikini-clad robots programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets. Secret agent Craig Gamble and millionaire Todd Armstrong set out to foil his fiendish plot.

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

1965

Queen of Blood poster
5.2

A spaceship is sent to Mars after an alien distress signal is picked up. They find one survivor, but when a crew member is found drained of blood it's evident they have rescued a bloodsucking monster. (Uses footage from Encounter in Space (1963).)

Queen of Blood

1966

The Comedy of Terrors poster
6.5

An undertaker who hasn't had any 'customers' in a long time is forced to pay one year's back-rent. To get money he starts to kill people, which brings absurd results.

The Comedy of Terrors

1964

Horrors of the Black Museum poster
5.9

A writer of murder mysteries finds himself caught up in a string of murders in London.

Horrors of the Black Museum

1959

The Earthling poster
6.4

Recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, a man returns home to Australia to die in the wilderness. His plans become complicated when he comes across a young boy whose parents have been killed and decides to take him under his wing.

The Earthling

1980

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini poster
5.3

When he's stationed in Tahiti, a sailor hires a witch doctor to keep an eye on his girlfriend.

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

1965

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini poster
5.1

A corpse has 24 hours to mastermind a good deed without leaving his crypt, to go "up there" and have his youth restored.

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

1966

Journey to the Seventh Planet poster
4.8

A space expedition to Uranus is menaced by a giant brain that can make illusions come true.

Journey to the Seventh Planet

1962

Wild in the Streets poster
5.7

Musician Max Frost lends his backing to a Senate candidate who wants to give 18-year-olds the right to vote, but he takes things a step further than expected. Inspired by their hero's words, Max's fans pressure their leaders into extending the vote to citizens as young as 15. Max and his followers capitalize on their might by bringing new issues to the fore, but, drunk on power, they soon take generational warfare to terrible extremes.

Wild in the Streets

1968

De Sade poster
3.4

The 18th-century French marquis recalls his sadomasochistic experiments and goes to jail for lewd behavior.

De Sade

1969

Beach Blanket Bingo poster
6.1

In the fourth of the highly successful Frankie and Annette beach party movies, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper kidnaps singing star Sugar Kane managed by Bullets, who hires sky-diving surfers Steve and Bonnie from Big Drop for a publicity stunt. With the usual gang of kids and a mermaid named Lorelei.

Beach Blanket Bingo

1965

Circus of Horrors poster
5.8

A plastic surgeon and his nurse join a bizarre circus to escape from the police. Here he befriends deformed women and transforms them for his "Temple of Beauty". However, when they threaten to leave, they meet with mysterious accidents.

Circus of Horrors

1960

Pajama Party poster
5.1

A Martian teenager sent to prepare for an invasion falls in love with an Earth girl.

Pajama Party

1964

Heavy Traffic poster
6.5

A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an Italian father and a ditzy nutcase of a Jewish mother, he's ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, hypocrites who run with violent gangs and the Italian Mafia, and a shallow Black girl who makes her living downtown with the pimps and pushers. The cartoonist gets a chance to pitch a film idea to a movie mogul, but the story proves too outrageous: a far-future Earth, depleted by war and pollution, where a mutant antihero challenges and kills God.

Heavy Traffic

1973

Up in the Cellar poster
6.5

A student poet seduces his college president's wife, daughter, and girlfriend over lost financial aid.

Up in the Cellar

1970

How to Make a Monster poster
4.3

Video game developer Clayton Software enlists the talents of a misfit group of programmers to develop the scariest computer combat game: EVILUTION. With four weeks to bring the game to market and a million-dollar bonus on the line, they utilize a telemetry suit to render a 3-D version of the onscreen player. But when a power surge gives the hard drive a mind of its own, the suit comes to life to play the game for real and the programming team find themselves in the middle of a chilling virtual nightmare beyond their wildest imagination.

How to Make a Monster

2001

Cry of the Banshee poster
5.4

In seventeenth century England Lord Whitman wages unending war on what he sees as the ever-present scourge of witchcraft, and many local villagers have suffered at his hands. But one victim uses her occult powers to curse his family, enlisting unknowing help from one of the household.

Cry of the Banshee

1970

Fireball 500 poster
5.1

Stock car racer Dave Owens plays into the hands of whiskey runners by agreeing to drive in a cross-country road race.

Fireball 500

1966

The Bonnie Parker Story poster
5.0

In the 1930s, amoral blonde tommy-gun girl Bonnie Parker cut a swath of bodies across the South-West. Starting out on gas stations and bars with side-kick Guy Darrow she graduated to bank hold-ups with Darrow's brother and, after bloodily springing him, her jailed husband. But there was never any doubt who was in charge.

The Bonnie Parker Story

1958

The Evictors poster
6.4

A nice young couple move into an eerie house located in a small Louisiana town, unaware of its violent history.

The Evictors

1979

Devil's Angels poster
5.5

A gang of outlaw bikers strike a bargain with the Sheriff of a small beach town; let them stay and the town is safe. But a local girl strays into their lair and sets off a full-scale war.

Devil's Angels

1967

Paratroop Command poster
5.9

Charlie becomes a paratrooper, but, while serving in North Africa, he mistakenly kills one of his fellow U.S. soldiers, who is masquerading as a Nazi in order to wipe out a nest of the enemy. Shunned by his fellow soldiers, including his childhood friend Ace, Charlie is forced to prove himself when it is left up to him to transport a generator across an open road in full view of Nazi attackers.

Paratroop Command

1959

Sergeant Deadhead poster
5.2

An astronaut goes into space with a chimpanzee. When they return to Earth after their orbit, it is discovered that the chimp has the brains of the astronaut, and the astronaut has the brains of the chimp. Complications ensue.

Sergeant Deadhead

1965

Reform School Girl poster
5.4

A young man steals a car and ends up involved in a pedestrian fatality. The only witness is a girl he has just met. He threatens her life if she talks, so when she refuses to tell what she knows, she is sent to reform school.

Reform School Girl

1957

Tank Commandos poster
5.2

A demolition squad searches for how the Germans are getting tanks across a river. An Italian boy leads them to a bridge under the surface of the water.

Tank Commandos

1959