Ray Dennis Steckler

Ray Dennis Steckler (January 25, 1938 – January 7, 2009),^[1][2] also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. In addition to Cash Flagg, Steckler was also known by the pseudonyms Sven Christian, Henri-Pierre Duval, Pierre Duvall, Sven Hellstrom, Ricardo Malatoté, Harry Nixon, Michael J. Rogers, Michel J. Rogers, Wolfgang Schmidt, Cindy Lou Steckler, R.D. Steckler, Ray Steckler, and Cindy Lou Sutters —- this last his "porn name".

Early life and career

Ray Dennis Steckler was born in

In 1963 he co-produced his second film, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, co-starring his then wife, Carolyn Brandt. Filmed for a budget of $38,000,^[6] the film was photographed by cinematographer Joseph V. Mascelli^[2] with then newcomers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond as camera operators.^[7] Initially distributed on the lower half of a double-bill by Fairway, Steckler took Creatures on the road himself and made it a success under a number of titles, including Diabolical Dr. Voodoo and The Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary.

Steckler's next film was his answer to Psycho, entitled The Thrill Killers, released in 1964. The film marked the first effort between Steckler and Ron Haydock, who would be Steckler's creative partner up until the latter's death in the 1970s. It also notably features Gary Kent as a blood-thirsty killer.^[8]

Steckler continued to produce a number of low-budget but fanciful films which soon attained cult status, including Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (a spoof of Batman) and Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters (an homage to the East Side Kids films). By the late 1960s, he also directed the music video for Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", as well as promos for Jimi Hendrix, Nazz, and Frank Zappa.^[9][10]

Later life and career

With the decline of

In the late 1980s, Steckler opened Mascot Video in Las Vegas and sold it in 1995 to local businessman Dan Wayman. Up until his death in 2009, Steckler continued to sell videos of his works via the web, including six volumes of young actresses and dancers in nude auditions for Steckler's camera. Steckler says these auditions were shot in 1991 for The Hollywood Strangler in Las Vegas (a.k.a. Las Vegas Serial Killer), but that film was finished by 1987.

In 2008, Steckler announced production of his new film One More Time, which he described as an "extension" (as opposed to a "sequel") to The Incredibly Strange Creatures,[1] and launched two MySpace pages and a website for casting actresses for his upcoming films. Steckler completed post-production of One More Time shortly before his death. It was filmed on location on the

Shortly after returning to Las Vegas, Steckler, who had been fighting heart disease for several years, died of cardiac arrest on January 7, 2009, aged 70.^[2] He was buried at the Palm Mortuary and Cemetery Green Valley.

Legacy

Wild Guitar was restored by director/fan Nicolas Winding Refn and featured at the Black Deer Festival in 2019.^[11][12]

Mixed Up Zombies had since become a cult classic as being one of

...this flick doesn't just rebel against, or even disregard, standards of taste and art. In the universe inhabited by The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, such things as standards and responsibility have never been heard of. It is this lunar purity which largely imparts to the film its classic stature. Like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and a very few others, it will remain as an artifact in years to come to which scholars and searchers for truth can turn and say, "This was trash!"^[13]

Falling into semi-obscurity past its eccentric title (as it was also the inspiration for the documentary series The Incredibly Strange Film Show which interviewed Steckler himself in one episode^[14]), the film gained notoriety once again in 1997, when it was featured on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.^[15]

Steckler's low-budget often meant working for little to nothing, but his comradeship was often reflected in his productions. In his 1969 film Body Fever, Steckler created a bit part for then destitute fellow director Coleman Francis, who, by coincidence, also achieved belated fame via Mystery Science Theater 3000. Francis died not long after the making of the film.

Filmography

Director

• Wild Guitar (1962)
• Goof on the Loose (1963), short film
• The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964)
• The Thrill Killers (1964)
• The Lemon Grove Kids (1965), segment in film Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters
• Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966)
• Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, music video (1967)
• Nazz's Open My Eyes music video (1968)
• Sinthia, the Devil's Doll (1968) as Sven Christian
• Body Fever (1969)
• The Mad Love Life of a Hot Vampire (1971) as Sven Christian
• The Horny Vampire (1971)
• Blood Shack (1971) as Wolfgang Schmidt
• Sexual Satanic Awareness (1972)
• Triple Play (1974)
• Sexorcist Devil (1974) as Sven Hellstrom
• Perverted Passion (1974) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• Teenage Hustler (1975) as Harry Nixon
• Red Heat (1975)
• Teenage Dessert (1976) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• Sex Rink (1976) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher (1979) as Wolfgang Schmidt
• Indian Lady (1981) as Cindy Lou Steckler
• Black Garters (1981) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• Debbie Does Las Vegas (1981) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• Weekend Cowgirls (1983) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• Plato's Retreat West (1983) as Cindy Lou Sutters
• Las Vegas Serial Killer (1986)
• War Cat (1987) (uncredited)
• Summer of Fun (1997)
• One More Time (2009)

Actor

• Wild Guitar (1962) (Steak)
• Eegah (1962) (guitar player)
• The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964)

References