TALES FROM THE JOEL: A review of WYNKOOP TALES and THE JOEL

 

you are a fan of shot on video b-movies chances are you know who Joel D Wynkoop is. Having acted in 160 films (and counting)

and directed 24, Wynkoop has been a staple of the indie film world since the early 80s without an end in sight.

What you may not know is that despite specializing in loud angry characters, Joel is one of the nicest guys on the planet.

When we reviewed Lost Faith Joel reached out to me and since then we have been friends.

When he asked me to check out his two newest features and share my thoughts i was

delighted to oblige..Unfortunately that was the same time my blu ray player shit the bed.

Two weeks went by and i got a new player…which also wouldn’t play the discs.

Poor Joel has been waiting months for this review now.

I finally got my hands on a laptop and popped in The Wynkoop Tales and The Joel Wynkoop Action Pack for the first time.

THE WYNKOOP TALES focuses on Barry, a nerdy out of work writer desperately trying to catch the attention of a publicist and get one of his ideas made into a film.

Too bad Barry’s ideas aren’t all that great as we are treated to a barrage of silly off kilter horror tales featuring the of a rapidly deteriorating marriage,The tale of a worried

wife who finds more than she expected when she hires a private detective, the tale of A journalist persuing a death cult,

Packed to the brim with wonderful overacting,goofy stock sounds and music, questionable yet creative camerawork and stories so out there and bad (in an awesome way)

that genre fans like myself will be sure to love it.

My favorite short here was the story of the wife who hires the private investigator. The out of nowhere twist and seemingly nonsensical turn of events (sorry to be vague but trying not to

spoil anything) give it a twilight zone meets public access at 4am feel that i really got a kick out of.

The cinematography here was video like we have grown to expect from Joel and i know some reviewers and critics will shit on this little number for that but damned if

I don’t love the way this thing looks and feels as if i just got it off the shelf of a long forgotten big dog video store from my youth. Shooting on video tends to actually

cost more than going digital in the long run of things so i think Joel and his wife Catherine activly decided to go with a vhs feel to make fans like myself happy and it works.

the acting here was that special kind of off that Joel brings to the table and you can tell Joel and wife Catherine directed the other actors to go full speed ham and have fun.

Ive always admired how Joel not only doesn’t get offended by the B movie label but embraced it and really threw himself into the mix. It should be also be

noted that Joel and Catherine make at least an 8th of the cast, playing every set of main characters even when doing so is hilarious like in one scene where Catherine Plays Joel’s daughter!

This is the first time I have seen a film he co-directed with his wife, It’s inspiring to see how well these two work together.

If all that isn’t enough than the fact that as soon as you put this dvd in you get greeted by Joel himself rapping about Tim Ritter’s Truth Or Dare should settle the

debate on wheter or not you should pick it up.

The only issue i had with this release (and the next one I will be discussing) is the cover artwork. Both come in plainish orange with a few photos on the front and back.

These films deserve better packing and I hope that we will see a rerelease in the future that does just that.

Overall I give THE WYNKOOP TALES no middle fingers up. It may not be for everyone but that’s ok, this one was purely a love letter from Joel to us hardcore fan and we got it

loud and clear buddy we love you too keep up the insanity.