Professor AuBuchon Contributes to a Box Set of “Strange” Films

School of Communications Film Professor and Associate Dean Aaron AuBuchon has been spending the past couple of months watching and re-watching some of the oddest movies ever made, films such as “Rat Pfink a Boo Boo” and “The Chooper.” 

But it was all for the historic preservation and understanding of an independent film maker whose films are considered influential cult classics. 

AuBuchon provided expert commentary and edited several special feature documentaries for a collection of works from North American cult film-maker Ray Dennis Steckler, an independent movie producer and director whose low-budget films have been cited as inspirations for some of the most creative modern visionaries in Hollywood. The box set, called “The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler” is available for pre-order now and will be released at the end of July.

Steckler’s connection to Webster goes back to when he visited the Webster Film Series for a weekend-long retrospective of three of his most famous films, “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies,” “The Thrill Killers,” and “Rat Pfink a Boo Boo” in September 2005

“Critics (and others) often dismiss Ray Dennis Steckler as a ‘bad’ filmmaker and hold his work up to scorn and ridicule. But if you watch enough of it, a singular vision emerges; one that was equally influenced by European avant-garde filmmakers as it was postwar matinee serials and the cowboys, spacemen and monsters that populated them. Steckler is an utterly unique voice in world cinema, part accidental Surrealist, part pop culture obsessive, and part Barnum-esqe carnival barker, and his films always surprise with their unique situations and often adept craftmanship,” AuBuchon said. “Engaging with Steckler has the capacity to teach us a thing or two about how we watch films, why we watch films, and what we expect from them.  For me, Steckler turned a critical key decades ago, and the understanding his work unlocked has become my primary mission as a teacher of film studies. 

“I want people to walk away understanding one fundamental thing: there is no such thing as objectively “good” or “bad” films, and every one of them can teach you something. And contrary to what self-appointed arbiters of good taste may try to tell you, Steckler can teach you a lot.” 

According to the New York Times’ obituary of Steckler, directors David Lynch, John Waters and Quentin Tarantino all listed Steckler as being a major influence on their careers. Among the ground-breaking achievements of Steckler are his discovery of a young musician by the name of Frank Zappa who record the music for “The World’s Greatest Sinner;” making a video for the rock band Jefferson Airplane to promote their song “White Rabbit,” and discovering the talents of cinematographers Joseph V. Mascelli, Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs. All three men would later be called among the greatest cinematographers in Hollywood’s history for their works on “Easy Rider,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “The Deer Hunter,” among others.

The box set includes 20 Steckler films on 10 Blu-ray discs, accompanied by numerous interviews, short films and secondary audio tracks to help better understand the significance of the films. AuBuchon contributed audio commentary for two of the films, edited five of the special features included in the set, and made the trailer for the box set, which is currently online. 

AuBuchon said the box set is fairly complete, starting with his earliest film “Wild Guitar” in 1962, through his adult-oriented films in the ‘70s when his career hit a low point and he was desperate for money, to a minor Renaissance in the '80s, and ending with his last film, 2008’s “One More Time.” which was completed less than year before he died.

Among those interviewed or who provided commentary as part of the box set are several of the actors from his films, social and film commentator Joe Bob Briggs, “American Grindhouse” director Elijah Drenner, author of an upcoming book about Steckler Christopher Wayne Curry, and AuBuchon. 

The box set was produced by Severin Films and can be purchased online.