William Lustig was born on February 1st, 1955 in Bronx, New York. Lustig avidly watched a huge volume of lowdown trashy exploitation fare at numerous 42nd Street grindhouse theaters and worked as a movie theater usher as a kid in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He also took a few film classes at New York University. Lustig began his film career in his mid to late teens, working behind-the-scenes in various minor production capacities on a handful of X-rated porno pictures as well as both "The Seven Ups" and "Death Wish." He made his debut as a director, producer and editor with the hardcore features "Hot Honey" and "The Violation of Claudia." Lustig directed both of these movies under the alias Billy Bagg. Lustig found himself at the center of a storm of controversy when he made the grim, gory and disturbing slasher sleaze splatter landmark "Maniac," which boasts an incredibly intense performance by legendary character actor Joe Spinell as a vicious depraved psychopath and plenty of hideously graphic'n'gruesome make-up f/x by horror genre icon Tom Savini. Lustig followed up "Maniac" with the tough, gritty and exciting urban revenge opus "Vigilante." He delivered another winner with the terrific "Maniac Cop," which was the first of several cinematic collaborations with fellow maverick independent filmmaker Larry Cohen. Both the stirring action item "Hit List" and the suspenseful serial killer thriller "Relentless" were likewise on the money excellent and entertaining offerings. However, the "Maniac Cop" sequels were strictly hit-or-miss affairs: the second one was a worthy successor to the superior original and the third one was a regrettably mediocre entry in the series. Lustig's last film as a director to date was the nifty and enjoyable fright flick "Uncle Sam." William Lustig went on to initially produce retrospective DVD documentaries for Anchor Bay and now currently runs the outstanding DVD label Blue Underground.
