Jason Paul Collum

After making short films as a student at Saint Catherine's High School for class projects, Collum received his first paid film job as the publicist for America's Deadliest Home Video (1993). He was then hired as the writer /director of the horror sequel Mark of the Devil 666: The Moralist (1995) for Moore Video. He made two additional films, 5 Dark Souls (1996) and 5 Dark Souls, Part II: Roots of Evil (1998) for Moore, and also worked as a writer, producer and director of commercials (some of which he acted in as well) for TCI Television/Warner Cable (now known as "Spectrum"). Collum moved to West Hollywood in 1998 where actress Brinke Stevens (This Is Spinal Tap (1984)) introduced him to J.R. Bookwalter and David DeCoteau. He went on to work on a series of films for both directors, and also continued to direct and write other indie films. His short film, Julia Wept (2000), became a popular cult success, leading to big screen showings at numerous film festivals. In 2001, he moved to Chicago to work at Femme Fatales and Cinefantastique magazines in editorial positions. The Chicago staff was not kept when the magazines were sold to a new corporation in October 2002. Over the ensuing months, he worked on several new LA-based films, wrote the book "Assault of the Killer Bs: Interviews with 20 Cult Film Actresses" (McFarland, 2004) and wrote/directed the horror actresses documentary Something to Scream About (2003) which aired on Showtime from 2004-2007. In June 2003, Collum became the Publicity Director for Tempe Entertainment until 2006. He was also graphic designer for the magazine In Park from 2004-2006. He gained critical acclaim, some minor controversy, and his largest fan base with the release of October Moon (2005), possibly the first "gay horror film." Labeled by critics as "Gaytal Attraction," it remained the #1 Best Selling title for distributor Tempe from 2006-2010. Its success was followed by [title=tt0870176], thereby creating the first gay-themed horror franchise in history. Although the sequel was originally released by Ariztical Entertainment, financial disagreements returned the title to Collum, who then licensed it to Tempe Entertainment. His next two notable successes were documentaries: Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres (2010) for Roger Corman and Shout! Factory, and Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era (2011), which was licensed to NBCUniversal and aired on the SyFy and Chiller networks for two years. During this time, he earned a post-baccalaureate in Early Childhood Education and made his company, B+BOY(TM) Productions, LLC. into an LLC. In 2016 he published the novella "Basements". His feature Safe Inside (2017) reunited many of the lead actors from his earliest films. It also was his first feature film to receive a theatrical release simultaneously in multiple states across the U.S. In July 2023 he published the film guide "They Made How Many?! (Mostly) American Horror Franchises of the 20th Century." It immediately hit #1 on Amazon's "Historical Studies" list and #8 on Amazon's list of "Horror" titles. He released a 2nd Edition in 2024 with an additional 50 titles, bringing it to nearly 700 pages.