David Del Valle

Del Valle began his love of horror movies early, beginning "when I was four, or five, or six years old. So the first movies I saw were the Universal horror films, with Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mummy, and Bela Lugosi as Dracula. And then I started watching the films of Vincent Price, especially at the drive-in, when I was in high school, because that’s what they showed, nothing but triple-feature horror movies. So as a kid, that was what I watched, as an escape from school…. And I’m sure my story resonates with a lot of people, because you start out with that genre when you’re a little boy. That’s the way that works."{{cite web|url= https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/haunted-hollywood-host-david-del-valle-interview/|title= Haunted Hollywood Host David Del Valle Scares Up More Movie Madness|website=Den of Geek|date=August 4, 2020|access-date=January 30, 2023}}

Del Valle attended San Francisco State University.{{cite web|url= https://lca.sfsu.edu/archive/lcanews/2020/07/22/820121-alum-david-del-valle-hosts-haunted-hollywood-series.html|title=Alum David Del Valle Hosts 'Haunted Hollywood' Series|publisher=San Francisco State University|date=July 22, 2020|access-date=January 31, 2023}}

Del Valle began contributing articles on horror and classic Hollywood movies to magazines including Video Watchdog,{{cite web|url=https://www.videowatchdog.com/home/HomeNews2-old2.htm|title=Welcome to Video Watchdog!|first1=Tim|last1=Lucas|first2=Donna|last2=Lucas|authorlink1=Tim Lucas|website=videowatchdog.com|access-date=January 31, 2023}} "And the Watchdog 's Kennel of contributors consists of only the very best writers and historians working in the field of fantastic film research and criticism, including … David Del Valle…{{cite magazine|title=Return to the Rue Morgue: A Conversation with Gordon Hessler|magazine=Video Watchdog|issue= 98|date=August 2003|first=David|last=Del Valle}} Cinefantastique,{{cite web|url=https://sffrd.library.tamu.edu/site/search/by/author/6950|title=Author: Del Valle, David|publisher=The Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database at Texas A&M University Libraries|access-date=January 31, 2023}}{{cite magazine|last1=Biodrowski|first1=Steve|first2=David |last2=Del Valle|first3= Lawrence|last3=French|title=Looking Back on Forty Years as Horror's Crown Prince|magazine=Cinefantastique|volume=19|issue=1–2 |date=January 1989|pages=40–85, 119–20}} Scarlet Street,{{cite magazine|title= Female on the Beach review|first=David|last=Del Valle|magazine=Scarlet Street|date=Fall 2005}} Diabolique,{{cite magazine|url=https://diaboliquemagazine.com/author/david-del-valle/|title=Author: David Del Valle|magazine=Diabolique|access-date=January 31, 2023}} Kinoeye,{{cite magazine|url=|title=When sex and death are indissoluble: Riccardo Freda's L'Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock (The Horrible Secret of Dr Hichcock / Raptus, 1962)|magazine=Kinoeye|first=David|last=Del Valle| volume= 3|issue=12|date=October 27, 2003}} Little Shoppe of Horrors,{{cite magazine|title='Isobel, Let Down Your Hair': An interview with Yvonne Furneaux|magazine=Little Shoppe of Horrors|first=David|last=Del Valle|issue=24|date=May 2010}} and the UK's Films and Filming,{{cite magazine|first=David|last= Del Valle|title=Roger Corman|magazine=Films and Filming|location=London|date= November 1984|pages=15–20}}{{cite magazine|title= Tall, Dark & Gruesome: Interview with Christopher Lee|magazine=Films and Filming|location=London|date=September 1985|issue=372|pages=29–31|first=David |last=Del Valle}} plus the website RealScreen.com.{{cite web|url= https://realscreen.com/author/ddelvalle/|title=David Del Valle|website=RealScreen.com|access-date=January 31, 2023}} From 2000 to 2016, Del Valle wrote a web column on film history, Camp David, for the magazine Films in Review.{{cite magazine|url= https://filmsinreviewarchives.com/?s=%22Camp+David%22|title=Camp David|magazine=Films in Review|access-date=January 30, 2023}}

Del Valle additionally produced and hosted a series of cable TV interviews entitled Sinister Image. His guests included actor Cameron Mitchell and directors Russ Meyer and Curtis Harrington. A compilation was released on home video as Cult People (1990), and the audio of Del Valle's 1987 Sinister Image on-camera interview with Vincent Price later appeared on the 2013 Shout Factory DVD/Blu-ray set The Vincent Price Collection.{{cite web|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/61802/vincent-price-collection-the/|title=The Vincent Price Collection, Shout Factory, PG, October 22, 2013|website=DVD Talk|date=October 11, 2013|first=Ian|last=Jane|access-date=January 30, 2023}} "Scream Factory have dug up a few new extras for this disc, however, starting with a sixty-two minute long 'Vintage Interview with Vincent Price' that was conducted by film historian David Del Valle in 1987. This is basically Del Valle's Sinister Image interview that he conducted years back, a fascinating and thorough interview which finds Price very open and keen to talk about his work." Article includes still from the on-camera interview. He also hosted and curated the Full Moon Features streaming series Haunted Hollywood in 2020. He was a producer and the onscreen interviewer of Vincent Price on the 1994 documentary Vincent Price: My Life and Crimes.{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b87359d0c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131040315/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b87359d0c|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2023|title=Vincent Price: My Life and Crimes|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=January 31, 2023}}

He began doing audio commentary on movie home video releases in 1983,{{cite web|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CYrpr-UPQPu/|publisher=Instagram|first=David|last=Del Valle|title=William Lustig director producer. This wonderful guy gave me my first audio commentary back in 1983 for the Laser disc of the vampire classic Daughters of Darkness 1971. This opened the door to my recording 80 commentary tracks so far.|date=January 13, 2022|access-date=January 30, 2023}} and has continued to do them into the 2020s. (See "Audio commentary" below).

Del Valle curated the 2006 Los Angeles, California photo exhibit Nevermore, devoted to the Edgar Allan Poe films of Vincent Price and Roger Corman.{{cite web|url= http://new.hollywoodgothique.com/nevermore-video-tour-of-artwork-from-films-inspired-by-poe/|title= Nevermore – Video Tour of Artwork from Films Inspired by Poe|website=Hollywood Gothique|first=Steve|last=Biodrowski|date=August 14, 2009|access-date=January 31, 2023}} Additionally, he has worked as a Hollywood talent agent,{{cite magazine|url=https://brightlightsfilm.com/book-review-lost-horizons-beneath-hollywood-sign-david-del-valle/|title=Book review: Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign, by David Del Valle|magazine=Bright Lights Film Journal|first=C. Jerry|last=Kutner|date=May 24, 2011|access-date=January 31, 2023}} has done small, sometimes uncredited roles in low-budget films, and was casting director of the 1987 horror anthology film The Offspring aka From a Whisper to a Scream.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSH25LXGOksC&dq=journalist+david+del+valle+born&pg=PA204|title=Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990|first=Brian|last=Albright|publisher=McFarland & Co.|location=Jefferson, North Carolina, USA|year=2012|page=204|isbn=978-0786472277}}

{{incomplete|and needs a fuller list of his audio commentaries|date=January 2023}}

He has contributed audio commentary to the DVD/Blu-ray releases of films including for the Criterion Collection:

• Connecting Rooms,{{cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Connecting-Rooms-Blu-ray/239618/#Review|title=Connecting Rooms Blu-ray Review|first= Neil |last=Lumbard|date=August 23, 2020|access-date=January 31, 2023|website=Blu-ray.com}}
• The Count Yorga Collection (with C. Courtney Joyner){{cite web|title=The Count Yorga Collection Blu-ray Review: Vampire Wreaks Havoc in California! Read All About It!|url= https://cinemasentries.com/the-count-yorga-collection-blu-ray-review-vampire-wreaks-havoc-in-california-read-all-about-it/?doing_wp_cron=1675115543.3569769859313964843750|date=October 21, 2022|first=Joe III|last=Garcia|website=Cinema Sentries|access-date=January 31, 2023}} "Disc one and two contain archival audio tracks by David Del Valle and C. Courtney Joyner who make a great team."
• She Done Him Wrong,{{cite web|url= https://thedigitalbits.com/item/she-done-him-wrong-1933-klsc-2021-bd|title=She Done Him Wrong (1933) (Blu-Ray Review)|website=The Digital Bits|first=Dennis|last=Seuling|date=May 28, 2021|access-date=January 31, 2023}}
• The Web,{{cite web|url=https://trailersfromhell.com/universal-noir-1-collection/|title=Universal Noir #1 Collection|website=Trailers from Hell|first=Glenn|last=Erickson|date=November 5, 2022|access-date=January 31, 2023}}

Synapse Films:

• Suspiria,{{cite web|url= https://dailydead.com/december-19th-blu-ray-dvd-releases-include-suspiria-4k-restoration-the-amicus-collection-american-gothic-1988/|title=December 19th Blu-ray & DVD Releases Include Suspiria 4K Restoration, The Amicus Collection, American Gothic (1988)|first=Heather|last=Wixon|website=Daily Dead|date=December 18, 2017|access-date=January 31, 2023}}

Kino Lorber:

• The Amazing Transparent Man{{cite web|url= https://trailersfromhell.com/edgar-g-ulmer-sci-fi-collection/|title=Edgar G. Ulmer Sci-Fi Collection|first=Glenn|last=Erickson|website=Trailers from Hell|date=April 5, 2022|access-date=January 31, 2023}}
• The Female Animal{{cite web|url= https://www.zekefilm.org/2020/05/16/film-noir-the-dark-side-of-cinema-ii-blu-ray-review/|website=ZekeFilm|title=KL Studio Classics, Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema II|first=Jim|last=Tudor|date=May 16, 2020|access-date=January 31, 2023}}
• The Perfect Furlough,{{cite web|url= https://blog.scarecrow.com/new-releases-for-august-4-2/|title= New Releases for August 4!|date= 4 August 2020|publisher=Scarecrow Video|access-date=January 30, 2023}}

Gypsy Wildcat{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Twilight Time:

• The Hound of the Baskervilles{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/daily/article.cfm/articleID/7351/|title= Aisle Seat 6-28: Movies! Olive & Twilight Time|magazine=Film Score Monthly|first=Andy|last=Dursin|date=June 27, 2016|access-date=January 30, 2023}}

• {{cite book|title=Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign|first=David|last=Del Valle| publisher =BearManor Media|location=Albany, Georgia, USA|date=2010|isbn=978-1593936075}}
• {{cite book|title=Six Reels Under|first=David|last=Del Valle|publisher =BearManor Media|location=Albany, Georgia, USA|date=2012|isbn=978-1-593-93696-9}}

{{incomplete|and needs a fuller list of documentaries|date=January 2023}}

• It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures (2001; interviewee; one-hour documentary for American Movie Classics (AMC){{cite web|url=https://www.betaseries.com/en/movie/111120-it-conquered-hollywood-the-story-of-american-international-pictures|title=It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures|website=BetaSeries.com|access-date=January 30, 2023}}
• "The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees" (2002; interviewee; half-hour documentary){{cite magazine|url=https://www.fangoria.com/original/jason-goes-to-hell-dvd-review/|title=DVD Review: Jason X & Jason Goes To Hell|first=Michael|last=Gingold|authorlink=Michael Gingold|magazine=Fangoria|date=November 21, 2002|access-date=January 31, 2023}}
• Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007; interviewee; feature documentary){{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8c6b6fbb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322161544/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8c6b6fbb|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 22, 2016|title=Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=January 31, 2023}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0215978}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180322095349/http://www.delvallearchives.com/ The Del Valle Archives]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Valle, David}}

Category:American male journalists

Category:American film historians

Category:Film theorists

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)