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Biography: Joseph Zito has been an active film director since the 1970's, making his mark with the low-budget slasher, The Prowler. Below is an excerpt from an interview, asking how he got involved with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
"I had made another horror film called The Prowler which was something which I produced and directed. And it was a low budget feature. And in fact Tom Savini did the special effects and makeup on it. And I had heard about Friday the 13th first, about the possibility about doing a Friday the 13th, through someone who had seen The Prowler. And this was a guy who was apparently one of the owners of the Friday the 13th franchise. This was a theater owner in Boston, which was the owner of the Friday the 13th series at the time. Because you remember the Friday the 13th films originally were negative pick-ups for Paramount. So they were owned by someone else but Paramount ended up distributing them.
And I got a call from one of the original owners saying that he had seen my film The Prowler. It was an odd call. He said he had seen my film and that it was terrific but it wasn't gonna make a lot of money. He said that if he could call that film Friday the 13th, it would make a fortune. So he said that they had just finished Friday the 13th Part 3. And he said that if they make another Friday the 13th, he would be calling me. And would want me to be the director. And then sometime thereafter I got a call from him saying that he wanted to do Friday the 13th Part 4 and he would like me to direct it. And we started talking about the story because there was no story for Part 4 at that point." - Full Interview at PitofHorror.com
Producer Filmography
Power Play (2002)
Delta Force One: The Lost Patrol (1999)
Red Scorpion (1989)
Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
Missing in Action (1984)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
The Prowler (1981)
Bloodrage (1979)
Abduction (1975)
Where Is He Now?: Joseph Zito continues to be involved in directing, recently finishing production on Power Play. He can be heard on the commentary for The Prowler DVD, along with special effects artist, Tom Savini.
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