Paul Bartel, a renowned filmmaker, was born in Brooklyn in 1938. From a young age, he had a profound passion for directing animated movies, a dream he harbored since he was just 11 years old. By the time he was 13, Bartel had already gained valuable experience working at New York's UPA animation studio over the summer. He went on to major in theater arts at UCLA, where he received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to further his education in film direction in Rome.
During his time in Rome, Bartel produced a short film that was presented at the esteemed 1962 Venice Film Festival. This achievement marked the beginning of his illustrious career in the film industry. Bartel's big break came when he was hired by Gene Corman, the brother of legendary filmmaker Roger Corman, to direct a low-budget horror feature called Private Parts in 1972.
Bartel's impressive work on Private Parts led to his appointment as a second unit director on Big Bad Mama in 1974, a film that was produced by none other than Roger Corman himself. This experience ultimately paved the way for Bartel to direct his most iconic film, Death Race 2000, in 1975. Despite his impressive track record, Bartel was unable to persuade Corman to finance his pet project, Eating Raoul.
Undeterred, Bartel used the $500,000 he received from his parents, who sold their New Jersey home, to bring his black comedy vision to life. Shot over the course of a year, mostly on weekends, Eating Raoul (1982) starred Bartel and Mary Woronov as gourmet cannibals who lure sex swingers to their apartment, where they would be subjected to a series of brutal and comedic ordeals.
