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If there is one thing that I'm always on my soapbox about, it is learning about the horror genre, from the very beginnings to modern day. The reason is simply because we need to recognize what came before us and remember what they gave us. It helps us appreciate where we are now. So when I heard about a documentary that was being made about this lesser known Florida based filmmaker, William Grefé, needless to say, I was excited.

One of my favorites of Grefé's work is his 1965 film Sting of Death, which features a half man/half jellyfish creature, which is just a hoot. It featured such a memorable monster, my wife immortalized it on a birthday cake for me, along with the title creature from Z.A.A.T.! Grefé made other titles in the horror genre like Death Curse of Tartu (what a great title!), Mako: The Jaws of Death, Stanley, and a few more. He also didn't just work in the horror genre, but in quite a few of them, from biker movies, racing movies, and even a drug exploitation! He was making films with very little budget, but always turning out a entertaining title that made money. And now, with this new documentary, we get to hear from Grefé himself as we go through all of this films, hearing some great stories about each one of them. But it is not just him that we hear from, but plenty of other people that either worked with him on those films, like Doug Hobart, Randy Grinter, Joe Morrison, William Marquez, Chris Robinson, as well as fellow filmmakers like H.G. Lews, David F. Friedman, Fred Olen Ray, and even William Shatner himself! This 2-disc set comes with not only the documentary, but the rare, never released before film Whisky Mountain, starring Christopher George. While not a horror title, it has plenty of dark exploitation thrills to it to keep you entertained. The disc is also filled with trailers, a couple of short films (one starring Shatner), deleted scenes, and so much more.

Grefé is one of those guys that was working outside of the Hollywood system, usually working in the Florida area, and put out some very memorable and entertaining films. While most normal movie fans might turn their noses up at these kind of films, I think true connoisseurs of the exploitation field will always be pleasantly entertained. At the end of the day, isn't that what a filmmaker should be all about? One that can turn out a film within the budget, make it fun and/or exciting for the audience, and have the picture make money at the box office. Grefé showed that by using creativity and ingenuity, rather than just throwing money at it like modern Hollywood films are made, he showed how great of a genuine filmmaker he was. The shame is that there aren't too many more people out there these days, but I'm sure seeing his story in this documentary could just spark those creative juices in some young filmmaker and start them on their way.

This documentary was directed by Daniel Griffith from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, who has created a ton of amazing features and featurettes for DVD and blu-ray releases over the years, so he really knows his way around this kind of subject matter, which he does another great job here as well. This disc comes highly recommended not only because it is entertaining, but also it is a great history lesson!

They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé (2016)

**** (out of 4)

When it comes to exploitation films, William Grefe really isn't the most well-known name even though he created some of the biggest hits for the sub-genre including the snake film STANLEY. He is best remembered today for shooting his films in Florida and adding the atmosphere of the state to films like STING OF DEATH, DEATH CURSE OF TARTU, THE HOOKED GENERATION, THE DEVIL'S SISTERS, IMPULSE and MAKO: THE JAWS OF DEATH.

I was excited that someone decided to make a film on Grefe but at the same time I was a little worried about the 123 minute running time. I mean, did someone who made sixteen films really need that long of a documentary? Well the answer was yes because director Daniel Griffith has created an incredibly entertaining film that does what every great documentary should do and that is make it even more interested in the subject. If you're familiar with the work of Grefe then you're going to be wanting to re-watch all of the movies and if you've never heard of him, well, I think you'll still be entertained by this film and will then want to see the films in question.

As with other exploitation documentaries, we get interviews with some of the big names in the genre like David F. Friedman, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Fred Olen Ray and Frank Henelotter. Thankfully there are also interviews with the man himself who gets to talk about the production of all his movies as well as share some wonderful stories about various issues that happened on the set. There's a story about a near-death in IMPULSE that is just downright crazy. Also on hand for interviews are some of the fine people who also worked on the films and these include the likes of John Davis Chandler, Randy Grinter, Gary Grutcher and exploitation expert Chris Poggiali is also here.

The interviews themselves are great as are the clips from not only the movies and their trailers but there's also some news cast footage and some outtakes from the films themselves. THEY CAME FROM THE SWAMP is a film I had very high expectations for and it delivered everything you'd want plus much more. You can tell that there was a lot of passion in the project and director Griffith has really given fans the end-all project on Grefe and his films.