The House That DeCoteau Built (er, Rented)
David DeCoteau is a truly fascinating filmmaker. If ever there were a filmography that was begging for a retrospective book or podcast or YouTube Channel solely dedicated to his works, it would be incredible. He has been directing since 1984 and amassed 176 credits in that time (not to mention the other positions he’s held in that span). He has gone from porn, to horror (with Roger Corman and Charles Band”, to softcore, to family films, to Hallmark movies, to Lifetime movies—and often dipping back and forth between these categories. Have you seen a skin flick from the ‘80s (preferably a gay one)? Then he may have directed it.
What about a title from Full Moon like CREEPOZOIDS, PUPPET MASTER III: TOULON’S REVENGE, SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIME BOWL-A-RAMA, NIGHTMARE SISTERS, or TEST TUBE TEENS FROM THE YEAR 2000?
Or some of Roger Corman’s output in the ‘80s and ‘90s like PREHYSTERIA 3? Do you even know what the 1313 series of films are, let alone have watched one (it’s the ones with a house full of predominantly topless young men who sometimes encounter some sort of supernatural situation)? That’s ALL DeCoteau. A TALKING CAT!?!, A TALKING PONY!?!, AN EASTER BUNNY PUPPY, and SANTA’S SUMMER HOUSE are some of his one-off family films.
Then there’s the Christmas Hallmark staples of RUNAWAY CHRISTMAS BRIDE, MY CHRISTMAS GRANDPA, CHRISTMAS MATCHMAKERS, and more. Or his WRONG series of films for Lifetime like THE WRONG CHEERLEADER COACH, THE WRONG REAL ESTATE AGENT, THE WRONG BOY NEXT DOOR, and THE WRONG MR. RIGHT (in all sincerity—that’s a solid title).
He often employs pseudonyms like Ellen Cabot, Mary Crawford, Julie Breen, David McCabe, and more. That’s probably due to not wanting to have people connect the family-centric titles with the homoerotic work, or some other crossover. Which is bunk because he should be proud of his range. I’m not going to lie and say that he’s an undiscovered Scorsese.
He does the best with what he can (I mean, he did turn in the best PUPPET MASTER movie, after all—plus provided various deposits into the spank bank for the fairly underserved population of Queer young men). He’s competent enough and there are moments (intentional or not) that will stay with viewers well after the credits roll.
From his days in Adult Film to the DTV setting of Full Moon, DeCoteau was trained to make movies with limited budget and rapid turnaround. With little money and even less time, he honed his craft to situate him as a sought after talent for any production company that needs a lot of content quickly and inexpensively.
This is what makes him in demand for Hallmark and Lifetime as he can turn around titles that look and feel like a movie even if there’s some skimping going on (the dude loves stock footage of establishing locations even if it’s incongruous to the rest of the film).
But if you are even a passing fan of any of at least two of the 31 movies he made between 2011 through 2014, you may have noticed another recurring element in his work: a certain sprawling mansion with very specific and unique interior decorations that include a half Volkswagen-turned-loveseat and a large piece of driftwood rocking red polyester boots. There’s also a very distinct pool and patio in back. And it keeps popping up, over and over again. (There’s also been some scuttlebutt that it was used in non-DeCoteau productions of the…more Adult nature)
Well, one person had to get to the bottom of it. And what he found was equally totally pedestrian and incredibly wild, all intersecting at this one location in Malibu.
Jovo Anschluss dives into this mystery as it seems like it has to be significant, right? Why this house? Why these accoutrements? WHY???? Anschluss finds both a ton of weird background but also a fairly simple and plausible explanation, all delivered with lots of humor. Even if you’re not actively familiar with DeCoteau’s work (or the particular films that were made at his Mystery Mansion), it is a fascinating and entertaining watch.