Mike Mendez

Mike Mendez, born and raised in Los Angeles, basically grew up with a camera glued to his hand. The dude was filming backyard epics before he even hit puberty. By 23, he cranked out his first feature, “Killers,” which somehow made its way to Sundance in ‘97—yeah, that Sundance. Alpine Pictures swooped in, took it off his hands, and actually got it distributed in the States, plus a global theatrical run. Not bad for a first-timer, right? He didn’t just stop there. Next up was “The Convent,” a horror-comedy that also scored a spot at Sundance in 2000, and then racked up screenings at, like, 30-something festivals all over the planet. Lionsgate released it across the U.S., giving it some serious exposure. Fast forward a bit—he jumps into documentary territory with “Masters of Horror” for Universal TV and Showtime in 2002, interviewing some of the horror genre’s heavy hitters. Keeping that horror streak alive, he dropped “The Gravedancers” in 2006, premiering at Tribeca before Lionsgate and After Dark Films pushed it out as part of the “8 Films To Die For” series. So yeah, the guy’s got range. On top of that, Mendez has dabbled in all sorts of projects—producing shorts for Xbox, working on “Beavis & Butthead,” and then unleashing “Big Ass Spider!” in 2013 at SXSW. That one starred Greg Grunberg from “Heroes” and got a limited global theatrical release. Mendez’s career? Wild ride from backyard movies to the big leagues, all while keeping things weird and pretty damn fun.