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J.R. Bookwalter’s IMDb. J.R. Bookwalter has been around the world of low budget cinema for close to twenty years now. He made his first film, the Romero-influenced The Dead Next Door in 1988 with funding that partially came from EVIL DEAD director Sam Raimi. That film is still seen by many as the best film Bookwalter directed. Unfortunately for Bookwalter, The Dead Next Door would not hit shelves until after his second film did; Robot Ninja. With a title like that, how can you go wrong? According to Bookwalter, making that movie, and several others similar to it, for incredibly low budgets in small amounts of time was a surefire way to not only go wrong, but be on the run from what his friends termed the Bad Movie Police. That is the inspiration for the latest release from Tempe DVD, which is the company that Bookwalter has owned and operated for many years. Five of his earlier films, which he made for David DeCoteau’s Cinema Home Video, are included on the set. That set is, by the way, out in stores now.