Hot on the tail of PIRANHACONDA (pictured, premiering on Syfy this Saturday, June 16 at 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.), director Jim Wynorski is finishing up GILA!, another reptile-run-amok monsterpiece. A remake of Ray Kellogg’s 1959 B-favorite THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (and no relation to the GILA! novel written by Kathryn Ptacek under the pseudonym Les Simons), the movie is near and dear to Wynorski’s heart.

“I’ve always liked [the original] since I was a little kid,” he tells Fango. “I saw it on television, and I always felt that I could do it justice today and still retain the style and the setting. My new version is set in 1959, with all kinds of vintage cars, vintage clothes; I even brought in a vintage actor, Don Sullivan, who starred in the original GIANT GILA MONSTER, to play a part in this one. He’s 84 years young, and was delighted to come and do a part.”

Audiences won’t have to wait long to see GILA!: “It’s fully edited,” Wynorski says, “and the effects team is working on it; there are supposed to be 150-200 [CG] shots in the movie. You know, it’s a lot of work, and we’re hoping to have it finished by September.”

In the meantime, audiences can get a creature fix via PIRANHACONDA, airing Saturday amidst a bunch of other nature amok Syfy flicks including SHARKTOPUS, MEGA PIRANHA and HAMMERHEAD: SHARK FRENZY. In addition to digitally enhanced mutant critters and surgically enhanced bikini babes, the film features an actor who requires no special FX: the sinister Mr. Blonde himself, Michael Madsen. “Mike’s a great guy,” Wynorski says. “I’ve done three movies with him. He’s a tough guy; he’ll beat you up if you piss him off. But I don’t piss him off [laughs]. I actually like him a lot. Bottom line, Mike’s a good guy, and I’d work with him again and again.”

Promising “a lot of violence and blood” in PIRANHACONDA, Wynorski doesn’t rule out a sequel if the film is a success, one that may have the river mutant facing a certain sea creature. “PIRANHACONDA stands poised to make a huge splash in the ratings,” he says, “and if in fact it does get viewers, I'll more than likely do some sort of sequel sometime in the near future. Maybe even pit it against Sharktopus, as everyone kiddingly is implying on blogs.” While Fango had Wynorski on the horn, we went ahead and got a few of his thoughts on some cult faves from the ’80s and ’90s. On working with the late Corey Haim on DEMOLITION HIGH (1996): “I have nothing but fond memories regarding working with Corey. He was professional, always knew his lines and was keen on improvising when the need arose. I had so much fun that I brought him back for DEMOLITION UNIVERSITY a year or so later. Kevin Tenney directed that one. Haim was a bit more of a ‘bad boy’ on the sequel, which required some babysitting on production’s part. But there was nothing to indicate that he was losing control.”

On genre veterans Angus Scrimm, Robert Tessier and Anthony Kiedis’ dad, Blackie Dammett: “I'm still good friends with Angus Scrimm, and he was wonderful during the making of THE LOST EMPIRE. A terrific actor, classically trained. Robert Tessier, however, was a drunk and mistreated and ridiculed everyone in the cast, mostly those who couldn't fight back—including the female cast and crew. I risked life and limb to shut him down one evening. Blackie Dammett was fine, although a bit eccentric. He brought a loaded gun to set on occasion.”

On a possible sequel to DEATHSTALKER 2 (1987): “You know, I don’t [see that being made], and I‘ll tell you why: That was a period of time when things like that were happening. You make a film like that today, it’s not gonna fly. The climate for that kind of movie is over. My usual response is, ‘If you like DEATHSTALKER 2, watch it again.’ Rather than me making a sequel to it, because all the original players… [Deathstalker actor] John Terlesky’s much older now, and a director too, and we’re still good friends and all, but it wouldn’t be the same doing it without all the original characters, and [laughs] bringing them all back together at this point would be almost impossible. So like I said, watch the first one again.”

And last but not least, when can fans expect to see LOST EMPIRE get a proper DVD release? “That’s a good question; I’ve been trying to get that one out for years. It’s changed ownership so many times, the people who own it don’t really know who is the owner. So they’re kind of afraid to put it out or license the rights. It’s been very difficult over the years to get that particular title on DVD. I’m sure someone will eventually crack it, but I’ve got so much other stuff on my plate… I’ve got my edition, which is scope, off my original print. But I know it’s tough to find a good copy of that movie. The VHS is a terrible pan-and scan. It doesn’t do the film justice. I’m hoping someday that they’ll get it out. God knows when—probably after I die.”

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