Don May, Jr.
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Don May, Jr. (born July 19, 1967) is President of the U.S. Blu-ray/DVD distribution company, Synapse Films.
Born and raised in Lincoln, IL, May grew up loving horror films and anything to do with the horror genre. Graduating with a degree in Mass Communications/Broadcasting from Illinois State University, May had trouble finding work in the television industry after college, and took jobs at local comic book stores, video stores, and was picked as a candidate for the manager training program for the now defunct GKC Cinemas theatre chain. He also wrote articles for Film Threat, Film Threat Video Guide, and Video Watchdog during this time. While working in the Bloomington, IL LaserDisc store "Laser's Edge," May was talking to his sales rep for the store on the phone one day about how awful all the video versions of George A. Romero's 1968 classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD were and how he wished he could some day do a beautiful version on home video. It was a dream that would actually become reality for him not too soon after this phone call, and his life would take on an amazing new direction.
In 1993, there was a 25th Anniversary celebration of the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD that took place in Pennsylvania. May went to the show and met, for the first time in person, his sales rep from the LaserDisc store. Since George A. Romero and most of the original cast of the film were present at the show, they decided to ask if it would somehow be possible to work with Romero and the cast to do the ultimate LaserDisc version of the film. To their surprise, Romero said "Yes!" and that night, in the bar over a few drinks, his first home video company, Elite Entertainment, was born. Almost immediately after this show, May made the life-changing decision to pursue the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD project full-time and during the 9th week (of 12) of the GKC theatre manager training program he quit, packed his bags, and moved to New Jersey to be closer to his new Elite Entertainment business partner so they could be more efficient at producing the project.
One year, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later, the Laserdisc of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was released, just in time for Halloween. It was a huge success that led to more projects almost immediately for Elite Entertainment. May's second project was Christopher Lee's HORROR HOTEL and over the next two years, May would go on to produce LaserDisc Special Editions of the original Tobe Hooper classic, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE & THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE PART 2, RE-ANIMATOR, THE STEPFORD WIVES, Hooper's INVADERS FROM MARS, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (also Part 2 and 3), EVIL DEAD 2, LADY IN WHITE, George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD, MANIAC, MANIAC COP, TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD, MARK OF THE DEVIL and a number of Hammer horrors, like DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and more.
In late 1996, May made the painful decision to leave Elite Entertainment and started his new company, Synapse Films, with long-time friend and associate Jerry Chandler, a fellow he actually met in the old free subscriber ad pages of Fangoria Magazine when he was in high-school. Moving back to Bloomington, IL in late 1996 to get his new company up and running with new business partners Chandler and Charles A. Fiedler, May continued to release horror and science-fiction films on LaserDisc and DVD, like DARIO ARGENTO'S WORLD OF HORROR, DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD, GAMERA, VAMPYROS LESBOS, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE and THE BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE. In 2002, once Synapse Films was a stable success for all involved, May moved to Michigan to be closer to his business partners where they continue to do business in a small office building close to the Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan.
Since starting Synapse Films, May has also been involved with motion picture projects. He has a cameo in the Troma film classic, TOXIC AVENGER 4: CITIZEN TOXIE, helped complete and produce director Adam Wingard's (BLAIR WITCH, YOU'RE NEXT, THE GUEST) first feature film HOME SICK, helped with the World's Fair sequence in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and is thanked in the credits of the popular video game SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH, based on the hit TV show. He appears as himself in the documentary REWIND THIS, and SMOKE AND MIRRORS: THE TOM SAVINI STORY. He was a Line Producer on RAPTURIOUS, a film written and directed by "Jerky Boy" Kamal Ahmed.
Now in its 21st year, May, Chandler and Fiedler still run Synapse Films, and their offshoot adult/erotic line Impulse Pictures and have released almost 300 titles and counting.
List of Synapse Films releases
Don May, Jr's IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1035724/
http://synapse-films.com/about-us/
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