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Joel Bender, an editor, director, writer and producer who directed “Karla” and “Gas Pump Girls,” died in his sleep due to natural causes on April 24, his wife confirmed to Variety. He was 72.

Throughout his career, Bender directed 11 independent features and numerous episodes of TV shows. He edited over 20 feature films, including “Karla,” “Italian Ties,” “Bad Guys,” “Vlad,” “The Runnin’ Kind” and “The Cursed,” and TV shows such as “The Great Race,” “Survivor” and “Power Rangers.”

Bender was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and attended the School of the Visual Arts, where he made award-winning short films at the age of 19. He worked as an assistant to film historian William K. Iverson, and when his school sent him to exhibit his films at The Film Theatre in London, Bender met and befriended director Abraham Polonsky.

While in London, Bender connected with November Books to publish a book about notable film directors.

We have a packed Horror Highlights today! Heidi Moore’s Dolly Deadly creeps its way onto Blu-ray on August 23rd. Also: release details for Like a Bat Outta Hell, The Cursed, and A Haunting at the Park Hotel, as well as home media info for Flytrap, Dark Cove, and Dam Sharks!

Dolly Deadly Blu-ray Release Announced and Cover Artwork Revealed: Press Release: “Dolly Deadly is a feature film of the psychological horror/revenge genre written by Heidi Moore and Cassandra Sechler. It’s sure to be a little creepy, a bit silly, and a lot of fun (think Troma meets John Waters).

The story of Dolly Deadly revolves around the warped psychology of a tormented young boy who can only relate to his doll collection, and the only relief from the pain in his life comes with slaughtering those he has learned to hate the most. Everyone in his trailer park!

After Distribpix Inc.'s Steven Morowitz and filmmaker Joel Bender unearthed a 35mm print of Orson Welles' 1965 Shakespearean classic—after decades when the film was unseeable—there was hope that it would soon hit theaters. Now there is a definitive restoration from Janus Films, which took 20 years, but not from this source. Janus will present "Chimes at Midnight" in an exclusive engagement at New York's Film Forum and L.A.'s Cinefamily starting January 1, with a rollout to select U.S. cities to follow. Read More: "How a Near-Pristine 35mm Print of Orson Welles' 'Chimes at Midnight' Was Found" The part Orson Welles was really born to play wasn’t Charles Foster Kane, nor the candy-addicted Hank Quinlan, or Harry Lime, or Cardinal Wolsey. It was a character who first appeared 418 years ago, who ducks in and out of several plays contributing bon mots and bad behavior; a wit,...

Distribpix Inc.'s Steven Morowitz and filmmaker Joel Bender have uncovered an "almost pristine" 35mm print of Orson Welles' "Falstaff, Chimes at Midnight," starring Welles himself as the titular knight, a bawdy, boozing flaneur lifted from Shakespeare's "Henry IV" plays and "Henry V." Long unavailable on home video formats due to legal tussles, "Chimes at Midnight" was found tucked among tens of thousands of pounds of film elements owned by Morowitz, who evidently had been sitting on the print for 20-plus years. "One thing is for sure and that is that the world wants a gorgeous and definitive release of Falstaff," he co-wrote on his blog with Bender. DCPs have floated around various retrospectives, and Bay Area cinephiles have caught a 16mm print of the film at the Pacific Film Archive. The uncut print takes up seven reels, which they took to a film lab for digital processing. But no restoration has been.

Once again, it's time for more various oddball trailers from the far reaches of cinema obscurity. So, without any further ado, let's check out some "coming attractions"! This week with an all "Girls" theme!

Gas Pump Girls (1979)

The late 70's was the last great hoo-rah for sleazy sexploitation films made specifically for the drive-in theater before cable TV and home video took over as the preferred (and more convenient) method for those looking for mindless T&A to take in a flick.

One such late 70's drive-in sex comedy was Gas Pump Girls directed by Joel Bender.

The film centers around June (Kristen Baker from Friday the 13th Part 2 and Midnight Madness), a ridiculously sexy young girl who takes over a gas station formerly run by her uncle. As you'd expect, business isn't exactly booming, but when June and her equally sexy friends (notably Sandy Johnson from Halloween and H.

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy"

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Yes, we're finally getting the footage of the original Marty McFly, Eric Stoltz, for the first time, but for many simply having the hi-def version of Robert Zemeckis' time-travel franchise will be good enough. Commentaries, deleted scenes, a full-length documentary and much, much more come on this new set of the trilogy.

"Alien Anthology"

Directed by Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Released by Fox Home Entertainment

While not as much of an upgrade over its previous DVD release as "Back to the Future," the Blu-ray update of the four "Alien" films worth owning now boasts isolated scores for each film, all of Ridley Scott's sketches for the first "Alien," the uncut documentary of David Fincher's ill-fated "Alien 3" as...

Saw VI on DVD doesn't give you enough of the epic scowling you love from Costas Mandylor? This Saturday night on Syfy, Costas Mandylor and his kid brother Louis will be engaging in tag team action against a demonic creature when The Cursed makes its world premiere.

Costas Mandylor stars as Sheriff Jimmy Muldoon, who, along with his young brother, Deputy Lloyd Muldoon (played by Costas' real-life younger sibling Louis), find their cozy Tennessee hometown less than idyllic after a stranger comes to town and supernatural horrors begin. That supernatural horror comes in the form of a wrathful monster man with a scolex mouth, sort of like the "X-Files" Flukeman got mated with the Jeepers Creepers creature.

Josie Davis of "Charles in Charge" fame co-stars as Mrs. Jimmy Muldoon. Also look for James Marshall of "Twin Peaks" and Gladiator (the Cuba Gooding, Jr., underground boxing version, not the Oscar-winning ancient...

Into The Darkness (2011) will star The Twilight Saga: New Moon star star Kiowa Gordon as "Brad," Louis Mandylor as "Mel," Dalal Bruchmann as "Katelyn," Wolfgang J. Weber as "Ridge," Russ Russo as "Wes," Brad Thornton as "Lucas," Anna Enger as "Allie," and Darian O'Rear as "Mary Ann." So far, several still-frame images from this film have been seen as well as character images. Into The Darkness is expected to begin filming in April 2010, but the cast worked together on this exclusive trailer for the film earlier this year. The movie was co-written by Jade Moser and Paul Moser, and it will be directed by Joel Bender. The film focuses on the story o ...

MONTREAL -- Bowing to pressure from anxious sponsors, the embattled Montreal World Film Festival on Wednesday pulled a movie about an infamous Canadian schoolgirl killer from its upcoming lineup. The move came as the upstart New Montreal FilmFest introduced Toyota Canada and Quebec cable giant Groupe Videotron Ltd. as the main corporate sponsors for its inaugural edition in September. The Montreal World Film Festival said it will not screen, as previously announced, Karla, a biopic by U.S. director Joel Bender about Canada's most notorious serial killer, Karla Homolka. "In light of the reaction to its proposed showing of the film 'Karla, ' and the discomfort expressed by clients of its sponsors, MWFF organizers have decided against presenting the film," the festival said in a statement.

TORONTO -- The Montreal World Film Festival on Monday said it would give a world premiere next month to U.S. director Joel Bender's biopic about Canada's most notorious female serial killer, Karla Homolka. Karla, which stars Laura Prepon (The 70s Show) as Homolka and Misha Collins (24) as husband Paul Bernardo, will screen in Montreal before its fall theatrical release here. In 1993, Homolka and Bernardo tortured and murdered two Ontario schoolgirls in a case that gathered international attention because the rapes of the young women were captured and later shown in court on video camera. Homolka also helped Bernardo rape and murder her own sister.