Roger Watkins was born on September 17, 1948, in Binghamton, New York, to Leland and Elizabeth Watkins. From a young age, he demonstrated a passion for filmmaking, starting to make movies at the tender age of ten. He continued to hone his craft throughout his childhood and teenage years, attending the State University of New York in Oneonta, where he majored in liberal arts.
During his time at SUNY, Watkins had the opportunity to work with renowned professor and author Paul M. Jensen, who appeared in many of his college shorts. One notable film from this period was an adaptation of the classic EC Comics story "And All Through the House," which showcased Watkins' early talent for crafting suspenseful and unsettling narratives.
In 1972, Watkins began working on his first feature-length film, "The Last House on Dead End Street," which was shot on 16mm film stock using talent from SUNY's film and theater departments. This film, released in 1973, went on to gain a cult following and is widely regarded as one of the most disturbing and nihilistic indie shockers of the 1970s.
Under the pseudonym Richard Mahler, Watkins continued to make a series of highly distinctive and stylized adult films, including the bleak and brooding "Corruption" (1983),which is often cited as one of his most impressive hardcore pictures. He also directed the obscure horror thriller "Shadows of the Mind" (1980),although he later disowned the film and attributed it to the alias Bernard Travis.
In addition to his work in the adult film industry, Watkins also directed several documentaries, including the harrowing "Heaven Knows," which explored life in a sanitarium. Tragically, Watkins passed away at the age of 58 on March 6, 2007, at his home in Apalachin, New York.
