TAKÁCS, Tibor 1954-

PERSONAL: Born September 11, 1954, in Budapest, Hungary.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Agency for the Performing Arts, 9200 West Sunset Blvd., Suite 900, Los Angeles, CA 90069-3604; (commercials and music videos) Boyington Studios, Inc., 17 Galleon St., Marina del Rey, CA 90232.

CAREER: Director, producer, editor, and screenwriter. Director of films, including (and editor) Metal Messiah, MM Productions, 1978; The Gate, New Century Vista, 1987; I, Madman (also known as Hardcover), TransWorld Entertainment, 1989; The Gate II: Trespassers (also known as Gate II—Return to the Nightmare), Triumph Releasing, 1992; (and executive producer) Viper (also known as Bad Blood), MDP Worldwide/Third Coast Entertainment, 1994; Deadly Past, Atlantic Group Films/Curb Entertainment International, 1995; Sabotage, Imperial Entertainment/New City Releasing, 1996; Deathline (also known as Armageddon and Redline), Nu Image, 1997; Sanctuary, New City Releasing, 1997; Nostradamus, Regent Entertainment, 2000; Once upon a Christmas, 2000; Rats (also known as Killer Rats) Nu Image, 2003; and Earthquake, 2004. Other film work includes production manager, Screwballs, 1983; producer, Snow (short film), 1983; and assistant director, Bloody Wednesday, 1987. Director of television movies, including Sabrina Goes to Rome, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1998; Once upon a Christmas, PAX, 2000; Twice upon a Christmas, PAX, 2001; and Tornado Warning, 2002. Director of episodes of television series, including "Sex, Lies, and Lullabies" and "Tara, Tara, Tara," Sweating Bullets (also known as Tropical Heat), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1992; "Blood Brothers," "White Light Fever," "The Voyage Home," "I, Robot," and "If These Walls Could Talk," The Outer Limits, Showtime and syndicated, 1995; "Pandora's Box" and "If You Could Read My Mind," Earth: Final Conflict (also known as Gene Roddenberry's Battleground Earth), syndicated, 1998; "Quiz Show," Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (also known as Sabrina Goes to College), American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1999; "Through a Dark Circle" and "The People vs. Eric Draven," The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, syndicated, 1999; "Cul-de-sac," First Wave, Sci-Fi Channel, 1999; "Double Dare," Red Shoe Diaries, Showtime; and an episode of Lonesome Dove. Director and editor of television program 984: Prisoner of the Future (also known as The Tomorrow Man), 1982. Director of pilot Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Showtime, 1996.

WRITINGS:

(With Brian Irving) Deathline (screenplay; also known as Armageddon and Redline), Nu Image, 1997.

SIDELIGHTS: Canadian-based director Tibor Takács is best known for his low-budget science-fiction and action films, although he has also directed for such television series as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and The Outer Limits. Takács also wrote the script for one of his films, Deathline. The film is set in an anarchic Russia of the future that is dominated by the Mafia; the film's protagonist is a smuggler who is double-crossed by his partner and seeks revenge. Among the film's more notable features are a scene which parodies the famous "Odessa Steps" section of the 1925 Soviet film Battleship Potemkin, and another inspired by the junkyard full of old statues of Soviet-era leaders from the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. Through such devices, "Takács creates an abundance of atmosphere," Richard Scheib commented on the Science-Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film Review Web site.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Cinema Canada, July-August, 1987, Andrew Dowler, review of The Gate, pp. 25-26.

New York Times, April 10, 1996, John J. O'Connor, review of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, p. C18.

People, June 8, 1987, Tom Cunneff, review of The Gate, p. 10.

Variety, April 12, 1989, review of I, Madman, p. 26.

ONLINE

Science-Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film Review,http://www.roogulator.esmartweb.com/ (July 10, 2003), Richard Scheib, review of Redline.

Sci-Fi Movie Page,http://members.tripod.com/scifimoviepage/ (July 10, 2003), James O'Ehley, review of Redline.*