He also had a long association with producer Charles Band, working on such films as Dolls, Puppet Master, Bride of Re-Animator, Subspecies and Demonic Toys.
Allen's contributed model animation to a Volkswagen commercial made in 1972 in which King Kong spots a giant version of the car from his Empire State Building perch in New York.
The spot aired only once on network TV and, in spite of favorable public response, was pulled because VW executives decided that they did not like the image of an ape driving their car.
With Danforth, Ray Harryhausen, various other model animators, visual effects artists, film producers and directors, Allen helped organize an event in March 1983 at Mann's Chinese Theater commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the release of King Kong, loaning his VW Kong model for display at the Roosevelt Hotel across the street from the theater.
Allen and his crew animated the hallucinations and creatures in Barry Levinson's 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes, earning an Academy Award Nomination in 1985.