[1] Owensby discovered that although his films may have lacked widespread mainstream appeal, international audiences[2] latched on to his brand of filmmaking.

Directed by Martin Beck, the film starred Owensby as Frank Challenge, a candidate for the U.S. Senate who takes the law into his own hands after the murder of his family.

released one film per year starring Owensby: Dark Sunday (1976), Death Driver (1977), Buckstone County Prison (1978), and Wolfman- A Lycanthrope (1979).

continued to crank out such profitable—though under-the-radar—films as A Day of Judgment (1981), Rottweiler: Dogs of Hell [6](1982), Hit the Road Running (1983), Hot Heir (1984), Tales of the Third Dimension (1984), Chain Gang[7] (1984), The Last Game (1984), Hyperspace (also known as Gremloids) (1985), The Rutherford County Line (1986), and Order of the Black Eagle (1987).

[8] In 1988, E.O purchased the unfinished, abandoned Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant, just outside Gaffney, South Carolina, with an eye towards turning it into a studio.

The studio soon partnered with director James Cameron, who filled one of the plant's reactors with water to shoot his sci-fi epic The Abyss (1989).

produced in conjunction with Regency Productions, featured comedians Paula Poundstone and Chris Elliott, while the action film Hooch (1977) starred Gil Gerard, known for his turn on the TV show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Danny Aiello.