[1] Montoro became notorious for producing and promoting films such as Beyond the Door (1974) and Grizzly (1976) which were highly derivative of the 1970s blockbuster hits The Exorcist and Jaws, respectively.
[2] Montoro formed Film Ventures International (FVI), a small-scale independent movie production and distribution company, in 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia.
His first effort was the softcore comedy Getting into Heaven starring Uschi Digard, which he wrote, produced, and directed with a budget of $13,000.
[3] Montoro expanded FVI and began churning out successful B-movies, among them acquisitions of foreign films from Italy including the spaghetti Western Boot Hill in 1969.
Produced on a $750,000 budget, the animal horror thriller became the most successful independent motion picture of 1976, earning more than $39 million worldwide.