Filmmaking Tinnell's work as a director includes the films
Kids of the Round Table (1995),
Frankenstein and Me (1996), which was very popular with fans of classic horror, and
Believe (2000). Tinnell has frequently acknowledged his passion for horror, particularly classic horror films.
Hammer Film Productions aficionados seek out
Frankenstein and Me because of a sequence inspired by the 1960
Terence Fisher film
Brides of Dracula, which starred
Peter Cushing. Tinnell's film actually recreates a windmill set that is used in the Hammer film. In the same film, Tinnell meticulously recreated a scene reminiscent of
Night of the Living Dead as well as other horror classics. All of the sequences featured children in the adult roles.
Burt Reynolds and
Louise Fletcher starred in
Frankenstein and Me, alongside a young
Ryan Gosling. (Stars
Elisha Cuthbert and Gosling both had early film roles for Tinnell.) As a producer, Tinnell worked in both the music video world as well as feature films. Among his credits as producer are the
MTV Award-winning
Paula Abdul music video "Straight Up," directed by
David Fincher, and the notorious cult film
Surf Nazis Must Die (released through
Troma).
Authorship Tinnell is best known in comics for a series of horror graphic novels, including
The Black Forest,
The Wicked West,
The Living and The Dead, and
Sight Unseen. His book
Feast of the Seven Fishes was nominated for an
Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album – Reprint. While promoting
Feast of the Seven Fishes, Tinnell was a guest on several popular radio cooking shows, including
The Splendid Table with
Lynne Rossetto Kasper, the
Rocco Dispirito Show, and
KCRW's
Good Food.
Teaching Tinnell has served as a guest professor at several institutions, including
West Virginia University,
West Virginia State University, and
Queens College. (2025) ==Personal life==