My favourite horror DIRECTORS
December 21st 2006 05:23
This is a little difficult, since I probably have more favourite individual movies than several movies by single directors. There are, however, horror auteurs whose body of work nearly always captures the essence of horror, the elements of which entices the Darkness, feeds our hunger for terror, haunts our dreams and plagues our nightmares.
Here are five of my favourite horror directors who have made two or more movies which I feel are seminal to the horror movie oeuvre.
DARIO ARGENTO
From Italy, Dario Argento began making psycho-thrillers in the popular genre known as giallo (meaning yellow which refers to the colour of the paperback crime thriller covers) during the late 60s and into the early 70s. His critically-acclaimed giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969) established his vivid visual style with its prowling camerawork, striking use of composition and editing and lurid violence, but it was the richly atmospheric and sublimely creepy murder mystery Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) from 1975 gave him the international kudos. He followed this with his most famous movie, the surreal and bewitching Suspiria (1977). Other stand-outs from his filmography are Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982) and Opera (1987).
JOHN CARPENTER
American John Carpenter began in science fiction; his USC short film Dark Star (1974) won him a scholarship which enabled him to expand it into a feature (it went on to become a cult classic). In 1978 he co-wrote, directed and scored Halloween which quickly became the most successful independent movie ever made (if you exclude the porn flick Deep Throat). It also single-handedly revolutionized the entire modern horror movie, providing much of the inspiration for what would become the stalk’n’slash (aka slasher) genre. In 1982 he remade the B sf/horror movie The Thing (From Another World), which slowly and steadily rose through the cult ranks to become one of the most critically acclaimed sf/horror movies ever made (only Ridley Scott’s Alien contends it). Unfortunately most of Carpenter’s subsequent horror movies are mediocre at best, but with Halloween and The Thing to his belt he needn’t worry, his status is firmly etched in Horror’s Hallowed Hall of Infamy.
DAVID CRONENBERG
Hailing from Canada David Cronenberg, like Carpenter, began with science fiction. He made a couple of mini-features in the early 70s (Stereo, Crimes of the Future) before designing his own special breed of nightmare; the body-horror flick. This was unleashed with Shivers (1975) and followed with Rabid (1977). Cronenberg’s ferocious intelligence and marginal existentialism always shines a searing dark passage through his films. A powerful visceral surge provides his nightmarish visions with a very original potency, one which few other directors have been able to match. Frequently Cronenberg’s horror movies deal with the blurring of love and relationship by the destructive nature of human frailty and the dangerous lure of greed and aberrant desires. Rarely does Cronenberg make an uninteresting film. Other highly notable horror films from his career include Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1982), The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers (1988), and the post-modern sex-death horror-drama hybrid Crash (1996), an intriguing adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s extraordinary (and unfilmmable as most people thought) novel.
GEORGE ROMERO
The Pittsburgh man who created the modern zombie, the man who’s 16mm black and white super low-budget movie Night of the Living Dead (1968) became one of the most influential horror movies ever. Like Carpenter, Romero has made many duds, but he’s made enough of the good stuff to make us forgive his discrepancies in quality. Following on from the stark realism of Night of the Living Dead Romero directed the brooding, unnerving Martin (1977), about a man who has a perverse and obsessive thirst for human blood. Then in 1978 Romero made the second installment in his zombie Dead series; Dawn of the Dead. It made him a household name (in horror circles that is). In 1985 came Day of the Dead, which polarized fans. It bombed at the box office, but has garnered an immense following since. Another Romero classic is Creepshow (1982), two of the stories of which are penned by his good pal Stephen King. Romero is currently directing King’s From a Buick 8 due for release next year.
MICHELE SOAVI
Michele is a protégé of Dario Argento’s and was first A.D. on many of Argento’s movies, as well as on Lamberto Bava’s cult fave Demoni (1985). He appears to have taken onboard many of Argento’s trademark stylistics, yet infused them with his own sensibilities; a strong visual style combined with ultra-violence, insane logic and pretty girls in distress. Sound familiar? Although he hasn’t made a theatrically-released horror movie in over ten years (his most recent was a highly lauded crime thriller called Arrivederci Amore, Ciao (The Goodbye Kiss). These three macabre shockers are enough to warrant him the accolade of Horror Master (along with the other previous four directors); Deliria (1987, aka Stage Fright), La Chiesa (1989, The Church), and Dellamorte Dellamore (1994, aka Cemetary Man). Soavi also directed the excellent doco Dario Argento’s World of Horror (1987). C’mon back to the snake pit Mr. Soavi, we need more of your cinematic venom!
* images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
John Carpenter and David Cronenberg
They are licensed under the GNU Free Document License.
Here are five of my favourite horror directors who have made two or more movies which I feel are seminal to the horror movie oeuvre.
From Italy, Dario Argento began making psycho-thrillers in the popular genre known as giallo (meaning yellow which refers to the colour of the paperback crime thriller covers) during the late 60s and into the early 70s. His critically-acclaimed giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969) established his vivid visual style with its prowling camerawork, striking use of composition and editing and lurid violence, but it was the richly atmospheric and sublimely creepy murder mystery Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) from 1975 gave him the international kudos. He followed this with his most famous movie, the surreal and bewitching Suspiria (1977). Other stand-outs from his filmography are Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982) and Opera (1987).
American John Carpenter began in science fiction; his USC short film Dark Star (1974) won him a scholarship which enabled him to expand it into a feature (it went on to become a cult classic). In 1978 he co-wrote, directed and scored Halloween which quickly became the most successful independent movie ever made (if you exclude the porn flick Deep Throat). It also single-handedly revolutionized the entire modern horror movie, providing much of the inspiration for what would become the stalk’n’slash (aka slasher) genre. In 1982 he remade the B sf/horror movie The Thing (From Another World), which slowly and steadily rose through the cult ranks to become one of the most critically acclaimed sf/horror movies ever made (only Ridley Scott’s Alien contends it). Unfortunately most of Carpenter’s subsequent horror movies are mediocre at best, but with Halloween and The Thing to his belt he needn’t worry, his status is firmly etched in Horror’s Hallowed Hall of Infamy.
Hailing from Canada David Cronenberg, like Carpenter, began with science fiction. He made a couple of mini-features in the early 70s (Stereo, Crimes of the Future) before designing his own special breed of nightmare; the body-horror flick. This was unleashed with Shivers (1975) and followed with Rabid (1977). Cronenberg’s ferocious intelligence and marginal existentialism always shines a searing dark passage through his films. A powerful visceral surge provides his nightmarish visions with a very original potency, one which few other directors have been able to match. Frequently Cronenberg’s horror movies deal with the blurring of love and relationship by the destructive nature of human frailty and the dangerous lure of greed and aberrant desires. Rarely does Cronenberg make an uninteresting film. Other highly notable horror films from his career include Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1982), The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers (1988), and the post-modern sex-death horror-drama hybrid Crash (1996), an intriguing adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s extraordinary (and unfilmmable as most people thought) novel.
The Pittsburgh man who created the modern zombie, the man who’s 16mm black and white super low-budget movie Night of the Living Dead (1968) became one of the most influential horror movies ever. Like Carpenter, Romero has made many duds, but he’s made enough of the good stuff to make us forgive his discrepancies in quality. Following on from the stark realism of Night of the Living Dead Romero directed the brooding, unnerving Martin (1977), about a man who has a perverse and obsessive thirst for human blood. Then in 1978 Romero made the second installment in his zombie Dead series; Dawn of the Dead. It made him a household name (in horror circles that is). In 1985 came Day of the Dead, which polarized fans. It bombed at the box office, but has garnered an immense following since. Another Romero classic is Creepshow (1982), two of the stories of which are penned by his good pal Stephen King. Romero is currently directing King’s From a Buick 8 due for release next year.
Michele is a protégé of Dario Argento’s and was first A.D. on many of Argento’s movies, as well as on Lamberto Bava’s cult fave Demoni (1985). He appears to have taken onboard many of Argento’s trademark stylistics, yet infused them with his own sensibilities; a strong visual style combined with ultra-violence, insane logic and pretty girls in distress. Sound familiar? Although he hasn’t made a theatrically-released horror movie in over ten years (his most recent was a highly lauded crime thriller called Arrivederci Amore, Ciao (The Goodbye Kiss). These three macabre shockers are enough to warrant him the accolade of Horror Master (along with the other previous four directors); Deliria (1987, aka Stage Fright), La Chiesa (1989, The Church), and Dellamorte Dellamore (1994, aka Cemetary Man). Soavi also directed the excellent doco Dario Argento’s World of Horror (1987). C’mon back to the snake pit Mr. Soavi, we need more of your cinematic venom!
* images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
John Carpenter and David Cronenberg
They are licensed under the GNU Free Document License.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Of the new crop I rank Neil Marshal (Dog Soldiers, Descent) and Lucky McKee (May, Masters of Horror), though there CV is thin.
Staples of horror comedy like Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) Stuart Gordon (Willard, Reanimator), Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho Tep) and Peter Jackson(BrainDEad, Bad taste) keep me entertained.
Joe Dante (Howling, Pihana) and John Landis (American Werewolf In London) also give me the giggles
Takishi Miike (Ichi The Killer and Audition), Mario Bava (Black Sunday) & Guilmerro Del Torro (Cronos, Devils Backbone) are foreign faves.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Good list, Bryn... I haven't seen any Argento flicks, but I heard his hot daughter is carrying on the tradition...
Comment by pegasus
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Cibby, you gotta see Argento! Rent out Deep Red, Suspiria or Opera. And yeah, his hot daughter is hot.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile