We all remember our first jobs. Even more so when you are a movie director. After all, your first film can make or break your career. For every successful director out there, there are countless others who did not make it big. The movie industry is not always a kind one, so casualties of cinema emerge all the time.
Then there are those directors who, through a combination of talent, luck and exposure, have since become household names, or a favorite among critics. You might be surprised to hear that a number of them got their break after making horror movies (often rather obscure and low-budget ones). Let’s check out some world-renowned directors who got their break this way.
Kathryn Bigelow
Although she is now known for films like The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow began her film career with the 1981 drama The Loveless (which also happened to feature Willem Dafoe’s first film role).
The Loveless was Bigelow’s directorial debut, but it was co-directed by Monty Montgomery, too. In 1987, however, she went solo and directed the neo-western, vampiric horror movie Near Dark. This movie, starring Bill Paxton, did not do too well at the box office but has developed a cult following since its release.
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is recognized as a high-profile director, a talent who focuses on the controversial issues lots of his fellows wouldn’t want to tackle. Before he gave us films like The Doors, JFK, and the intriguing Natural Born Killers, Stone had not one but two horror movies under his belt.
His first was Seizure, a 1974 Canadian-American movie about a horror writer whose recurring nightmare is coming true. He then directed The Hand, a 1981 movie where a detached hand becomes sentient as well as murderous.
James Cameron
Canadian born James Cameron is the director who has given the world iconic films like Avatar, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Titanic. However, a cinema lover might be shocked to learn that Cameron got his start as the director of a B-movie called Piranha II: The Spawning.
He was originally hired as a special effects director for the low-budget creature feature, but when the actual director left the project, Cameron stepped in. It’s not exactly a movie Cameron likes to talk about today. After all, it’s about flying piranhas.
Zack Snyder
There’s no doubt that Zack Snyder has a contentious reputation among comic book fans. One cannot even say his name without inciting arguments about his treatment of DC Comics properties. However, the painter-turned-film-maker made his debut in 2004 with the remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.
Fans of the original 1978 film were hesitant about this reinterpretation, but lo and behold, audiences were generally pleased with the outcome. This opinion still holds up today, as there are plenty of people who prefer Snyder’s take while still recognizing how important the original is.
James Gunn
Today, James Gunn is known as the director and writer of the popular Marvel franchise Guardians of the Galaxy. As of today, there are two films and a third is on the way. Before that, he began at Troma Entertainment as a writer. He also worked under his mentor Lloyd Kaufman, the co-founder of Troma.
There, Gunn wrote the screenplay for a horror comedy called Tromeo and Juliet. In 2006, the first feature-length film he wrote and directed, Slither, was released. He has since produced and/or written other horror films like The Belko Experiment and Brightburn.
Bob Clark
We remember the late Bob Clark as the director of the holiday staple A Christmas Story, but a decade before then, he was directing horror films. Three, to be exact. The first was the low-budgeted zombie movie Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things in 1972, the only horror movie he directed, produced, and wrote.
His follow-up was Deathdream in 1974, which was based on “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. That same year, Deathdream was eclipsed by Black Christmas. This holiday season whodunit has been very influential on the slasher genre.
Steven Spielberg
Very few directors have touched the world the way Steven Spielberg has. People know and love so many of his films, which include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Schindler’s List.
While it is true his breakthrough film was Jaws — a pivotal horror movie based on the novel of the same name by Peter Benchley — he dipped his toes into horror with the 1971 TV-movieDuel. The movie did so well on television that it was shown in theaters after some new scenes were shot. In addition, Spielberg’s Amazing Stories anthology series in the 1980s featured several horror-themed episodes.
Sam Raimi
Horror fans will not find this entry all that surprising (if at all), as Sam Raimi is known for The Evil Dead films. General audiences, however, associate him with the Spider-Man trilogy that began in 2002 and concluded in 2007.
Aside from those franchises, Raimi is still very much a part of the horror community. He has a production company called Ghost House Pictures, whose biggest in-house films to date are The Grudge and Don’t Breathe. He has also directed The Gift (2000) and Drag Me to Hell. He was once attached to the 1990 horror movie The Guardian before dropping out in favor of directing Darkman.
Francis Ford Coppola
Renowned director Francis Ford Coppola has cemented his place in modern cinema with seminal films like Apocalypse Now, The Godfather and its sequel, and The Outsiders. About ten years before The Godfather changed cinematic history, though, he teamed up with Roger Corman for a psychological horror movie called Dementia 13.
This is considered Coppola’s first mainstream movie; Corman was seeking a Psycho-esque film that could be made cheaply. His other acclaimed horror work is Bram Stoker’s Dracula; his 2011 horror film Twixt was widely panned by critics.
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson became recognized for his adaptation of the Lord of the Rings series of books in the 2000s. Yet, two decades before that, he was making horror films back in his homeland of New Zealand. His first movie in the genre was Bad Taste in 1987, which was followed by the dark comedy Meet the Feebles in 1989.
Arguably his best-known horror movie is Braindead (or Dead Alive in North American markets), a gross-out zombie comedy filled with over-the-top violence. Jackson’s 1996 horror comedy The Frighteners starred Michael J. Fox in his last live-action role.
