Film Directors

William Friedkin:

William Friedkin  was born on August 29th 1935 and is an American film director, producer and screenwriter, best known for directing "The French Connection" in 1971 and "The Exorcist" in 1973.Friedkin followed up with 1973's The Exorcist, based on William Peter Blatty's best-selling novel, which revolutionized the horror genre and is considered by some critics to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Friedkin's directorial "ethics" however, came into serious question when filming the now notorious scene where Linda Blair smacks Ellen Burstyn, causing her to fly backwards into a break-away table. Even after warning Friedkin the stuntman was "pulling her too hard," Friendkin prompted him to pull her harder, resulting in a permanent back injury for Burstyn. The Exorcist was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It won the Best Screenplay Award.

Darren Lynn Bousman:

Darren Lynn Bousman was born on January 11th, 1979 and is an American film director and screenwriter. He is a graduate of the Film School at Full Sail University. He attended high school at Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, and studied film at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.

Darren Lynn Bousman is most well known for directing most of the Saw movies and are now a well known movie within the horror genre.

During 2004, he was pitching an idea for a movie called The Desperate to various American studios, who complained that the screenplay was too violent, and the plot was too close to Saw. David A. Armstrong who worked on Saw asked Bousman if he could show the script to Saw producer Gregg Hoffman. Hoffman read the script and called Bousman interested in producing "The Desperate", but after showing the script to his partners Mark Burg and Oren Koules, the two decided it would be the perfect opportunity to turn "The Desperate" into Saw II. Two months later, Bousman was flown to Toronto to direct. During the production of Saw II, Bousman directed the music video for Mudvayne's single "Forget to Remember," which appeared as the lead song on the soundtrack album. Saw II was profitable and Bousman was signed on to direct Saw III, which was released on October 27, 2006.

 

Tobe Hooper:

Tobe Hoopers was born on January 25th, 1943amd is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. Tobe Hooper began his film career like many people in the field, working on industrial films and TV advertisements. Hooper claims to have come up with the idea for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre while standing in the hardware section of a crowded store. While thinking of a way to get through the crowd, he spotted chainsaws for sale. The highly successful film changed the horror film industry and landed Hooper in Hollywood Using studenst help, Hooper began making fictional films while an instructor at the University of Texas. He exploded onto the public scene in 1974 with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a creepy variation on the unhappy career of cannibalistic killer Ed Gein. Despite its lurid title, the film scored more on the threat of violence than its actual violent content, which was minimal. While critics either condemned the picture or simply refused to review it, the movie became a cult favorite, and within five years of its release it was being written about and analyzed by intellectual film periodicals and is now one of the horror movie classics.

In 1981, Hooper directed the film, The Funhouse. The story involved four teenage friends who decide to spend the night in the funhouse of a sleazy traveling carnival. The film opened to modest box office receipts and received mainly positive reviews. Hooper had a shooting schedule similar in length to Salem's Lot, but nowhere near the same budget. One of the most praised aspects of the film was its visually stylish cinematography.