Editorials
Watch 10 First Films by Great Horror Directors (Part 2)
When directors are asked for advice on how to break into the industry by aspiring filmmakers, their answer is in variably some version of, “Get a camera and make something.” And as unhelpful as that sounds on the surface, even the most successful directors got their start by doing just that: making something. Even if it was imperfect or flawed.
So, in what I will be an ongoing series, I’ve compiled the first endeavors of some of our favourite horror directors as a means to inspire anyone who might be facing some kind of creative paralysis. Because, as you’ll see, while many of these films do give hints of the great heights these directors would climb, they are all scrappy, rough around the edges and full of wonderful flaws.
Be sure to check out part one of this ongoing series.
James Wan (“Saw” 2003)
The reigning king of horror, James Wan has three bonafide franchises under his belt in Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring series. Add to that his work on blockbusters like the Fast and Furious and his move into the DCU and Wan starts to look like one of the most successful filmmakers working today.
But it all started with this nine-and-a-half-minute short he co-wrote with Leigh Whannell. Filmed in his native Australia, this rough version of “Saw” was originally used to pitch the full-length feature film to Lionsgate who picked the feature up. Saw would go on to become hugely influential to the genre and the most lucrative horror franchise of all time.
Jaume Balagueró (“Alicia” 1994)
It’s hard to explain the excitement surrounding Jaume Balaguero’s & Paco Plaza’s original [REC] to anyone who wasn’t tapped into the horror movie scene ten years ago. The anticipation for a foreign zombie movie was something rarely seen and found footage was still something of a novelty. Zombie media wasn’t nearly as mainstream as it is now, so in 2007 [REC] seemed immediately fresh and aesthetically exciting. And man, did it deliver. [REC] was so well received it spawned three sequels and an American adaption in Quarantine.
Balaguero’s first directorial effort is a decidedly NSFW experimental short called Alicia and while it’s the furthest thing from a found footage film, it’s guaranteed to get a reaction out of any viewer.
Greg Nicotero (“United Monster Talent Agency” 2010)
After the run he’s had on The Walking Dead recently, directing some of the show’s best and provocative episodes, not to mention his history as a visual FX artist, I simply had to include Greg Nicotero on this list. Plus, as you’ll see below, his first work as a director is an amusing retro ode to the famous monsters of old Hollywood that should be seen by all.
Mary Lambert (“Rapid Eye Movement” 1977)
There’s no question that Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary I & II were instrumental in forming my relationship with both Stephen King and horror movies. The first film was one of the first scary movies that truly terrified me and it’s also one of the first time I realized movies were based on books. Stephen King, I thought, must be a one scary dude.
Lambert’s first film is also super eerie, but for completely different reasons. An animated experimental narrative about people in a casino, the film’s style will likely remind viewers of popular animator at the time, Ralph Bakshi.
J.A. Bayona (“Mis Vacaciones” 1999)
Looking at Bayona’s first short film, Mis Vacaciones, it’s easy to see why A Monster Calls is getting such praise. Even as this early stage, the Spanish director of The Orphanage was well attuned to the whimsy and melancholy of coming of age storytelling.
David Cronenberg (“Transfer” 1966)
It’s taken years for Canada’s David Cronenberg to shake the reputation of being strictly a body horror director, but his early career certainly yielded some of the ickiest and most explosive examples of the sub genre. From Scanners to The Fly and even my personal favorite, Videodrome, his best work is both visually and thematically uncompromising.
His first film, Transfer, is a surreal tale of two people – a psychiatrist and his patient – at a table set for dinner in the middle of a field covered in snow.
David Slade (“Do Geese See God?” 2004)
Before helming 30 Days of Night, director David Slade’s first short film was the third in a series of five shorts released by Amazon as part of an “Amazon Theater” experiment.
In the film, which takes its name from a well known palindrome, actor Blair Underwood is beset by modern anxiety.
Sam Raimi (“Within the Woods” 1978)
Within the Woods is not Sam Raimi’s first short film, but it’s probably his most important early film as it stars Bruce Campbell and is now considered the progenitor of the Evil Dead series.
Like many first films, Within the Woods was made out of passion, but also to drum up interest and investment in a larger project.
Axelle Carolyn (“The Last Post” 2011)
Axelle Carolyn hails from the world of horror film journalism, having covered the genre for Fangoria and others before moving into acting and directing. The mind behind last year’s Tale of Halloween anthology as well as the stylish haunter, Soulmate, Carolyn’s debut was The Last Post, a short film about an aging woman reconnecting with her past through (perhaps) supernatural means.
Nimród Antal (“Insurance” 1999)
Before helming pulse-pounders like Vacancy and Predators, Nimrod Antal was studied film in Hungry where he made international waves with the stylish thriller Kontrol. Prior to that however, he put together this fascinating film called Insurance that remains a must see for fans of European cinema.
Stay tuned for part 3!
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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