Directors

Directors 

NOTE: The “Directed:” section only includes movies I’ve seen. 

Sam Raimi

Directed: The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, Drag me to Hell 

Sam Raimi’s horror movies have a mixture of comedy and horror, perfectly split down the middle. The Evil Dead relies on atmosphere and scenes of grotesque bodily dismemberment to scare its viewer. Its humour comes from some of its amateur acting. In the Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness we have slapstick comedy and in Drag me to Hell the slapstick humour remains. His movies are characterized by his bizarre and creative camera moves, his use of extreme close ups, his POV shots (This goes for the Evil Dead mostly) and the constant appearance of his car (1973 yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88)

Takashi Miike

Directed: Ichi the Killer, Audition, Gozu, Happiness of the Katakuris and One Missed Call

Takashi Miike is notorious for how extreme and disturbing some of his movies are. He’s done horror movies, Crime movies, War movies, historical dramas, a video game adaption but he’s also done some family friendly movies. His movies deal with themes that other directors wouldn’t touch. He’s known for pushing censorship as far as it will go. 

John Carpenter 

Directed: Halloween, The Thing, Halloween, In the Mouth of Madness, Big Trouble in Little China, Christine, Prince of Darkness and The two Escape From movies. 

Carpenter’s movies showcase the soundtrack (Which is composed by Carpenter himself). He uses a synthesized score which enhances the atmosphere. He uses minimalist lighting and photography to create some seriously creepy atmosphere. His camerawork is very static and he uses steadicam extensively.

Guillermo del Toro

Directed: Hellboy, Hellboy 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, Blade 2

Del Toro’s movies always incorporate amazing and bizarre sets. His movies usually have some kind of fantasy theme to them. He likes to incorporate various red colours into his movies (Usually orange or amber); this is most notable in his comic book movies, Blade 2 and the Hellboy movies.

George A. Romero 

Directed: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead

Romero’s first feature length movie invented the modern depiction of the zombie. His movies (Specifically his zombie movies) have an underlying social commentary. Night of the Living Dead was actually the first movie to have a black man in a lead part. In his zombie movies there is always a montage of the zombies overrunning the main location. This is usually preceded by a gory montage of people being devoured.  

Park Chan Wook

Directed: Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, JSA: Joint Security Arena, Lady Vengeance, Thirst, I’m a Cyborg and that’s Okay, Three Extremes

 

South Korean Director Park Chan Wook’s style consists of CGI enhanced segways into different shots. By this I mean that he often uses CGI to, for example, phase through a ceiling to continue the shot into the floor below. David Fincher does a similar thing. He also frames his shots in a perfect way which makes all of them resemble pictures you’d see in a photography exhibit. 

Wes Craven

Directed: A Nightmare on Elm Street, New Nightmare, The People Under the Stairs, The Hills Have Eyes, Last house on the Left, The Serpent and The Rainbow, The Scream series, Red Eye

Wes Craven’s movies tend to have two things in them. An amazing start and middle but a terrible ending. This goes for a huge amount of his movies (Exceptions are Scream, Scream 2 and New Nightmare). His best movies are low budget and use a gritty atmosphere to create a truly frightening experience.

Quentin Tarantino 

Directed: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Death proof, Inglorious Bastards and Django Unchained

In Kevin Smith’s book “Tough Shit” he said that no one could keep up with Tarantino when it came to movies. I have zero trouble in believing this. He effortlessly blends pulp culture references and witty dialogue. His movies contain long scenes of dialogue, a nonlinear format, a soundtrack made up of old songs and a huge amount of swearing. 

Kevin Smith

Directed: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Clerks 2

Kevin Smith is clearly a better writer than he is a director. Smith himself has admitted (and made fun of) this on lots of occasions. He has a hilarious, intelligent yet still immature way of writing. His dialogue usually focuses on sex, stories and Star Wars. His directing usually consists of a single non-moving shot.