Your Top 5 Favorite Horror Film Directors

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Not many rules for this. They just only have to have directed 2 or more films.

These are in no real order.


Adam Green Writer/director of The Hatchet Series, Frozen, Co-Director of Spiral, Chillerama (Diary Of Anne Frankenstein story) Writer/director, series creator and co star of the TV show Holliston


Eli Roth Writer/director of Cabin Fever. Hostel and Hostel Part II Co star in Inglorious Basterds and Aftershock. Along as co-writer. Also the Writer/director of the upcoming film The Green Inferno


Rob Zombie Writer/Director of House of a 1,000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, Halloween, Halloween II and The Lords of Salem


Wes Craven Writer/Director of The Last House On The Left, The Hills Have Eyes The creator of Freddy Krueger The Writer/Director of A Nightmare On Elm Street, Shocker, The serpent and The Rainbow, The People Under The Stairs And Director of the Scream Franchise


Okay, I'm cheating a bit here. James Wann The Director of SAW, Dead Silence, Insidious, The Conjuring and Insidious: Chapter 2 next to Darren Lynn Bousman Writer/Director of SAW II, Only directed SAW III, SAW IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Mothers Day (Remake) Also Wrote/Directed 11-11-11 and The Barrens Next to them is Writer/Actor Leigh Whannell From SAW, SAW III, Insidious and Insidious Chapter 2 he also wrote the first 3 SAW films along with the two Insidious films with James Wann

And while not really what I call a Horror director, but I do like their work

James Gunn Writer of Dawn Of The Dead 2004 Also the writer/director of Slither, SuperAnd next year's [B[Guardians Of The Galaxy[/B]

Now i know everyone has their likes and dislikes. So let's try to be civil in here if someone posts someone you don't like or think is horrible, okay?

You can also post videos of clips/trailers from a directors work you like.

[Abdrewes]

1. David Lynch
2. Alfred Hitchcock
3. Roman Polanski
4. John Carpenter
5. Jonathan Demme

[BladeRunner2007]

John Carpenter
Sam Raimi
George A. Romero
Rob Zombie
Dario Argento

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Good lists there so far. I know most of who I mentioned are newer with the exception of Wes Craven. I like guys like Sam Raimi also too.

[vader4]

1. Eli Roth
2. Sam Raimi
3. Wes Craven
4. John Carpenter
5. David Lynch

I'm pretty confident in this list.

[SilentDawn]

1. Alfred Hitchcock (The Birds, Psycho, Shadow of a Doubt (yes it's a horror film)
2. John Carpenter (Halloween '78, The Thing '82, The Fog, Prince of Darkness)
3. Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Black Sabbath)
4. Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant)
5. Dario Argento (Suspiria, Inferno, Deep Red)

[dallywhitty]

David Lynch - Okay, maybe he's not a traditional horror director, but almost all his films are full of haunting, unnerving, daunting and surreal imagery and I think his ability to scare is greater than that of other directors. Watch Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire and tell me you didn't defecate everywhere during particular scenes.

Dario Argento - I can't speak for his later work (which I suppose I've somewhat intentionally avoided), but his earlier films are among my favourites. Suspiria, Inferno and Tenebrae are especially wonderful in my eyes. He has an eye for great visuals and his bizarre, dream-like murder scenes are always intriguing to watch.

David Cronenberg - Like Argento, this is another one who probably wouldn't be considered a horror director in the traditional sense, especially when his recent output is more drama/thriller. His earlier films couldn't be categorised as anything other than horror, though. I recently watched The Brood for the first time and loved it. Videodrome is my favourite of his.

Wes Craven - He's reinvented the genre on numerous occasions. I also think he comes across as a very intelligent man and he doesn't get enough credit for the way he injects satire and social commentary into his films. As much as I love his contributions to the Nightmare series, The Last House on the Left is still my favourite of his. It's raw and far from his most professional work, but its fascinating as all hell.

Sam Raimi - This is the most questionable inclusion of the five as he hasn't directed any horror films aside from the Evil Dead trilogy and Drag Me To Hell, but how could I exclude Sam Raimi? Besides, the scene in Spider-Man 2 where Ock wakes up on the operating table is classic Raimi. His style is beautifully over-the-top and the manner in which he combines frights with laughs is grand.

Runners-up: Carpenter, Hooper, Henenlotter, etc.

[csdot]

1. John Carpenter
2. David Cronenberg
3. Dario Argento
4. Sam Raimi
5. Mario Bava

[Foggy]

1) John Carpenter
2) Sam Raimi
3) David Lynch
4) Alfred Hitchcock
5) Tobe Hooper

[spawningblue]

1. John Carpenter
2. Dario Argento
3. Lucio Fulci
4. Mario Bava
5. George Romero

[Kaiju]

1. Wes Craven
2. Sam Raimi
3. John Carpenter
4. Rob Zombie
5. Tyler Perry

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by Nocturne

1. Wes Craven
2. Sam Raimi
3. John Carpenter
4. Rob Zombie
5. Tyler Perry

[The Great Owl]

The Great Owl's Top Five Horror Directors

1. Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, The Birds)
2. Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man, Night of the Demon)
3. Roman Polanski (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant)
4. Steven Spielberg (Duel, Jaws, Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds)
5. Robert Wise (Curse of the Cat People, The Body Snatcher, The Haunting, The Andromeda Strain)

I wanted to list Stanley Kubrick for #5 just on the strength of The Shining, but, although A Clockwork Orange could categorically fit the second movie requirement, it's a stretch.

[Kill Bren]

1) John Carpenter (The Thing, Price of Darkness)
2) Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Kill, Baby, Kill)
3) Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lifeforce)
4) Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead)
5) Terence Fisher (The Brides of Dracula, The Gorgon)

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Great Owl's Top Five Horror Directors

1. Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, The Birds)
2. Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man, Night of the Demon)
3. Roman Polanski (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant)
4. Steven Spielberg (Duel, Jaws, Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds)
5. Robert Wise (Curse of the Cat People, The Body Snatcher, The Haunting, The Andromeda Strain)

I wanted to list Stanley Kubrick for #5 just on the strength of The Shining, but, although A Clockwork Orange could categorically fit the second movie requirement, it's a stretch.

I forgot about Robert Wise, amazing horror director!

[kiltymchaggis]

1. George Romero

2. John Carpenter

3. Wes Craven

4. Alfred Hitchcock

5. Clive Barker

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk 4

[JLaw1719]

In order:

1. John Carpenter

I love nearly all his movies, but my handful of favorites are Halloween, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, and Christine. It's hard to make just a top 5 when ranking his films.

2. Dario Argento

Again, I love a lot of his movies. My handful of favorites from him are Deep Red, Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Tenebre, and Inferno. He may have lost his way over the years, but his name is still big enough that I will check out anything he does at least once.

3. Mario Bava

If I got into Bava before Argento, I'd probably swap rankings. As it is, time grows my love for Bava's work. Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Kill Baby Kill, Bay of Blood, Blood and Black Lace. His catalog is fantastic.

4. James Wan

The Conjuring is an instant classic. Insidious is superb. Dead Silence is good. Saw has grown on me. Best mainstream horror director today. If Insidious 2 is good, it will seal the deal.

5. Ti West

House of the Devil is probably in my top 3 from the 2000's-present. The Innkeepers is also really good. His V/H/S segment was solid. His only real dud that I've seen from him is his ABC's of Death short. I think he is the best independent horror director working right now.

These are my current rankings, which can always change. 1-3 are always there, but 4 and 5 usually rotate between Wan, West, Romero, Raimi, Hooper, Craven, etc.

Hitchcock is my favorite director along with Carpenter, but I just can't find a spot for him based on only Psycho and The Birds.

[CZAR]

1. John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Christine, Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness)

2. Steve Minor (Friday the 13th Part 2, Friday the 13th Part III, House, Halloween H20)

3. Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen)

4. Don Coscarelli (Phantasm Series)

5. Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th)

Got Em!!

[NYGiants Fan]

George Romero
Sam Raimi
David Cronenberg (early films, thank you very much)
John Carpenter
Tobe Hooper

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

I also like Marcus Nispel aswell. Another fave that almost made the list was Alex Aja. (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha 3d)

Should have maybe made this a top 10.