Most burnt out horror director

[the-burn-out]

John Carpenter- What the hell happened man?
and now you bring us ghosts of mars?--looks like Waterworld in outerspace.

Tobe Hooper - Liked Crocodile a lot, but where the hell is the scary stuff?

George Romero - You need to return from the dead

[AntonioDelLago]

BURNOUT, most directors, especially in the horror genre, hit a major slump in their careers because of the lack of decent screenplays out there. I'm not going to judge GHOSTS OF MARS until I see it. Pam Grier and Ice Cube are in it, so it can't be THAT bad! What has William Friedkin of THE EXORCIST fame done for us lately? ROSEMARY'S BABY director Roman Polanski had a mini-hit with THE NINTH GATE (at least among horror fans), which I plan to watch next week on Showtime.

[the-burn-out]

Good point, I have the ninth gate and love it. Just can't believe some of the things these once great directors have put their name on.

[pizowell]

agreed burnout. I'd have to say Hooper is pretty burnt. We can't really blame directors for some of the shit they put out because of bad material, but on the other hand why do they do it anyway. For cash? I guess they have to live like u and I, but damn. Ninth Gate is pretty badass! Depp rocks!

[Carl Zittrer]

Tobe Hooper is probably the most disappointing example of a washed-up director in history of horror films. He makes one of the seminal horror masterpieces TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and then follows it up with increasingly worsening shite (SALEM'S LOT and maybe THE FUNHOUSE being minor exceptions), beginning right after T.C.M. with the deadening bore EATEN ALIVE.

John Carpenter: HALLOWEEN, THE THING, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, (I hear the TV movie SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME is great).....Since then what? No good ideas?

Bob Clark, like the two above, had a short run of great horror films in the 70s (BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974), DEATHDREAM (1972), MURDER BY DECREE (1979)), and then he turned his back on the interesting low-budget scene and sold out to Hollywood.

Wes Craven can't really be considered washed-up. He has never really had an unsuccessful period over the years, thanks to his big hits the NIGHTMARE series, and the SCREAM series. Still, I would love to see him return to his low-budget roots, when he made films that were genuinely scary (LAST HOUSE..., THE HILLS HAVE EYES), rather than the teenybopper flicks he has been making since the first NIGHMARE ON ELM STREET. Sure, his early films have plenty of flaws, but they're also much more gritty, uncompromising, interesting, and scary than his subsequent work.

[the-burn-out]

Don't agree w/opinion of early craven work, but nicely stated opinion !

[THE DARK]

Antonio, I'd have to agree with you there, most horror directors do hit a slump, and every now and then come out with a saving grace flick, I cant think of any off hand.
But take Wes Craven for example, am I the only one that hates all of his work after the original Nightmare movies, obviously I only mean 1 and 2 as the rest were the run of the mill stuff, but what the hell is all this Scream crap. Theres just no meat anymore in any of Cravens films. Everything he did upto Freddies revenge(did he do that one?) was worth it, everything after, well personally, I think not.

The same with Carpenter. Some classics, but what happened to Vampires, there was a half decent cast, but a lack of any decent script and it would have been good to get a half decent story in on it too. I remember Precinct 13 was the hardest video to get back in the day here in the UK and it was worth the wait when I managed to get a dodgy copy of it.

But I suppose most of them hit the mark back in the day and they dont need to prove as much these days because they have their royalties to see them through, that and the fact that its gotten far too difficult to release the good stuff, becuase lo and behold, it aint what mainstream audiences want.
I hope I'm not sounding too up my ass, but thats the age old problem with the movie industry.
Tobe Hooper is forgettable, thanks but no thanks, TCM was good but thats it. Romero, well, who knows, but isnt he doing something with PS game "RESIDENT EVIL" , a movie based on the game. Maybe that will be a return to form.
I dont know, I remember when I was into the horror scene that I couldnt miss an issue of Fangoria, but I soon lost interest, well, not too much interest, I still look out for them and flick the pages, nostalgia me thinks. I still am a horror fan, but I cant but be dissapointed with the fare thats out there at the moment.
I can only think it stems from the age old adage, "they dont make 'em like they used to...!"

[malaria]

Paul Verhoven looks pretty burnt out judging by Hollow Man.

[Antonio Del Lago]

The most burnt out Hollywood screenwriter is Joe Eszterhas of BASIC INSTINCT, JADE, SHOWGIRLS, JAGGED EDGE and SLIVER fame.

The only two scripts worth his million-dollar paychecks are BASIC INSTINCT and JAGGED EDGE.