Many of the most famous motion-picture show directors in Hollywood experience their showtime by turn on revulsion movies , some far more obscure than others . Whether they were fans of the genre or not go in , low - budget horror films that are made inexpensively and quick afford novice movie maker to ply their trade , perfect their craft , and develop their own distinct directorial style before going off to helm adult and good thing .

While some A - inclination filmmakers stay to toil in the horror land   such as Guillermo del Toro and Sam Raimi , many have go on to helm some of the braggart blockbusters of all time . Though they may not make as many horror movies as they used to , these film director never really left the musical genre behind .

J.J. Abrams

WhileJ.J. Abramssold his first screenplay forRegarding Henrywhile he was still in college , the mega - manufacturer had already worked in the sound department on a throwaway 1982 B - horror movie calledNightbeast .

Nightbeastis a micro - budget creature - feature in which a mutated space monster lands on Earth and make for sanguinary mayhem by slaughter as many unsuspecting victim as potential . The film marks the first screen acknowledgment of Abrams ' career , who created the levelheaded effects for the picture show . Abrams never misplace interest in sci - fi and would go on to direct films for two of the biggest sci - fi franchises ever : Star TrekandStar Wars .

James Gunn

The unofficial city manager of the MCU and now the Duke of DC , James Gunn is the brainpower behind the epicGalaxy of the Guardiansfranchise and the upcomingSuicide Squadsequel . Believe it or not , he got he take off with Lloyd Kaufman and the schlocky Troma outfit .

The first credit of Gunn ’s career belongs to the 1996 filmTromeo and Juliet , on which he served as screenwriter , adjunct film director , executive producer , and thespian . Gunn made his directorial debut withThe Tromaville CafeTV serial one year later before making his feature film debut with the 2006 brute - featureSlither .   Gunn never forgot his Troma days , as seen in his wont of casting his Friend and workfellow from there in cameos across his bigger budgeted moving picture .

Zack Snyder

The nameZack Snyderinstantly conjures images of300 , Watchmen , Man of Steel , and one of the most anticipated music director ’s cuts seen in a while ( i.e. the fabledJustice LeagueSnyder Cut)and several other mega - marvel smash hit . However , his next film harks back to where it all started back in 2004 .

Originally a euphony picture director , Snyder loudly announce his arrival in Hollywood with the beloved activity - packed remake of George A. Romero’sDawn of the Dead , the classical ' 70 zombi spirit horror movie . Up next for Snyder on the big - silver screen is the Netflix continuation / religious successorArmy of the Dead , in which a host of rabid zombies will run over Sin City as a daring heist fill place .

Brian De Palma

AlthoughBrian De Palmais most noted for guide such flick asScarface , The Untouchables , andthe originalMission : Impossible , his entire life history was launched on the back of little - known repugnance / thrillers asMurder a la ModandSisters . Of naturally , he ’d go on to makeCarrie , Dressed To Kill , Body Double , and other horror classics .

Sisters(1973 ) stars Margot Kidder as twin sib , one of which is viciously murdered in her apartment . The execution is witness by a diary keeper , who can not convince the police that such a crime choose place .

Kathryn Bigelow

In 2010 , Kathryn Bigelow made story by becoming the first female film producer in account to win an Academy Award for Best Director for her work onThe Hurt Locker . The A - listZero Dark Thirtydirector who ’s presently best known for hard - tally thriller also incur her start in the horror genre .

Although her feature debut is a violent biker picture calledThe Loveless , her first credit was a short film calledThe Set - Up , which explored the nature of intense violence when a human being is beaten to a flesh . Her 2d feature article film , however , is the criminally underrate lamia / Western route - movieNear Dark , starring the late Bill Paxton .

Oliver Stone

Although he pennedMidnight ExpressandScarfaceearly in his career , Oliver Stonedidn’t gain widespread ill fame until he direct Oscar - advance motion picture likePlatoon , Wall Street , Born on the Fourth of July , orJFK .

Prior to becoming one of the best filmmakers on the satellite , Stone direct two low - budget repulsion picture show in the ' 70s and ' eighty . The first is calledSeizure , about a horror novelist who is tormented by exemplification from his latest book . The other is calledThe Hand , star Michael Caine as a cartoonist who loses a helping hand in an accident . The cut off bridge player reanimates with a lethal mind of its own .

Peter Jackson

Forever synonymous withThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy and the phantasy epic as a whole , few current film maker are more famous and hefty thanPeter Jackson . While he play around with big - budget music genre filmmaking withKing Kong , Jackson ’s love of the repugnance literary genre can be line back to his roots .

Two of Jackson ’s first three feature films are firm entrenched in the repulsion - comedy realm . The 1987 filmBad Tastefinds a wash of malevolent aliens who turn the human universe into a degenerate - nutrient carte du jour . His third feature , Dead Alive , is a zombie - comedy that ’s often called the bloodiest picture show ever made . Jackson has n’t made a revulsion movie in a while , buthe ’s happy to return to the genre should he come across the right field ( read : most disgusting ) project .

James Cameron

The ego - proclaimed " King of the World,“Titanicdirector James Cameron is arguably the most successful filmmaker of all time after Steven Spielberg . And yet he too hack his tooth on a little B vitamin - repulsion flick calledPiranha II : The Spawning(i.e . the one where the piranha have wings )   to start his decorated calling .   While the photographic film stigmatise Cameron ’s first directorial credit , he was actually replaced by Ovidio G. Assonitis early on .

Cameron got the gig on the strength of his special effects onGalaxy of Terrorin 1981 , a cheapAlienknockoff . Ironically , Cameron would go on to directAliens . Another matter worth note is that while working onPiranha II , Cameron had a incubus about a robotic torso sweep up itself out of a fire to stab him . This served as the generation for what would becomeThe Terminator .

Steven Spielberg

WhileSteven Spielberg ’s 1975 adventurous thrillerJawsliterally helped to coin the set phrase " blockbuster,“the world - class filmmaker take two made - for - television horror flicks prior .

Spielberg ’s first film wasDuel , in which a automobilist is relentlessly tail and stalked by a hulking tractor - trailer . The unbalance big - rig number one wood will contain at nothing to fatally prevail David Mann ( Dennis Weaver ) off the road . In many ways , duel to the creation ofJawsas it ’s been draw as both Spielberg ’s training solid ground for a cinematic thriller and " Jawson the route . "   Spielberg also made a little know motion picture calledSomething Evila twelvemonth later in 1972 .

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is live for calculate some of the o.k. pic ever made . In addition tothe peerlessThe   Godfathertrilogy , he ’s creditworthy forApocalypse Now , The Conversation , The Outsiders , andBram Stoker ’s Dracula . However , Coppola got his start in Hollywood by puzzle out with legendary depleted - budget B - movie producer Roger Corman .

First , Corman spend a few days as an uncredited co - managing director on Corman ’s 1963 filmThe Terror . Secondly , Coppola madeDementia 13the same year , an early slasher flick about an ax - murderer stalk a widow inheritrix . Arguably , his horror roots would show up every now and then in his motion picture ’s dark moments or in the case ofApocalypse Now , throughout every individual frame .

NEXT : Francis Ford Coppola : 10 undecomposed Movies ( harmonize To IMDB )

Ben Affleck as Christian drumming his hand on the table while talking to Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s Marybeth in The Accountant 2

A collage image of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope

In a dusty landscape Finn stares out into the distance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

James Gunn A List Directors

Creature from Nightbeast

Tromeo and Juliet 1996

Zombies running in Dawn of the Dead

Margot Kidder in Sisters

Cast Near Dark 1987

Caine in The Hand 1981

Aliens in Bad Taste 1987

A piranha attacks a woman in Piranha 2.

A truck on the road from Duel 1971

Killer in Demential 13

Movies

Guardians of the Galaxy