To celebrate the release of THE PYRAMID, Grégory Levasseur’s first feature length film in the director’s chair, we are taking a look at the best horror directorial debuts! THE PYRAMID is in cinemas now.
Sam Raimi: The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi’s cult horror masterpiece The Evil Dead is centred around five friends that go on holiday to a cabin in the woods and in the basement of the cabin they discover ‘The Book of the Dead’ plus an old audiotape filled with demonic incantations. The group plays the audiotape which unleashes evil forces that torment and possess them to kill each other. Raimi managed to create a horror masterpiece that spawned an entire franchise on a small budget and is now looked upon as one of the best directors in horror.
Tobe Hooper: Texas Chainsaw Massacre
If you ask anyone to name horror classics this film will no doubt be somewhere near top of the list. What they might not know is that it was in fact director Tobe Hooper’s first attempt at directing, he certainly got the hang of it pretty quickly. Hooper managed to create an instant horror classic that uses minimal blood effects which given the expectations the title presents is nothing short of amazing. In the film two siblings and three friends visit their grandfather’s grave in the country and find the entire graveyard desecrated. The five of them are subsequently hunted and terrorized by a chain-saw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.
George A. Romero: Night Of The Living Dead
The plot is simple but extremely well executed; a group of people attempt to survive an onslaught of the undead throughout the night in a small country farmhouse. Romero has set the bar high for zombie horror: two of his films sit in the top 25 horror films of all time on IMDB. Since his debut Romero went on to direct 4 more films in the ‘Dead’ series to much critical acclaim as well as writing and producing many other popular horror films.
Charles Laughton: The Night Of The Hunter
Charles Laughton’s ‘Night Of The Hunter’ was not a popular film on its release, it didn’t find success until many years down the line where it began to be appreciated as the cinematic masterpiece it is seen as today. The film itself tells the story of serial killer Harry Powell who marries a widow in order to discover the secret location of the money her husband stole before being executed for robbery. Powell’s murderous tale has lead him to be named as one of the best movie villains of all time and the film itself sits at no. 2 on Empire magazine’s 500 greatest movies list.
Grégory Levasseur: The Pyramid
Grégory Levasseur known for his work on ‘High Tension’ and ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ is having his own directorial debut with the new horror THE PYRAMID which is in cinemas now. The ancient wonders of the world have long cursed explorers who’ve dared to uncover their secrets. But a team of U.S. archaeologists gets more than they bargained for when they discover a lost pyramid unlike any other in the Egyptian desert. As they unlock the horrific secrets buried within, they realize they aren’t just trapped, they are being hunted.
THE PYRAMID is in cinemas now!