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Tobe Hooper |
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| TOBE HOOPER leaped into the forefront of horror film directors in 1974 with his influential classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an unrelenting shocker about a crazed family of Texas cannibals. The independent film spawned two sequels and introduced the world to Leatherface, who ranks with Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason as one of the nastiest movie villains ever. The director then made his "Hollywood" debut with Eaten Alive, a bizarre horror film about a hotel manager with an unusual way of dispatching unruly guests. The movie marked Hooper’s first collaboration with Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund, who appeared in the film. Hooper followed with 1981’s The Funhouse, a stylish chiller set at a traveling carnival. Hooper then struck gold with the 1982 special-effects blockbuster Poltergeist, a Steven Spielberg production about a family terrorized by unfriendly ghosts. The film, starring Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, went on to become one of the top-grossing films of it’s time and was followed by two sequels. He next directed the unusual outer space vampire thriller Lifeforce, followed by a remake of 1953’s Invaders From Mars, a fantasy favorite about a young boy’s nightmarish experiences when aliens land in his backyard, starring Karen Black and Timothy Bottoms. Hooper then came full circle when he directed Cannon’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, starring Dennis Hopper as a Texas Ranger obsessed with revenge against the demented cannibal family. In 1989, Hooper directed the movie thriller Spontaneous Combustion. For television, Hooper helmed the popular small screen adaptation of Stephen King’s vampire chiller Salem’s Lot as well as the USA Cable movie I’m Dangerous Tonight. He also directed episodes of such series as Amazing Stories, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Equalizer and Tales From the Crypt, along with the CBS pilot Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories. |
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