10 Celebrated Horror Directors That Made Video Games

10. Clive Barker

Game Credits: Undying, Jericho, Demonik (canceled), Hellraiser: Revival

Clive Barker is essentially a horror Renaissance man, wearing many hats across the territory. While best known and still active in the literary space, with his Books of Blood series remaining his most revered work, he was also a major directorial force in film for a brief but memorable period. His debut, Hellraiser (1987), grabbed audiences by the lapels and birthed a classic boogeyman and franchise in turn. Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions followed, but both were compromised by studio interference, which ultimately dampened Barker’s enthusiasm for directing and made him shift into a producer/writer role instead (e.g., Candyman)

Barker also tried his hand at video games, working on several original projects as a writer and creative supervisor. He even publicly defended the medium as a legitimate art form following Roger Ebert’s dismissal of it. 

As lead writer, he made the following: Undying became a cult classic among PC gamers, praised for its creative monsters, solid shooting mechanics, and Lovecraftian-inspired mythos. Jericho was a big-budget, ambitious project that sadly faceplanted due to muddy gameplay and repetitive missions. Demonik was another promising project that advanced well into production, even appearing in the comedy Grandma’s Boy, but funding was pulled, and the game was canceled.

After stepping away from hands-on work in gaming for several years, Barker has recently returned as a creative supervisor for the upcoming Hellraiser game, an exciting and seemingly authentic new take on his own legendary universe.