10 Directors Who Absolutely Hated Their Own Movies

Two years before Wes Craven became a household name following the release of his career defining horror A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), he had written and directed Swamp Thing (1982), an early DC Comics adaptation. Craven had to deliver the movie on a modest $2.5m budget, and it's clear from viewing the final cut that a far higher budget was required in order to realise his vision.

The B-Movie-level special effects and costumes of the monsters were comically bad throughout, and fell well short of Craven’s expectations when writing the film. Following cult horror success with the likes of The Last House On The Left (1972) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Craven was hoping that by filming Swamp Thing it would make him more attractive to major studios as a director who could handle action, stunts and known stars. Ultimately, the end product did little to enhance his reputation.

After being forced to cut what he considered to be important scenes written for the third act in order to stay under budget, as well as being underwhelmed with the ludicrous costume designs, Wes felt he had blown his chance and was thoroughly depressed with the backlash. However, in the aftermath he would start penning the script for his next movie, and in creating the iconic Freddy Krueger would find his true calling by returning to his horror roots.