4. Tobe Hooper
I, like many others, am still waiting for Tobe Hooper to fulfill the promise that presented itself when his first major feature, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was a meteoric success and became one of the most iconic and brilliant horror films ever made. Since, Hooper's career has been a veritable rollercoaster ride of the good and bad, going from the highs of his first film, to a very unfortunate low nowadays indeed. After Chainsaw, he encountered his first failure with Eaten Alive, though quickly regained his reputation with Salem's Lot, The Funhouse and the unforgettable classic, The Poltergeist (though many contend that Steven Spielberg actually directed much of the film). From here, however, Hooper's career nose-dived and never recovered, with Invaders From Mars, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Sleepwalkers being notorious flops for the director. After The Mangler was critically reviled, his films stopped getting theatrical releases, with most of his work ending up straight-to-video, a depressing sign of how far a talented director can fall due to poor career choices.