3. Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma unquestionably had one of the strongest opening runs to any career of any filmmaker who has ever lived, delivering an unprecedented run of 11 highly acclaimed pictures, including classics such as Carrie, Dressed To Kill, Blow Out, and his most famously iconic film, the superbly demented Scarface. After following these hits up with the flop Wise Guys, De Palma temporarily recovered with The Untouchables and Casualties of War, before suffering through The Bonfire of the Vanities and Raising Cain, and then releasing his last two hits to date, the brilliant Carlito's Way and Mission: Impossible. De Palma's not had a hit in almost twenty years; how depressing is that? His recent string of failures includes Snake Eyes, Mission to Mars, Femme Fatale, The Black Dahlia (a huge personal disappointment), the documentary Redcated, and his latest film Passion, which has yet to be released, but has received tepid notices on the festival circuit so far.