10 Great Directors Who Made Terrible Debut Films

6. Brian De Palma - Murder A La Mod

Fear And Desire
Criterion

In a career as long and successful as Brian De Palma, with classics such as Scarface and Carrie under his belt, it is remarkable he was able to make another film after his debut.

Murder a la Mod may have been a cathartic experience for the young De Palma as one of the characters seems to be the living embodiment of him: a struggling amateur filmmaker who is trying to earn just enough money to keep a roof over his head.

Useful this exercise may have been but it went largely ignored by audiences and critics of the time. With the benefit of hindsight the notorious suspense director's debut has fared the worst of all his work with critic David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews calling it "De Palma's first (and worst) feature-length endeavour."

Contributor

An avid cinephile, love Trainspotting (the film, not the hobby), like watching bad films ironically (The Room, Cats) and hate my over-reliance on brackets (they’re handy for a quick aside though).