3. Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma has made some truly terrible movies over the years. Even before his recent slump, his career has been littered with abysmal offerings. Much of his vary early work can be left alone and it wasn't until 1976 with Carrie and Obsessed where he found success. From the mid-seventies he had a great run, directing his masterpiece Scarface as well as several excellent pictures such as Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Double and Carlito's Way. During this period, he also directed his two most commercial films in The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible which brought him significant commercial success as well as more eyes on his back catalogue. De Palma's decline can be traced back to 1990 with the release of The Bonfire of the Vanities though Carlito's Way was released three years later and Mission: Impossible three years after that. Ever since Mission: Impossible, De Palma's stock has plummeted with the release of five successive bombs of both the commercial and critical kind. He was given the chance to resurrect his career with an adaptation of James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia in 2006, but he botched it horribly, as it was uninteresting and empty rather than the LA Confidential-esque masterpiece that was expected. Most recently, De Palma has fell off the map completely and despite his latest film - Passion - starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace it has yet to be picked up for distribution. De Palma's movies were never to everybody's taste, but at least people took notice when he had a film out. Now, casual film-goers barely know he exists.