1. M. Night Shyamalan - Signs
Who else could be number one on a list like this? M. Night Shyamalan is a director with no redeemable qualities in his recent work that not even cine-hipsters will stand up to defend him. Everyones had the same experience with Shyamalan. The Sixth Senses twist is painfully ubiquitous and everyone has that one film of his where you guessed the twist out of implausibility and vowed never to see another. But two questions rage about this fallen messiah. Which of his films is the worst (I'd say The Last Airbender) and which kicked off his dark turn. For me it has to be Signs. The Lady In The Water and The Village pushed him over the edge, but it was this film that really signified this man was lucky, rather than great. I remember it doing well on release and know a fair few people who raved about it as genuinely scary, so when I finally got around to seeing it a few years later I felt cheated. Theres so many moments where Shyamalan clearly thought he was being scary or smart - ooh, Joaquin Phoenix saw something scary on TV, ooh, remember when we mentioned religion earlier in the film - but its a hacks attempt at those things. Anything wrong with his later films has their roots in this logicless mess.
Did he pull it back? No.
Can you think of any more directors who gave us uncharacteristicly bad films? Let us know in the comments below.