10 Weirdest Films To Come From Celebrated Directors

E. Elias Merhige isn’t a name synonymous with Hollywood. To this date he has only ever made two feature films with major studio backing, but in 1990 his name made circles in underground film circuits with the surreal horror masterpiece Begotten. Afterwards, he rose to fame in 2000 with mainstream horror hit Shadow Of The Vampire, which was produced by Nicholas Cage, who hand-picked Merhige after watching Begotten. The film featured such prestigious stars as Eddie Izzard, John Malkovich, Cary Elwes and Willem Dafoe, and it became a critical and commercial success.

After Merhige made the negatively received psychological thriller Suspect Zero after Shadow Of the Vampire, he retreated back into the world of avant-garde horror and kept himself away from the public eye completely. His focus since leaving Hollywood was to make a trilogy out of Begotten. The first sequel, Din Of Celestial Birds, was released in 2006 and he is currently working on the third kickstarter funded entry Polia And Blastema, which is yet to be released.

If you were to only see Shadow Of The Vampire and Begotten, then it may be suggested that Begotten is the bizarre movie in Merhige’s repertoire, when in reality it’s the other way around. Shadow Of The Vampire remains the only non-surreal horror movie he ever made.