15 Greatest Horror Directors Of All Time
4. David Cronenberg
Notable films: The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly
Few directors can make the claim to have invented an entire subgenre all by themselves, but with the release of Shivers in 1975 Canadian director David Cronenberg set in motion the chain of events which would culminate in the arrival of Body Horror.
It is Cronenberg's fascination with the degeneration or mutation of the body which makes his earlier horror output linger for so long in the mind. Whether it is the sight of James Woods reaching inside his own chest in Videodrome or Jeff Goldblum's scientist slowly falling apart as he transforms into the titular insect in The Fly, his films feature some of the most impressive effects work committed to film. Yet the gross imagery was never gratuitous, but always linked to a deeper, more disturbing subtext.
While other directors have made movies which sit under the Body Horror umbrella (including the aforementioned Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna), Cronenberg remains the true master of getting quite literally under your skin.