15 Greatest Horror Directors Of All Time
10. Tobe Hooper
Notable films: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist, Lifeforce
Some horror directors don't have to be prolific to earn their place in the pantheon of the very best - sometimes all it takes is one film so influential that they changed the shape of the genre forever.
Tobe Hooper's horror masterpiece, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is one such film; so radical and inventive - and so damn scary - that it made everyone who saw it rethink the way audiences could be scared. The brilliance of the movie can be illuminated in the way many people recall how gory it was - in fact, Hooper is incredibly restrained when it comes to the amount of blood spilled on screen, creating a cinematic testament to the powers of suggestion.
His filmography might go downhill as his career progresses (and you can argue about whether or not Spielberg was the real director behind Poltergeist), but when you make a film this groundbreaking and disturbing it's almost impossible to go one better, no matter how talented you are.