5 Promising Directors From The 2000s (Who've Sucked Since Their Debut)

The Debut - Zombieland (2009), Subsequent Films - 30 Minutes Or Less (2009), Gangster Squad (2013)

The longevity of the zombie genre is surprising given that it should be long past saturation. Filmmakers (and more recently television networks and game publishers) nevertheless seem to keep being able to breathe new life into it.

Ruben Fleischer followed the successful precedent set by Edgar Wright's Shaun Of The Dead with the comedic Zombieland, which saw Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin take a road trip across zombie-infested America to visit a theme park. With a hilarious scene-stealing cameo from Bill Murray, it became the highest-grossing zombie film until the release of World War Z four years later.

Unlike the other directors on this list, Fleischer has an upcoming film that could revive his fortunes - Venom has fans excited and apprehensive in equal measure, with the pedigree of stars like Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams offset by worries about it being a cash cow for Sony given that it is a story about Spider-Man characters without Spider-Man (or any connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

His previous two efforts don't inspire confidence - 30 Minutes Or Less wasted a brilliant premise (a hostage with a bomb strapped to their chest forced to do his captor's bidding), whilst Gangster Squad eschewed character development and the noir element typical of 40s/50s set crime films (such as L.A. Confidential) in favour of excessive gunfights.