8 Worst Films Directed By Oscar Winners

Freddie Francis is one of the genuine legends of British cinema: as well as working with the likes Alexander Korda, Peter Cushing and Michael Powell, he won two Best Cinematography Oscars for Sons And Lovers (1960) and Glory (1989). He also had a successful directing career, though in later years he admitted it might’ve been a mistake.

With the likes of Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968) and Tales From The Crypt (1972), Francis furnished us with fun schlock, but his career hit rock bottom with Trog (1970), which also marked Joan Crawford’s cinematic swansong. Crawford famously joked that if it wasn’t for her conversion to Christian Science, the movie might’ve caused her to commit suicide out of embarrassment.

Shot on a budget so low that Crawford reportedly supplied her own wardrobe, Trog is your typical story about a “half man half beast with the strength of twenty demons” who looks more like an extra in a monkey mask. When he gets bored of “brilliant woman scientist” Crawford teaching him how to cuddle dolls and say “Wah wah”, Trog goes on the rampage, throwing people through windows when he isn’t standing in front of product placements for Pepsi.

The movie’s contempt for its audience made quite an impression on a young filmmaker named John Landis, whose debut feature Schlock (1973) parodies the movie.