9 Horror Directors Who Deserve An Honorary Oscar

If Bob Dylan can win the Nobel Prize for literature, isn’t it about time the Academy recognised the filmmaker who single-handedly changed the horror genre forever?

With Blood Feast (1963), Herschell Gordon Lewis pioneered the splatter movie, dragging horror out of the B&W 1950s into the era of “blood colour”, and his DIY ethic influenced filmmakers from John Waters to Robert Rodriguez. Waters named him one of the most important independent directors of all time in Cecil B Demented and Frank Henenlotter later dedicated Basket Case to the filmmaker.

At a time when movies were more difficult and expensive for amateur filmmakers to get off the ground (never mind distribute), Lewis was able to write, direct and produce his own pictures, often handling other chores such as operating the camera and providing the special effects. Ironically enough, he left filmmaking behind just as the major studios saw the commercial possibilities of his type of pictures. The horror boom of the early 80s owes a debt to his efforts.