8. Michael Reeves
As a young boy, Reeves was an obsessed cineaste and vowed that he would work in the film industry. He cut his teeth on Italian horror and was heavily involved in the making of Castle of the Living Dead and Revenge of the Blood Beast. Back in his native England he made The Sorcerers with Boris Karloff in 1966. It is for his fourth film that Reeves became immortalised. Witchfinder General was made when Reeves was only 24, but his direction is assured and accomplished - creating one of not just the best ever British made horror films, but one of the best ever horror films ever made full stop. He managed to coax a deadly serious performance from Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins, the evil and corrupt 'Witchfinder General' who stalks the verdant lands of East Anglia looking for 'witches' to torture and burn. Reeves evokes a society where morals have gone completely bankrupt. By all accounts their relationship was frosty with Reeves continually goading Price, but whenever Price saw the finished version he appreciated what Reeves had done for the sake of creating art. After the film, Reeves had problems getting his next project - The Oblong Box under way. He also suffered from depression and insomnia and was under psychiatric care. Tragically, his life was cut short when he was 25 by an accidental overdose of barbiturates. One wonders what he could have achieved in the world of film with his prodigious talent had he survived.