With the September 17 release of M. Night Shyamalan's Devil just around the corner, we decided to pay our respects to the Masters of Suspense - directors that keep us on the edge of our seats, push the boundaries of fear and play tricks on our minds with suspense-filled, nightmarish visions.
Alfred Hitchcock - Has there ever been a more masterful mind behind the camera than Hitchcock? Every frame of film was meticulously planned and storyboarded long before the cameras started rolling, so as to maximize the emotional potential of every moment. An absolute wizard of suspense and originality, he possessed film audiences around the world with dozens of films that pushed the boundaries of the very medium itself, set new standards of technique and thrilled us all in the meantime.
Wes Craven - The man's vision and unique flare is nothing short of iconic. With resume three decades deep, the man leaped from utterly mindblowing horror films like Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes to complete domination of the teen horror genre, kicking off with A Nightmare on Elm Street and terrifying a whole new generation with the suspense-filled murderfest of the Scream franchise. As seen in 2005's Red Eye, Craven is every bit a master of suspense as he is horror.
Tobe Hooper - His list of films sports enough blood and severed body parts to fill a national cannibal buffet, but a hundred years from now when we're all just digital neurodust in the stratosphere, Hooper's legacy will lead off with one film: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Just hearing the name "Leatherface" conjures utterly terrifying, gruesome imagery and memories of a level of murderous cinematic suspense that will stay with the viewer for a lifetime.
Sam Raimi - The genius behind the Evil Dead series and the cult legend Army of Darkness cannot go unmentioned on a list of the top horror and suspense directors. Raimi pushed mainstream boundaries with 1990's Darkman, a massively suspenseful tale of an unlikely hero, and showed he can flip to the other side of the hero coin just as easily by bringing three massively successful Spiderman films to the world. With his return to horror in 2009's Drag Me To Hell, Raimi proved he hasn't lost his touch when it comes to nail-biting suspense and terror.
George Romero - Some directors cut their teeth on quiet failure films that serve as leaping points of learning. George Romero's directorial debut was Night of the Living Dead, which is the equivalent of Da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa on his first use of a canvas. Blazing his own path outside the realm of the mainstream studio system, Romero's films have long featured broad & biting statements about cultural and sociopolitical trends. Building on four decades of work, Romero's influence in the zombie film culture continues to be massive, and his ability to take filmgoers on a suspenseful ride of near-certain doom has spawned legions of filmmaker disciples. He truly is the Grandfather of the Zombie.
John Carpenter - The man who gave us Halloween and The Thing, is cut into stone on this list, utilizing Hitchcock's no-penetration stabbing rule in his horror depictions and instead relying on powerful designs of suspense to send the mind reeling. Massively influential in his craft, Carpenter has blazed a trail with many cult-favorite suspense-filled horror flicks - and admittedly, a few high-profile duds.
M. Night Shyamalan - Shyamalan leaves nearly everything dark and dreadful to the imagination, often leaving the audience hanging on the concept of what they're even terrified of until the climax of his films. Sometimes the monsters are all in our minds (The Village) - other times they're very, very real (Signs). With the September 17 release of Devil, Shyamalan is set to take terrifying suspense to a whole new level.
