John Carpenter
The master of horror took nearly a decade off before his most recent release. And the best he can come up with for his big comeback is the The Ward, a cliche-ridden girls-in-a-mental-institution thriller without an ounce of originality? Yikes. How does someone who once had such a distinguished cinematic voice deliver such a generic dud?
Creative Peak: Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982)
Rock Bottom: Ghosts of Mars (2001), The Ward (2010)
Joel Schumacher
Schumacher has a tough resume to nail down. I keep returning to (and enjoying) Falling Down and A Time to Kill after all these years. He even miraculously recovered from Batman & Robin to make some taut features like Tigerland and Phone Booth. And then the wheels fell off. His last film, the abysmal Trespass, was almost like a parody of a home invasion thriller. Budgeted at $35 million, it grossed a mere $24,000. That’s not good for business.
Creative Peak: The Lost Boys (1987), Falling Down (1993), A Time to Kill (1996)
Rock Bottom: Blood Creek (2009), Twelve (2010), Trespass (2011)
The Farrelly Brothers
Peter and Bobby Farrelly were once a comedy institution, but it’s been more than a decade since they’ve made a memorable movie. Now they’re making a Three Stooges movie and going back to the well with a Dumb and Dumber sequel. Does this reek of desperation to anyone else?
Creative Peak: Dumb and Dumber (1994), Kingpin (1996), There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Rock Bottom: The Heartbreak Kid (2007), Hall Pass (2011)
Oliver Stone
More so than any other director on the list, Oliver Stone comes across as a shell of his former self. He still makes films that are timely and socially relevant, but they don’t seem to resonate with audiences like they once did. Maybe that’s because people now know what to expect from Stone and consider the source when they see (or don’t see) his movies. I mean, I thought W was a fun film. I just don’t think anyone really took it seriously.
I appreciate that he never shies away from a controversial topic, but I wonder if he’s become more interested in stirring the pot than crafting a compelling film. Here’s hoping he can turn things around with Savages. He certainly has the cast for it.
Creative Peak: Salvador (1986), Platoon (1986), JFK (1991)
Rock Bottom: Alexander (2004), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Brian De Palma
De Palma has quite the eclectic resume. He’s probably best known for his trio of successful gangster flicks (Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito’s Way), but I most appreciate him for his early Hitchcockian thrillers. Hell, he even made some solid actioners like Mission: Impossible and Snake Eyes in the ’90s, but then something terrible happened. The only thing I could think about while watching The Black Dahlia was how much better it would have been if David Fincher was directing it.
Creative Peak: Carrie (1978), Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981)
Rock Bottom: Mission to Mars (2000), Femme Fatale (2002), The Black Dahlia (2006)
Looking at the names on this list gives me even greater appreciation for the consistency of filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Terrence Malick, Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodovar, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers. But whose decline do you consider the most disappointing? Did I leave a notable name off the list? Let me know in the replies.
