Worst Directors

1. James Wan

Writer | Saw

James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010)...

2. Eli Roth

Producer | Thanksgiving

Eli Raphael Roth was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Cora (Bialis), a painter, and Sheldon H. Roth, a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and clinical professor. His family is Jewish (from Austria, Hungary, Russia, and Poland). He began shooting Super 8 films at the age of eight; after watching Ridley ...

3. Uwe Boll

Producer | Postal

As a youth, he produced a number of short films on Super 8 and video. After short stints as guest auditor at Filmacademy Vienna and Filmhochschule Munich, Boll studied literature and economics in Cologne and Siegen. He graduated from university in 1995 with a doctorate in literature. From 1995-2000...

4. Michael Bay

Producer | Armageddon

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Michael Bay spent his 20s working on advertisements and music videos. His first projects after film school were in the music video business. He created music videos for Tina Turner, Meat Loaf, Lionel Richie, Wilson Phillips, Donny Osmond and Divinyls. His work won...

5. Edward D. Wood Jr.

Writer | Plan 9 from Outer Space

Hacks are nothing new in Hollywood. Since the beginning of the film industry at the turn of the 20th century, thousands of untalented people have come to Los Angeles from all over America and abroad to try to make it big (as writers, producers, directors, actors, talent agents, singers, composers, ...

6. Rob Cohen

Director | DragonHeart

Rob Cohen is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. One of the 1970's "baby moguls", he built a thriving career as a producer, before concentrating full time on directing from the 1990's, with high adrenaline action blockbusters such as xXx (2002) and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (...

7. Jay Chandrasekhar

Director | Super Troopers

Jay Chandrasekhar was born on April 9, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Super Troopers (2001), Club Dread (2004) and Beerfest (2006). He has been married to Susan Clarke since September 18, 2005. They have three children.

8. Zack Snyder

Director | 300

Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter, best known for action and science fiction films. Snyder made his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead and has gone on to be known for his comic book movies and ...

9. James Wong

Producer | The X Files

James Wong is known for The X-Files (1993), The One (2001) and Space: Above and Beyond (1995). He is married to Teena Wong. They have three children.

10. Brian Levant

Producer | Still the Beaver

Brian Michael Levant is an American filmmaker and producer known for directing many films such as The Flintstones, Jingle All the Way, Snow Dogs, Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins, The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas, Scooby-Doo: Curse of the Lake Monster, Are We There Yet?, The Spy Next Door and Max 2: ...

11. Tyler Perry

Writer | Diary of a Mad Black Woman

Perry was born and raised in New Orleans, to Willie Maxine (Campbell) and Emmitt Perry, Sr. His mother was a church-goer and took Perry along with her once a week. His father was a carpenter and they had a very strained and abusive relationship, which led Perry to suffer from depression as a ...

12. Rob Zombie

Writer | Grindhouse

Robert Bartleh Cummings, more famously known as Rob Zombie, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on January 12, 1965. He is the oldest son of Louise and Robert Cummings, and has a younger brother, Michael David (aka Spider One; b. 1968), who is the lead singer of Powerman 5000. Growing up, Zombie ...

13. Joel Schumacher

Director | The Phantom of the Opera

Joel Schumacher was an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and fashion designer from New York City. He rose to fame in the 1980s for directing the coming-of-age drama "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), and the vampire-themed horror film "The Lost Boys" (1987). In the 1990s, he worked on two ...

I hate putting him on here because I like a couple of his movies but he has made more bad movies than good movies. *cough* Batman and Robin *cough*

14. M. Night Shyamalan

Producer | Lady in the Water

Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.

He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil ...

Signs and The Last Airbender. Enough said.

15. Roland Emmerich

Writer | Independence Day

Roland Emmerich is a German film director and producer of blockbuster films like The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Godzilla (1998), Independence Day (1996) and The Patriot (2000). Before fame, he originally wanted to be a production designer, but decided to be a director, after watching the original ...

16. Jason Friedberg

Writer | Disaster Movie

Jason Friedberg was born on January 16, 1970 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Disaster Movie (2008), Epic Movie (2007) and Meet the Spartans (2008).

17. Aaron Seltzer

Writer | Disaster Movie

Aaron Seltzer was born on January 12, 1974 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He is a writer and director, known for Disaster Movie (2008), Date Movie (2006) and Epic Movie (2007).

18. Peter Segal

Director | Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

Peter Segal was born in 1962. He is a director and producer, known for Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Get Smart (2008) and Second Act (2018). He is married to Linda Segal. They have three children.

19. Tom Six

Director | The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

Tom Six was born on August 29, 1973 in Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He is a director and writer, known for The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009), The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (2015) and The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011).

20. Xavier Gens

Director | Frontière(s)

Xavier Gens was born on April 27, 1975 in Dunkerque, Nord, France. He is a director and assistant director, known for Frontier(s) (2007), The Divide (2011) and Cell (2016). He has been married to Mounia Meddour since 2005.

21. Srdjan Spasojevic

Director | Srpski film

Srdjan Spasojevic was born in 1976 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He is a director and writer, known for A Serbian Film (2010), The ABCs of Death (2012) and Whereout.

22. Steven E. de Souza

Writer | Die Hard

Among the handful of screenwriters whose films have earned over $2 billion at the box office, Steven de Souza was introduced to Hollywood on camera--as a contestant on an L.A. game show. There the Philadelphia-based writer for PBS, The New York Times, Premiere and other media outlets won a car and ...

The Street Fighter movie.

23. Louis Leterrier

Director | The Incredible Hulk

Louis Leterrier is a French film director and producer. He notably directed the first two Transporter films, Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me, Tower of Strength and The Brothers Grimsby. He also directed episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix ...

24. Jan de Bont

Director | Speed

Jan de Bont was one of 17 children born into a Roman Catholic Dutch family in Eindhoven on 22 October 1943. Credited with being creative and having a good mentality for camera techniques, he became a popular cinematographer. He worked on a huge number of films before finding himself on the ...

25. Rob Marshall

Director | Mary Poppins Returns

Rob Marshall was born on October 17, 1960 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Chicago (2002) and Into the Woods (2014).

26. Andrzej Bartkowiak

Director | Romeo Must Die

Esteemed cinematographer known for his long, durable association with Sidney Lumet. Trained at the Polish Film School in his native Lódz. After he immigrated to the U.S.A. he began working in commercials filming hundreds of memorable spots for IBM, Xerox, American Express, Pepsi ,Coca Cola, ...

27. John Moore

Director | Max Payne

John Moore was born in Dundalk, Ireland in 1970, a small town situated about 60 miles from the country's capital Dublin. Moore attended a technical college in Dublin where he studied filmmaking and after completing the school he went on to direct and write a series of short films all produced in ...

28. Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer | Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Paul W.S. Anderson gained a fair bit of notoriety in his native England when he directed the ultra-violent Shopping (1994) (which he also wrote), starring Jude Law and Sean Pertwee in a story about thieves who steal by ramming a car into storefronts. The film was banned in some cinemas in England, ...

29. Colin Strause

Visual_effects | Skyline

Since moving to Hollywood as teens in the mid-90s, Colin and his brother, Greg have charted a meteoric rise from self-taught artists working on local cable commercials in the suburbs of Chicago, to renowned visual effects gurus. Their careers began on the original run of The X-Files television show...

30. Mark Steven Johnson

Director | Finding Steve McQueen

Mark Steven Johnson is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for writing and directing the hit Marvel films "Daredevil" and "Ghost Rider" as well as writing "Grumpy Old Men" and its successful sequel "Grumpier Old Men." Johnson recently wrote, directed and produced "Love...

31. Tim Story

Director | Fantastic Four

Timothy Kevin Story was born on March 13, 1970 in Los Angeles, California. Attended Westchester High School in Los Angeles, California with jazz pianist Eric Reed and actresses Regina King and Nia Long. Graduated from USC film school.

32. Brett Ratner

Director | Red Dragon

Brett Ratner is one of Hollywood's most successful filmmakers. His diverse films resonate with audiences worldwide and, as director, his films have grossed over $2 billion at the global box office. Brett began his career directing music videos before making his feature directorial debut at 26 years...

33. David S. Goyer

Writer | Dark City

David S. Goyer was born on December 22, 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Dark City (1998), The Dark Knight (2008) and Flashforward (2009). He is married to Marina Black. They have two children. He was previously married to Jessika Borsiczky.

34. Pitof

Director | Vidocq

Pitof started his career in 1976 as photographer, assistant director and editor for films and commercials. He then branched out into musical scoring, software design and graphic design for televisions, music videos and commercials.

A pioneer of digital imaging in France, Pitof made his debut in ...

35. Barry Sonnenfeld

Director | Men in Black

Barry Sonnenfeld was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from New York University Film School in 1978. He started work as director of photography on the Oscar-nominated In Our Water (1982). Then Joel Coen and Ethan Coen hired him for Blood Simple (1984). This film began his collaboration...

36. John Singleton

Writer | Boyz n the Hood

Son of Danny Singleton, a mortgage broker, and Sheila Ward, a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and raised in separate households by his unmarried parents, John Singleton attended the Film Writing Program at USC, after graduating from high school in 1986. While studying there, he won three ...

37. Chuck Russell

Director | The Scorpion King

Graduating from the University of Illinois, Russell left Chicago to begin work in film production in Los Angeles. He worked his way up, assistant directing and production managing independent films while writing screenplays. Russell made his directorial debut in 1987 with A Nightmare on Elm Street ...

38. John Stockwell

Actor | Top Gun

John Stockwell is an American actor, director, producer and writer who is probably best known - as an actor - for his roles in the Tom Cruise vehicles Losin' It (1982) and Top Gun (1986), and the Stephen King - John Carpenter film Christine (1983).

John has since moved from acting into the ...

39. Walt Becker

Director | Old Dogs

Walt Becker was born on September 16, 1968 in Hollywood, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Old Dogs (2009), Wild Hogs (2007) and National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002). He has been married to Lindsay Becker since 2005. They have two children.

40. Steven Brill

Producer | Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh

A native of Utica, New York, Steven Brill studied film, theater and acting at Boston University. It was there that he became a student of acclaimed, Nobel Prize winning poet and playwright, Derek Walcott. Brill became a part of Mr. Walcott's first theater group in Boston, Playwright's Theater, ...

41. Frank Coraci

Director | The Wedding Singer

Frank Coraci is an American film Director, Writer and Actor best know for his work with Adam Sandler.

Coraci was born in Shirley, New York on Long Island. Coraci graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in Film. He has directed a number of ...

42. Dennis Dugan

Actor | Happy Gilmore

Dennis Barton Dugan is an American film director, actor, comedian and screenwriter from Wheaton, Illinois who directed several films featuring Adam Sandler including Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, Jack & Jill, Grown Ups, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and You Don't Mess With the Zohan. He also ...

43. Steve Carr

Director | Movie 43

Steve Carr is known for Movie 43 (2013), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) and Daddy Day Care (2003).

44. Keenen Ivory Wayans

Writer | White Chicks

The trail-blazing linchpin of a sprawling family dynasty of comic entertainers, it was multi-talented writer/director/producer Keenen Ivory Wayans (born June 8, 1958, in New York City) who led the familial pack and was the first to achieve national prominence when he successfully created, launched,...

45. Shawn Wayans

Actor | White Chicks

Shawn Mathis Wayans is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Along with his brother Marlon Wayans, he wrote and starred in The WB's sitcom The Wayans Bros.(1995-1999) and in the comedy films Don't Be a Menace (1996), Scary Movie (2000), Scary Movie 2 (2001), White Chicks (2004), Little...

46. Robert Luketic

Director | The Ugly Truth

Robert Luketic was born on November 1, 1973 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for The Ugly Truth (2009), Killers (2010) and 21 (2008).

47. Russell Mulcahy

Director | Highlander

Dynamic film/video director Russell Mulcahy was born June 23, 1953, in Melbourne, Australia. He first gained fame directing visually striking music video clips for such artists as Elton John, Duran Duran, The Buggles and Bonnie Tyler. He is also well known for feature films, starting off with the ...

48. Luis Llosa

Director | Anaconda

Luis Llosa was born in 1951 in Lima, Peru. He is a producer and director, known for Anaconda (1997), The Specialist (1994) and Crime Zone (1988). He is married to Roxana Valdivieso. They have two children. He was previously married to Patricia Pinilla Cisneros.

49. Danny Cannon

Producer | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Danny Cannon is an Emmy-nominated film and television producer, director and writer, known for executive producing and directing Pennyworth (2019), Gotham (2014), Nikita (2010), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Judge Dredd (1995), and is responsible for executive producing the billion ...

50. David Yates

Director | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

David Yates was born on October 8, 1963 in St. Helens, Merseyside, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), The Legend of Tarzan (2016) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).

51. Todd Phillips

Producer | Joker

Todd Phillips is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Growing up on Long Island, New York, Todd Phillips fell in love with feature film teen comedies made in the 1980s, and claims they were his biggest influence in becoming a filmmaker. While studying film at New York University, ...

The Hangover series.

52. Jon Lucas

Writer | 21 & Over

Jon Lucas is known for 21 & Over (2013), A Bad Moms Christmas (2017) and The Hangover (2009).

21 & Over and he is just a terrible writer. Him and Scott Moore.

53. Scott Moore

Writer | The Hangover

Scott Moore is known for The Hangover (2009), Bad Moms (2016) and 21 & Over (2013).

54. Nima Nourizadeh

Director | Project X

Nima Nourizadeh is an acclaimed British-Iranian filmmaker whose work spans across Film, TV, Commercials, Music Videos, and Art.

After graduating from Central St. Martins College of Art and Design with a degree in Fine Art Film & Video, Nima began his filmmaking career in London's alternative art ...

Project X