Welcome back, and it's time for our yearly tradition in which every Father's Day we celebrate by taking a look at Father-and-Son (or Daughter) horror directors, just like the post we did the past two years on the subject.
So, let's take a look at the next lucky five to be highlighted today.
Alejandre Aja and Alexandre Arcady
Now, this is a strange pairing, but taking into account the fact that his last name isn't "Aja" but a pseudonym formed from the initial letter of each of the three parts of his real name as he was born Alexandre Jouan-Arcady he certainly qualifies. Aja is certainly familiar to US audiences with the French hit High Tension but also for the series of remakes he directed once he arrived in America. With The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, and Piranha 3D among his resume, he's known for plenty of splashy, overt gore and high-energy setpieces as was common in two distinct waves of films that he's a part of: the Splat-Pack and the New French Extremity Movement. Both are intertwined with each other at times, but it's certainly worth noting that he's a prominent name in the 2000s being incredibly active in the scene. Now, the elder Alexandre isn't at all connected with the genre, and the only thing that comes close is a producer credit on Tension, but he is quite an accomplished filmmaker in France and is certainly worthy of being highlighted in this manner.
Charles and Albert Band
This is another worthy pairing to chronicle and one that might really surprise some out there. Charles might not be one of the more popular names out there in the genre, but there's no denying the influence he himself had on two of the most successful companies in the 80s and 90s with his Empire Pictures and later Full Moon Entertainment. However, he actually got his start back in the 70s on low-budget softcore films and distributing other works which would become a major part of his later career under those two banners and later made his way into the horror/fantasy realm with the first Empire Pictures film Parasite, renown for being the feature-film debut of Demi Moore more than anything else. Once that signaled the start of his career proper, he turned to making fun, enjoyable campy B-movies the likes of Re-Animator and From Beyond to efforts like Creepozoids and Dolls, among countless others at Empire. Once it became Full Moon, Band turned in plenty of directorial efforts of his company's product, throwing out titles as diverse as Trancers II, Prehysteria, and Head of the Family to Hideous, Blood Dolls and Doll Graveyard, these later two films being indicative of the films produced by the company as the reputation for offering killer dolls films or ludicrous low-budget cheese-fests like the Evil Bong franchise that have been churned out over the years to this current day. These efforts here certainly make him a worthwhile if not an essential director in the genre.
And with that, we turn to his father Albert Band. Himself the son of a famous French painter and born in France, he got his start as a director in the late 50s although his first horror effort was the low-budget I Bury the Living about a man running a local cemetery who finds that he's able to mark people for death by mistaking the code for occupied graves with unoccupied graves and the associated trauma that comes with the discovery. More like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone TV show, nevertheless, it starts him up with a notable effort to start this off with. Moving to Italy and undertaking a few efforts in the fading peplum genre, he actually comes back in the 70s with Zoltan: Hound of Dracula/Dracula's Dog, about a family vacationing in the countryside discovering that their newly-adopted dog is the faithful servant of Count Dracula and is trying to recruit the neighboring animals into a cult of like-minded individuals to help his master. A few other titles for Charles' companies in Ghoulies II as well as the first two Prehysteria films round out his career so certainly not as prolific as his son in the directors' chair but certainly, his many producer credits on the vast majority of work in Charles' two companies make this a family legacy worth mentioning.
Anthony, James D.R., and Douglas Hickox
A big family with an involvement in the genre, only one that doesn't stretch as far back as the Mexican legacies mentioned in part 1 or contains as much as they did. Rather, this family tends to be quite restrained and reserved much like their British origins. Father Douglas initially developed a reputation for action scenes inside crime/thrillers in the 60s, and eventually brought him to his only genre effort, the Vincent Price tour-de-force Theatre of Blood in the 70s. His two sons, though, would have a much bigger impact.
First off, older brother Anthony appeared first by offering up the Waxwork entries in the late 80s, the first one appearing in '88 and the sequel in '92. They started to showcase a tactic he would utilize throughout his career where he uses a dual-focus technique in which one person's face would take up most of the screen in profile, with another person shown on the other half of the screen in the background. That's put to great use in other efforts like Warlock: Armageddon, Hellraiser 3, and the stellar made-for-TV werewolf film Full Eclipse in the early 90s which signaled him as a potential force to be reckoned with in the genre. However, just as he was starting up he shifted to action films with a slew of titles in the late 90s and 00s which somewhat stalled his genre output. With all the recent love for his two franchises, a comeback might not be out of the question but at the moment it's stalled where it is.
The third member of the family, his younger brother James, isn't quite as prolific but also managed to churn out a few titles. With the help of his brother, he got his first film out with the third entry in the Children of the Corn franchise which started him off with a few titles. Offering the cheesy creature features Blood Surf and Sabretooth, these are both among the responsible titles for ushering the wave of original creature feature films on the SyFy Channel that started shortly after these two were released. Although mostly responsible for thrillers now, he did provide one more genre effort with the comedy-tinged ghost movie Detention several years ago which remains the last effort released by the family.
Charlotte, Lily Hayes, Lisbeth, and Lloyd Kauffman
Now, this might be a somewhat odd choice here, but the fact that one of the individuals involved is one of the more underappreciated figures in the genre is certainly more than enough to make him worthy of being covered. Lloyd is certainly quite the legend in the independent horror genre with his company Troma Studios being, for better or worse, one of the most recognizable names in the market and with Lloyd at the forefront of many of the films emerging from the studio. These were primarily low-to-no budget efforts that offered up plenty of bad taste, outrageous exploits, and tons of creative ideas packed into a film that really shouldn't have been that jam-packed with these efforts. Starting in the late 70s and working up through the early 2000s, he oversaw efforts like the Toxic Avenger franchise, Class of Nuke'Em High, Tromeo and Juliet, and Terror Firmer among other titles for the studio that he also produced or acquired for release. Also providing directorial efforts for Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead and Return to Class of Nuke'Em High Vol. 1, Lloyd is for the most part giving back to the community he helped foster by appearing in underground and indie horror films to help ensure that the genre doesn't disappear into the void.
Now, Lloyd does have three daughters in the movie business with Charlotte, Lily Hayes, and Lisbeth, and even though none are really true directors they do deserve a mention. Both Charlotte and Lily Hayes are actually individually responsible for many of the documentaries and bonus features for the studio's releases, and Charlotte, in particular, directed many episodes of the series Kabukiman's Cocktail Corner about one of the studios' most popular figures, Sgt. Kabukiman. Lisbeth doesn't have any directorial credits, but like her sisters, she also acted in many of these late-80s/early 90s efforts for the studio and doesn't take as much interest in the studios' work like them but still hangs around enough to be worthy of mention for how Lloyd does keep it in the family for the studio.
Cameron and George A. Romero
Certainly one of the more hallowed names in the genre today, George is someone who really doesn't need much introduction. Packing a wallop with his monumental and influential debut Night of the Living Dead in 1968 which spawned a franchise with titles Dawn, Day, Land, Diary, and Survival of the Dead respectively, he has become one of the most beloved directors of the genre and cited as the inspiration for the modern zombie movement with his series. Not content to just pump out zombie efforts, he also provided efforts like Martin, Creepshow and The Dark Half which were all met with a variety of critical and commercial success yet nevertheless helped make for a rather strong and impactful genre-heavy resume in the scene. The impact of his main 'Dead' series can't be underestimated and routinely rank as some of the more revered and influential films in the genre.
While a legacy like that might be detrimental for some, his son Cameron has attempted to spread his wings with a few titles to his credit. Starting in the late 2000s with his first feature The Screening and followed up with Staunton Hill, he really hasn't provided the kind of impact that his dad has but can clearly work his way around a gore scene which is a potential avenue for his output in the future should he continue. While he's still quite new in his career and mentioning his work at this time might not seem fair to some more prominent father/son combinations, his father's legacy is more than enough reason to bring up this duo.
And with that, we find ourselves at the end of this list for now. Join us again next year for another celebration of these duos as we honor Father's Day with this special series of articles. To those out there reading this, have a happy Father's Day and we'll see you all next time.
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