Sean S. Cunningham
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Like William Girdler, Oliver Hellman or even Ed Wood, Sean S.
Cunningham had a successful career of starting films cheap and fast.
Originally from New York, Cunningham had a vast knowledge of directing
films and came to Hollywood. He started about the same time
Wes Craven did. Cunningham meets Craven and
decided to make a comedy-romance film called
Sensual Paradise (1971). Then they both shocked
the world with the rape and ultra-violence of
The Last House on the Left (1972).
Craven directed the flick and Cunningham financed and produced. However
Cunningham wanted to get a mix of comedy and horror and made
The Case of the Smiling Stiffs (1973)
and then started other comedy films like
Kick! (1978) and
Here Come the Tigers (1978)
. Struggling in Hollywood Cunningham saw
John Carpenter's
Halloween (1978) and wanted to make a
follow up type film but would possibly regret it. Cunningham brought
Friday the 13th (1980) into the
cinema in 1980, a year of many other horror films.
Friday the 13th (1980) was a
shocking, gory and violent film about camp counselors being slashed by
a killer and had Betsy Palmer in the lead
role. Little did Cunningham know that Friday the 13th would have never
ending sequels. Cunningham gladly avoided all of them and Friday the
13th remains one of the most popular horror films in history. Instead
Cunningham wanted to make it big when he brought a best-selling novel
to the screen,
A Stranger Is Watching (1982)
with Rip Torn, but it was a disappointment.
Cunningham went downhill with the over sexed teen comedy
Spring Break (1983) and
The New Kids (1985). Cunningham
then produced House (1985) and several of
its sequels. Cunningham next entered the world of underwater terrors
after The Abyss (1989) was released.
Cunningham did a follow up called
DeepStar Six (1989), but it was a
flop, however it beat another 1989 underwater thriller
Leviathan (1989) at box office
receipts. Cunningham was finished with directing and moved on to
producing films and teaching. He produced
House III: The Horror Show (1989),
My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
and Friday the 13th's last sequel
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993).
Cunningham then did yet another follow up to Friday the 13th with
Jason X (2001).
