The Worst First Movies By Great Directors

Some debut films from inexperienced filmmakers stand out as exceptional demonstrations of their abilities, captivating audiences and indicating a director whose work should be closely watched – think of the likes of ‘Citizen Kane’, ‘Night of the Living Dead’, ‘Saw’, or ‘Hereditary’. These movies are impressive not only for their quality, but because it’s quite challenging to make such an impactful debut. Most directors, even our favorites, typically start with franchise films or less ambitious projects before releasing their masterpieces.

It can be quite surprising to revisit the works of renowned and accomplished film directors, only to find that their early careers started with modest beginnings, or even something less than impressive compared to their later successes. For every masterpiece like ‘Citizen Kane’, there’s a ‘Piranha II: The Spawning’ tucked away in the archives, or an oddity hidden within the vast catalog of a streaming service you admire.

To acknowledge the growth and success of our cherished artists, let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of their earlier, less polished works. These range from cringe-worthy B-movies shown at midnight screenings, to school assignments, all the way to movies within franchises that went through multiple directors before landing on the one who started their career. Some of these films have been reclaimed by dedicated fans over time, while others continue to climb upwards in quality.

Terrible First Movies from Beloved Directors

Stanley Kubrick: Fear and Desire (1952)

Stanley Kubrick, the filmmaker himself, endeavored for a considerable period to obliterate any traces of his initial feature film titled “Fear and Desire”. This anti-war movie was set in an undisclosed nation amidst an undefined conflict, produced and distributed during the Korean War. Remarkably, some copies managed to evade destruction. Regrettably, it’s not a stellar production, with awkward scenes that seem repetitive and a narrative reminiscent of familiar tropes. However, you can still detect the same anti-war sentiments in this film that were later expressed more effectively in Kubrick’s masterpieces such as “Full Metal Jacket” and “Dr. Strangelove”.

Francis Ford Coppola: Dementia 13 (1963)

Numerous esteemed film directors began their careers by producing low-budget horror movies, and Francis Ford Coppola was no different. He debuted in the industry with a subpar imitation of ‘Psycho,’ titled ‘Dementia 13.’ This movie was initially released as part of a double feature alongside Roger Corman’s ‘X: The Man With the X-ray Eyes.’ The titles might not suggest high art, but Corman found the film so terrible that he deemed it unfit for release. Additional scenes were added by other directors to improve its quality. ‘Dementia 13’ was Coppola’s first mainstream film following his work on a few exploitation movies. It’s difficult to imagine this same director, who would later create ‘The Godfather,’ was responsible less than ten years later.

Brian De Palma: Murder a la Mod (1968)

In an unexpected turn of events, it’s hardly shocking that Brian De Palma, known for his erotic thrillers, began his career with a film about a thieving model whose death is turned into a snuff film, setting off a chain reaction of horrors. The film, titled Murder a la Mod, left audiences puzzled upon its release. While some appreciated its innovative techniques, many acknowledged its storyline as rough and unpolished. As with any first film, the director’s instincts are clearly visible – murder, mystery, violence bordering on exploitation, revealing the ugly depths of human desires. Despite its flaws, it hints at greater potential.

David Cronenberg: Stereo (1969)

As a movie enthusiast, I’d say that while not exactly a groundbreaking sci-fi masterpiece, David Cronenberg’s first feature film, “Stereo,” truly showcases his unique interests – sex, psychology, science, unusual behavior, and the destructive outcomes when they intertwine. The plot revolves around an experiment at the “Canadian Academy of Erotic Inquiry,” where participants are gifted with psychic powers that they’re encouraged to develop through sexual exploration, aiming to replace the outdated family structure. Needless to say, there’s a lot of strange sex happening, and inevitably, things take a turn for the bizarre – which is quite typical in a Cronenberg production.

Oliver Stone: Seizure (1974)

As a cinephile, it’s hard to fathom that the Oliver Stone behind iconic films like “Scarface,” “Platoon,” “Wall Street,” “JFK,” and “Natural Born Killers” began his journey in feature films with a low-budget horror flick. Yet, here we stand. The film, titled “Seizure,” revolves around a horror writer named Edmund Blackstone whose nightmares become terrifyingly real over a fateful weekend as his dear ones meet an unspeakable fate at the hands of the Queen of Evil, a masked brute named Jackal, and a mischievous dwarf known as Spider. To put it mildly, this plot sounds like it could have been penned for an episode of “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.” However, there’s an even more amusing tale behind the scenes: This movie was rumored to have been financed in part by gangster Michael Thevis, who was reportedly trying to clean his money while under investigation by the FBI.

Joel Schumacher: The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)

Joel Schumacher’s filmography, though generally well-received, has its ups and downs (with his Batman films being a notable exception that we’re all thankful for), and this inconsistency is particularly noticeable in his debut feature, “The Incredible Shrinking Woman.” This movie is a comedic take on the story of “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” featuring the legendary Lily Tomlin as an average housewife who shrinks after encountering an experimental perfume. She ends up being captured by a group of eccentric scientists and manages to escape with the aid of a clever gorilla. The idea and presentation are more humorous than they are captivating, and upon its release, it wasn’t a huge hit.

James Cameron: Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)

John McTiernan: Nomads (1986)

A better interpretation of the film “Nomads” could have perhaps endured Pierce Brosnan’s amusingly atrocious French accent, but unfortunately, the rest of the film is equally disappointing. The movie is a confusing jumble, a barely supernatural horror genre production that fails to make sense. In this film, Brosnan portrays a French anthropologist who develops an unhealthy obsession with a band of nomads dressed in leather, engaging in violent acts within the heart of Los Angeles. This is an unusual start for action director John McTiernan, and it’s safe to say it was not a promising one. The movie feels like a heavily stuffed sandwich of plot twists and turns, leaving viewers yearning for “Nomads” to be a self-contained “X-Files” episode instead of a 90-minute feature film.

David Fincher: Alien 3 (1992)

Although David Fincher eventually became renowned for directing some of America’s finest and impactful films, his beginnings weren’t particularly auspicious. Although he contributed groundbreaking elements such as the xenomorph dog and a Biblical ending to the Alien series, Alien 3 falls short compared to what we now recognize as Fincher’s capabilities. The film is set on a penal colony planet where a sinister group of convicts resides, and it follows Ripley as she battles another alien attack. Fincher himself has distanced himself from the movie due to the studio interference he experienced during production, and many fans argue that the William Gibson version of the script, which was set in a space station shopping mall, is superior to the final product.

Edgar Wright: A Fistful of Fingers (1995)

Numerous film directors desire their first directorial attempts to be forgotten, and none more than Edgar Wright, whose career blossomed into a cherished collection of genre homages and self-referential films. His early steps towards this acclaimed body of work were taken with the parody of a spaghetti western titled “A Fistful of Fingers.” This film, one of several early projects Wright made with his schoolmates, revolves around a solitary cowboy pursuing a villain who caused the demise of his cherished horse. The movie is nearly overflowing with inside jokes and references to the classic films that served as Wright’s inspiration. While significantly different from the films that later catapulted him to fame, it offers a promising glimpse into Wright’s abilities.

Movies You Never Realized Were Steven Spielberg Productions

Casper (1995)

Prior to Disney making live-action adaptations of their classic animations into an ongoing venture, Steven Spielberg oversaw the production of this modern take on Harvey Comics’ old friendly ghost character. It is said that Spielberg chose Brad Silberling to direct the film due to his impressive work on the TV series “Brooklyn Bridge.” If Spielberg’s cameo appearance in the film hadn’t been removed during post-production, he might be more closely linked with the movie today, as it was a successful release in 1995.

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Over the years, Steven Spielberg has made a practice of discovering lesser-known independent comic books and transforming them into films. This approach led to the creation of one of his most successful franchises as a producer, “Men in Black.” However, it also marked the beginning of one of his rare failures as a producer. The graphic novel “Cowboys & Aliens,” which was subsequently turned into a big-budget sci-fi Western, is an example of this. This film, written by several prominent screenwriters from the 2000s and directed by Jon Favreau after his work on “Iron Man,” had a stellar team behind it, including Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in leading roles. Despite this impressive lineup, the movie only managed to earn approximately $175 million worldwide. It is said that Spielberg was quite involved in the development of the project, offering Favreau advice on Westerns, suggesting films for homework, and even proposing ideas for the film’s alien designs.

Deep Impact (1998)

Even though Steven Spielberg has worked on several Michael Bay films throughout his career, during the epic asteroid movie battle of 1998, Spielberg chose to support the opposite side, as he was a producer for DreamWorks’ film “Deep Impact.” Although “Armageddon,” directed by Bay, garnered more attention due to its explosive action scenes, “Deep Impact” managed to make an impressive $350 million globally.

Or, in a shorter form:

Although Spielberg has produced several Michael Bay films, he sided against Bay during the 1998 asteroid movie war because he was a producer on DreamWorks’ “Deep Impact,” which grossed $350 million despite not being as bombastic as Bay’s action-adventure.

Eagle Eye (2008)

At one point, Steven Spielberg was slated to direct this movie, as it was allegedly his concept. However, due to his busy schedule, he ended up only serving as an executive producer on the project. Interestingly, Shia LaBeouf was cast as the film’s lead during this time, a period when LaBeouf worked with Spielberg on several projects like the initial Transformers movie and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. More details about that will follow.

The Flintstones (1994)

In essence, Steven Spielrock served as an executive producer for this specific film. Similar to his role with the movie ‘Casper’, which came out around the same time, Spielrock played a significant part in transforming ‘The Flintstones’ into a live-action, big-screen production. It’s worth mentioning that he was the one who cast John Goodman as Fred Flintstone. However, unlike the original film, Spielrock did not participate in the making of its disastrous sequel, ‘The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas’. Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned from this.

Hereafter (2010)

In the 2000s, Steven Spielberg took on the role of producer or executive producer for multiple films directed by renowned Hollywood figure Clint Eastwood. These included Eastwood’s duo of World War II movies titled “Flag of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima”, as well as an intriguing film in Eastwood’s career focusing on a group of individuals who each encounter visions of the afterlife. Initially, screenwriter Peter Morgan sold the script to Spielberg’s DreamWorks, but later, the project was moved to Warner Bros., where it was eventually released.

The Land Before Time (1988)

I’m curious to find out how much profit Steven Spielberg made from the The Land Before Time franchise. Given its success, which included 13 sequels and an animated TV series following the original film produced by Amblin Entertainment, it seems likely that whatever he earned was well worth it. A few years later, he also produced another dinosaur-themed animated movie titled We’re Back! A Dinosaur Story.

The Lovely Bones (2009)

Occasionally, Steven Spielberg has considered directing popular book adaptations, but often changes his mind and instead takes on a producing role. This happened with ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ in the early 2000s, as well as ‘The Lovely Bones’, which was later directed by Peter Jackson. Jackson also went on to produce Spielberg’s ‘The Adventures of Tintin’. Unfortunately, we can only imagine what ‘The Lovely Bones’ might have been like under Spielberg’s direction, but Jackson’s version didn’t receive positive reviews from critics or audiences.

Monster House (2006)

Although the movie eventually came out under Sony Pictures, its origins can be traced back to Steven Spielberg. Initially, the concept was pitched to DreamWorks, where it went through development for several years until enthusiasm waned. Later, the project was revitalized at Sony and their animation division, ImageWorks. While there’s not much information on how involved Spielberg remained after this transfer, screenwriter Dan Harmon, who worked on early drafts of the script, humorously remarked in a letter to a young fan who found the film frightening that Spielberg was “not very smart.

Real Steel (2011)

Approximately two decades following Steven Spielberg’s involvement with “Twilight Zone: The Movie,” he brought this film to life, which was based on a short story that had earlier been adapted as a “Twilight Zone” episode in 1963. In the year 2020, human boxers have been supplanted by robots in combat, and Steven Spielberg remains one of Hollywood’s most influential producers. He played a crucial role in transforming this quirky Hugh Jackman project into a box office success worth $300 million.

Transformers (2007)

Although the Transformers films don’t seem like something Steven Spielberg would personally direct (except maybe for casting Shia LaBeouf, which he also did in Eagle Eye), he played a significant role in kick-starting the live-action Transformers movie franchise. Given his fondness for big-budget, live-action films based on popular culture, it’s not surprising. However, I doubt he’s closely supervising now that the series is well-established. Yet, he still retains his executive producer credit, as evidenced by his listing in 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

True Grit

Steven Spielberg’s collaboration with the Coen brothers in Hollywood is quite uncommon as they usually self-produce, write, and direct their own projects. However, Spielberg served as executive producer for their remake of the John Wayne Western “True Grit”, which was produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount. It’s worth noting that Spielberg has produced more Western movies than he has directed in his career. Depending on how one classifies a Western, it could be argued that Spielberg has never actually directed a Western; however, he has produced “True Grit”, “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West”, “Cowboys & Aliens”, two “Zorro” films, and others that can be considered Western-themed productions.

Twister (1996)

In the 1990s, Twister became one of the decade’s biggest blockbusters despite lacking any A-list actors. Instead, it was the tornadoes that stole the show, with perhaps Michael Crichton (the writer) and Steven Spielberg (producer), who had previously collaborated on Jurassic Park, being the movie’s main attractions. After his success with Speed, Jan de Bont took over as director when Spielberg eventually decided not to lead the project.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Steven Spielberg played a significant role in shaping Robert Zemeckis’ initial filmography in Hollywood. He was instrumental in producing movies such as Zemeckis’ directorial debut, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” “Used Cars,” the entire “Back to the Future” series, and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” This latter movie is often remembered today primarily as a masterpiece by Zemeckis (and perhaps also as a testament to Richard Williams’ skills), but it was also an early success for Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment. They were brought on board by Disney to revitalize the project following years of unsuccessful development.

Young Sherlock Holmes

Nowadays, if someone recalls “Young Sherlock Holmes”, it’s likely due to its significant role in visual effects development – it was among the first movies ever to incorporate a computer-generated character. However, it’s also noteworthy because it was one of Steven Spielberg’s early producing projects. During the script’s development, he offered his insights and suggestions.

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2025-02-14 18:27