Top Horror Writers
by clint-superman | created - 29 Jan 2014 | updated - 23 Jan 2019 | Public1. Edgar Allan Poe
Writer | Eliza Graves
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, named David Poe Jr., and his mother, named Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, were touring actors. Both parents died in 1811, and Poe became an orphan before he was 3 years old. He was adopted by John Allan, a tobacco ...
2. Roy Moore
Writer | Black Christmas
Roy Moore was born on January 17, 1944 in London, Ontario, Canada. He is a writer, known for Black Christmas (1974), Black Christmas (2006) and The Last Chase (1981).
3. Chad Hayes
Writer | The Conjuring
Chad Hayes was born in Portland, Oregon, USA. Chad is a writer and producer, known for The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Lethal Weapon (1987).
4. Carey W. Hayes
Writer | The Conjuring
Carey W. Hayes was born on April 21, 1961 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Whiteout (2009).
5. Richard D'Ovidio
Writer | The Call
Richard D'Ovidio is known for The Call (2013), The Forger (2014) and Thir13en Ghosts (2001). He is married to Nicole D'Ovidio. They have one child.
6. Daisuke Tengan
Writer | Jûsan-nin no shikaku
He is the first son of director Shohei Imamura. He graduated from Ryuku University. In 1984 he joined Shinchosha, but left in 1991 to pursue a creative career. His directing debut was in 1990. He was also a screenwriter on movies of such directors as Shôhei Imamura and Takashi Miike.
7. Pierre Boileau
Writer | Vertigo
Pierre Boileau was born on April 28, 1906 in Paris, France. He was a writer, known for Vertigo (1958), Diabolique (1955) and Eyes Without a Face (1960). He died on January 16, 1989 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes, France.
8. Thomas Narcejac
Writer | Vertigo
Thomas Narcejac was born on July 3, 1908 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France. He was a writer, known for Vertigo (1958), Diabolique (1955) and Eyes Without a Face (1960). He died on June 9, 1998 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France.
9. Jean Redon
Writer | Les yeux sans visage
Jean Redon is known for Eyes Without a Face (1960), Eyes Without a Face and Conduite à gauche (1962).
10. Kôji Suzuki
Writer | Rings
Kôji Suzuki was born on May 13, 1957 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. He is a writer and actor, known for Rings (2017), The Ring (2002) and Dark Water (2002).
11. Ken'ichi Suzuki
Writer | Honogurai mizu no soko kara
Ken'ichi Suzuki was born on November 3, 1971 in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. He is a writer and actor, known for Dark Water (2002), Akumu no erebêtâ (2009) and The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker (2007).
12. Yoshihiro Nakamura
Director | Fisshu sutôrî
Yoshihiro Nakamura was born on August 25, 1970 in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. He is an actor and director, known for Fish Story (2009), A Boy and His Samurai (2010) and Dark Water (2002).
13. Bill Phillips
Writer | Christine
Born in Brockton, Massachusetts. First Play was a one-act performed at the Massachusetts Drama Festival in 1966: To Be or Not. Second Play was performed there in 1967: The Madison Avenue Muse. Attended Dartmouth College, where he was a Senior Fellow in Film in 1971. Attended U.S.C., where he ...
14. Allan Scott
Writer | Don't Look Now
Allan Scott was born on September 16, 1939 in Elgin, Scotland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Don't Look Now (1973), The Preacher's Wife (1996) and Kon-Tiki (2012).
15. Chris Bryant
Writer | Don't Look Now
Chris Bryant was born in 1936 in Bolton, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Don't Look Now (1973), One Against the Wind (1991) and Sword of Gideon (1986). He was married to Penelope Riley. He died on October 27, 2008 in Burford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.
16. Robert Engels
Writer | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Robert Engels is known for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Twin Peaks (1990) and Andromeda (2000).
17. Michael Crichton
Writer | Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton was born in Chicago, Illinois, but grew up in Roslyn, New York. His father was a journalist and encouraged him to write and to type. Michael gave up studying English at Harvard University, having become disillusioned with the teaching standards--the final straw came when he ...
18. John Lee Mahin
Writer | Scarface
John Lee Mahin was born on August 23, 1902 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Scarface (1932), Captains Courageous (1937) and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957). He was married to Muriel Mae McKinnon, Barbara Ann Bonnett, Patsy Ruth Miller and Nancy Hume Derr. He died...
19. Donald E. Westlake
Writer | The Grifters
Donald E. Westlake was born on July 12, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Grifters (1990), Payback (1999) and The Stepfather (2009). He was married to Abigail Adams, Sandra Foley and Nedra Henderson. He died on December 31, 2008 in San Tancho, Mexico.
20. Brian Garfield
Writer | Death Wish
Brian Garfield was born on January 26, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Death Wish (1974), Death Wish (2018) and Hopscotch (1980). He was married to Bina. He died on December 29, 2018 in Pasadena, California, USA.
21. Carolyn Lefcourt
Writer | The Stepfather
Carolyn Lefcourt is known for The Stepfather (2009), The Stepfather (1987) and 24th Street (2009).
22. Laird Koenig
Writer | The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Laird Koenig was born on September 24, 1927 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He was a writer, known for The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Inchon (1981) and Bloodline (1979). He died on June 30, 2023 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
23. Barry Gifford
Writer | Lost Highway
Barry Gifford was born on October 18, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Lost Highway (1997), Wild at Heart (1990) and Black Wings Has My Angel.
24. Michael Dougherty
Writer | Trick 'r Treat
Michael Patrick Dougherty is a writer, director, animator, and producer known for his work in a variety of genre films, both big and small. Beginning his career as an animator and illustrator, Dougherty's animated work was featured on MTV, Nickelodeon, and a line of twisted greeting cards published...
25. Sandor Stern
Writer | The Mod Squad
Born in the northern Canadian town of Timmins, Ontario; raised in the small town of Prescott, Ontario, on the St. Lawrence River; Sandor Stern was drawn to short story writing while in high school and began writing stage plays while attending the University of Toronto. Though he planned to obtain a...
26. Arthur K. Flam
Writer | Kill by Inches
Arthur K. Flam (a.k.a. Arthur Kamil Flam or Arthur Flam) was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer known for Penny Dreadful (2006), Hit and Run (2009), and Lurker (1998). He is the co-writer and the co-creator of "41 Strange", a first of its kind original anthology and writer of the ...
27. Diane Doniol-Valcroze
Director | Kill by Inches
Diane Doniol-Valcroze was born in Paris, France. She is a writer and director known for Penny Dreadful (2006), Hit and Run (2009), Kill by Inches (1999), and Fissure (1996). She is the co-writer and the co-creator of "41 Strange", a book of original flash fiction stories, a first of its kind ...
28. Jaume Balagueró
Director | [Rec]
Jaume Balagueró was born on November 2, 1968 in Lleida, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for REC (2007), Sleep Tight (2011) and The Nameless (1999).
29. Luiso Berdejo
Writer | [Rec]
Luiso Berdejo was born in 1975 in San Sebastián, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for REC (2007), Quarantine (2008) and The New Daughter (2009).
30. Grégory Levasseur
Writer | P2
Grégory Levasseur is known for P2 (2007), Mirrors (2008) and Crawl (2019).
31. Craig Singer
Director | A Good Night to Die
A former Disney Creative VP, Craig Singer's latest film 6:45 enjoyed a nationwide theatrical release via Regal Cinema in 2021. Singer is also known as the director and producer of A Good Night to Die (2003), Dark Ride (2006), Perkins' 14 (2009) and Animal Room (1995). In 2022 Singer is prepping ...
32. Robert Dean Klein
Writer | A Good Night to Die
Robert Dean Klein is known for A Good Night to Die (2003), 6:45 (2021) and Little Fish, Strange Pond (2009).
33. Takashi Shimizu
Director | Ju-on
Takashi Shimizu was born on July 27, 1972 in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Ju-on: The Grudge (2002), The Grudge (2004) and Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003).
34. Masaki Adachi
Assistant_director | Honogurai mizu no soko kara
Masaki Adachi is known for Dark Water (2002), The Grudge (2004) and Ju-on: The Grudge (2002).
35. Minako Daira
Writer | One Missed Call
Minako Daira is known for One Missed Call (2008), One Missed Call (2003) and One Missed Call 3: Final (2006).
36. Jace Anderson
Writer | Fractured
Jace Anderson is known for Fractured (2013), Tales of Halloween (2015) and The Long Game (2024).
37. Yasushi Akimoto
Soundtrack | Wreck-It Ralph
Yasushi Akimoto was born on May 2, 1958 in Tokyo, Japan. He is a writer and producer, known for Wreck-It Ralph (2012), AKB48 Show! (2013) and One Missed Call (2008). He has been married to Mamiko Takai since May 23, 1988. They have one child.
38. Carl Gottlieb
Writer | Jaws 2
Member of The Committee, an early improvisational comedy theater group in San Francisco, founded in the mid-1960s, which shared cast members including Gary Goodrow, Larry Hankin, Morgan Upton, Peter Bonerz, Del Close and John Brent, with similar groups such as the Compass Players (St. Louis) and ...
39. Jaume Balagueró
Director | [Rec]
Jaume Balagueró was born on November 2, 1968 in Lleida, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for REC (2007), Sleep Tight (2011) and The Nameless (1999).
40. Luiso Berdejo
Writer | [Rec]
Luiso Berdejo was born in 1975 in San Sebastián, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for REC (2007), Quarantine (2008) and The New Daughter (2009).
41. Ira Levin
Writer | Rosemary's Baby
Author, playwright and composer Ira Levin decided on a career of a writer at the age of 15. Educated at the elite Horace Mann school, he went on to two years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before transferring to New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. He earned ...
42. Andrew Kevin Walker
Writer | The Killer
Andrew Kevin Walker was born on August 14, 1964 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for The Killer (2023), Se7en (1995) and Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar (2023).
43. Stuart Gordon
Writer | Re-Animator
Stuart Gordon started his film directing career in 1985. After graduating from Lane Technical High School, Gordon worked as a commercial artist apprentice prior to enrolling at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Unable to get into the film classes, he enrolled in an acting class and ended up ...
44. Dennis Paoli
Writer | Re-Animator
Writer Dennis Paoli achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity by penning the wickedly witty scripts for two superior 80s H.P. Lovecraft adaptations directed by noted horror genre icon Stuart Gordon: the terrific "Re-Animator" and its equally excellent follow-up "From Beyond." Paoli and Gordon ...
45. William Norris
Writer | Re-Animator
William Norris was an actor and writer, known for Re-Animator (1985), The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) and Temporary Girl (1998). He died on November 30, 2021 in Iowa, USA.
46. H.P. Lovecraft
Writer | Color Out of Space
Born in Providence, Lovecraft was a sickly child whose parents died insane. When he was 16, he wrote the astronomy column in the Providence Tribune. Between 1908 and 1923, he wrote short stories for Weird Tales magazine, among others. He died in Providence, in poverty, on March 15, 1937. His most ...
47. Evan Hunter
Writer | The Birds
Evan Hunter was born on October 15, 1926 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for The Birds (1963), High and Low (1963) and The Chisholms (1979). He was married to Dragica Dimitrijevic, Mary Vann Hughes (Finley) and Anita R Melnick. He died on July 6, 2005 in Weston, Connecticut,...
48. Daphne Du Maurier
Writer | The Birds
Daphne Du Maurier was one of the most popular English writers of the 20th Century, when middle-brow genre fiction was accorded a higher level of respect in a more broadly literate age. For her services to literature, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1969, the ...
49. Washington Irving
Writer | Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 - November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his ...
50. David Koepp
Writer | Jurassic Park
David Koepp is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for writing Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Spider-Man directed by Sam Raimi and Panic Room directed by David ...
51. Ted Tally
Writer | The Silence of the Lambs
Ted Tally was born on April 9, 1952. He is a writer and actor, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), All the Pretty Horses (2000) and Mission to Mars (2000).
52. Glen Morgan
Producer | The X Files
Glen Morgan was born on July 12, 1961 in Syrcause, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The X-Files (1993), Space: Above and Beyond (1995) and The One (2001). He has been married to Kristen Cloke since June 13, 1998. They have four children.
53. Jeffrey Reddick
Writer | Final Destination
Jeffrey Reddick is best known for creating the Final Destination (2000) film franchise. He also co-wrote the story for, and executive produced, Final Destination 2 (2003). Jeffrey lives in Los Angeles. He grew up in Eastern Kentucky and attended Berea College. Jeffrey made his first connection to ...
54. Carl Mayer
Writer | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Carl Meyer was the son of a stock speculator who committed suicide. He had to leave school at 15 to work as a secretary. Mayer moved away from Graz to Innsbruck and then Vienna, where he worked as a dramatist. Meanwhile, the events of the First World War turned him into a pacifist.
In 1917 he went ...
55. Hans Janowitz
Writer | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Hans Janowitz was born on December 2, 1890 in Podiebrad, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Podebrady, Czech Republic]. He was a writer and actor, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Zirkus des Lebens (1921) and The Head of Janus (1920). He died on May 25, 1954 in New York City, New York, USA.
56. Debra Hill
Writer | Escape from L.A.
Debra Hill was born on November 10, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a writer and producer, known for Escape from L.A. (1996), Halloween (1978) and The Fog (1980). She died on March 7, 2005 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
57. John Landis
Director | The Blues Brothers
John Landis began his career in the mail room of 20th Century-Fox. A high-school dropout, 18-year-old Landis made his way to Yugoslavia to work as a production assistant on Kelly's Heroes (1970). Remaining in Europe, Landis found work as an actor, extra and stuntman in many of the Spanish/Italian "...
58. Dario Argento
Writer | Profondo rosso
Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...
59. Lawrence D. Cohen
Writer | Carrie
Lawrence D. Cohen is an American screenwriter who, although hardly prolific, has worked with some of the most respected names in the genre movie and genre fiction industry. He first came to prominence in the 1970s when he penned the screenplay for the Stephen King adaptation Carrie (1976): the film...
60. Bill Phillips
Writer | Christine
Born in Brockton, Massachusetts. First Play was a one-act performed at the Massachusetts Drama Festival in 1966: To Be or Not. Second Play was performed there in 1967: The Madison Avenue Muse. Attended Dartmouth College, where he was a Senior Fellow in Film in 1971. Attended U.S.C., where he ...
61. Richard Matheson
Writer | Jaws 3-D
Born in New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, Richard Burton Matheson first became a published author while still a child, when his stories and poems ran in the "Brooklyn Eagle". A lifelong reader of fantasy tales, he made his professional writing bow in 1950 when his short story "Born of Man and ...
62. Earl Hamner Jr.
Writer | The Waltons
He was also the Creator and Executive Producer for the show "FALCON CREST'' 1981 thru 1988. The show starred Jane Wyman, Lorenzo Lamas, Robert Foxworth, and Susan Sullivan. The show was set in the Napa Valley of California. And centered on the power and intrigues of the families involved in the ...
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