Tobe Hooper, the highly praised and much-loved director died in Los Angeles California on Saturday at the age of 74, the BBC reported. The cause of his death remains unknown. Hooper's death is another great loss in the film industry following the death of George Romero.
The life of Tobe Hooper
Born in 1943 in Texas, Tobe Hooper was a prestigious director, a prolific screenwriter and a producer. He spent a great deal of his career directing horror movies that are now globally considered classics of the genre.
Before he became a movie director, Hooper was a professor at a university and later worked as a cameraman for documentary films.
But in 1969, a hippie movie paved the way for Hooper’s debut in directing.
The works of Tobe Hooper
The young and imaginative Hooper brought together many unknown actors to produce the low-budget film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”.The film revolved around a circle of adventurous friends who met their gruesome fate at the hands of cannibals.
The film was influenced by the serial killer Ed Gein. It was banned in the United Kingdom and in a number of other countries. but it still became a box office hit. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has remained a very popular movie. A number of sequels of the movie, as well as remakes, soon followed with the first being directed by Hooper himself.
Following the success of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, Hooper was given the opportunity to work on films with bigger budgets.
Hooper directed “Salem’s Lot”, a TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. In addition, he was chosen to direct the disturbingly haunting movie, “Poltergeist” which was written and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is a paranormal horror movie about a family whose house is disturbed by malevolent ghosts. Spielberg praised Hooper for his astounding direction of the film, which turned into a big commercial and critical success.
Sequels of the movie were made as well as a remake in 2015.
For the remaining years, Tobe Hooper continued directing films but unfortunately did not match his early film successes. In 2000, Hooper made another hit with his monster film, “Crocodile.” In 2004, a remake of Hooper’s crime drama, “The Toolbox Murders,” was created.
In the following year, the “Mortuary,” a zombie movie became unforgettably haunting for Hooper’s fans.
In 2013, Tobe Hooper made his last movie “Djinn.” The United Arab Emirates funded the film and it was shot in the U.A.E.
