12 Horror Movie Directors As Actors Who Terrify On The Screen

Director David Cronenberg has been acting quite frequently of late in addition to directing his newest films, like Crimes of the Future and the upcoming movie The Shrouds. But in Clive Barker's Nightbreed in 1990, he played one of the leads, the psychiatrist Dr. Philip K. Decker. He's the villain, the psychiatrist, who is also a serial killer and is one of the film's best parts. He has also starred in the Shudder series Slasher and movies like Jason X and To Die For. He's an outstanding actor.

George Romero's Creepshow is an anthology horror film, and Stephen King is the star of one of the segments, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill. Most of the segment is entirely focused on the character of Verrill, and King does a good job. It is more of a dark-humored horror comedy, but King does manage to get some sympathy for the character from the audience. But the bottom line is that it's entertaining and nearly all Stephen King, all the time. He carried the segment. If you're thinking that Stephen King isn't a director, give the movie Maximum Overdrive a watch. He is a director. Read more about Oldboy At 20: Director Park Chan-Wook Waxes Existential On The Re-Release.

Director Abel Ferrara has always cast himself in his own films, and it was mostly a matter of convenience. He didn't have anyone to play a role, so he played it himself. That happened in Ms. 45 and happened again when it was time to shoot The Driller Killer. In the film's credits, he credits himself as Jimmy Laine. Casting himself as Reno Miller works because Miller is an artist driven crazy by everyone around him in the 70s New York City. I can see that being pretty close to the truth from what I know about film production. It's realism that translates very well onto the screen.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a meta film about filmmaking, specifically about making A Nightmare On Elm Street films. It was meta before Craven made meta one of horror's favorite tropes with Scream. Making a film like this means all the characters are the real people involved in the production. All the actors are playing themselves, so Wes Craven plays himself as Wes Craven, the creator and director of the movie. It's a role he is familiar with and does a perfect job. He's not the lead but an essential part of the film. Read more about how Joe Lynch's Suitable Flesh Hits Theaters (And VOD) This October.

Quentin Tarantino is very well-known as a director, but originally, he wanted to be an actor. He auditioned for roles and once played an Elvis Impersonator on The Golden Girls. Tarantino has played roles in his films and was cast as one of the leads in Destiny Turns On The Radio. But he was also cast as one of the leads in his friend Robert Rodriguez's film, from a Tarantino script, From Dusk Till Dawn. Tarantino is outstanding in the repellant role of Richard Gecko. Watching him is uncomfortable, as it was meant to be; what his character does is frightening and realistic.

John Carpenter is one of the masters of horror, with so many classic films to his name. In Body Bags, an anthology film for television, he plays The Coroner, who functions as a comedic host, much like the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt. Since characters like this are played for broad comedy, often making cringe-inducing puns and jokes, what Carpenter does as the character of the Coroner works perfectly for what would be expected of the character. It's probably the most light-hearted touch that Carpenter has had in horror. It's more comedy than the dark, doom-filled corridors of the Antarctic station in The Thing. Read more about how the V/H/S/85 Teaser Trailer Serves Up '80s Home Video Horror.

In the film Hostel, director Takashi Miike (Audition) has a brief role as one of the clients exciting Elite Hunting's slaughterhouse facility. For a cameo, this one is pretty scary. Miike only has a few lines, but he has an aura of evil satisfaction that marks it on the list as one of the better directors' cameos in horror films. He's good and has a significant impact, considering he doesn't do much but smirk and issue an ironic warning. His character is named Miike Takashi, naturally.

Josh Ruben's Scare Me is a love letter to scary stories we tell each other in the dark. In the film, Ruben plays Fred Banks, a resentful guy who wants to be a writer but doesn't actually seem to want to write. When the power goes out in the cabins where he and a successful female author, Fanny, are staying, Fanny comes over and challenges him to a contest of scaring each other with stories they come up with. The fun turns to terror during the evening as Fred gets increasingly angry. So Ruben is playing one of the main characters, and he's one of the lead actors too, so Fred is a marvelous creation and a fantastic role for this funny guy with a dark side.

Director Michele Soavi has played a few more minor roles in films like City of the Living Dead, Tenebrae, and Phenomena, but he gets the nod here for his dual role in Lamberto Bava's Demons. In the film, he plays the Man in Black, who wears a silver half mask, and the role of Jerry in the horror film within a movie playing at the theater. He hands out the tickets to the unsuspecting victims and stars in the movie they watch while trapped in the theater.

Lucio Fulci was another horror maestro who regularly cast himself in small parts or cameos in his films. He plays the police chief in his film The New York Ripper and cameos as doctors in several of his movies. In Cat in the Brain, he is the main character and plays himself, a horror film director. This film was meta before meta was invented. It uses the plot device where a person has a psychiatrist who is a serial killer and manipulates them. The film was assembled in post-production from two of the movies Fulci had recently shot and stock footage from four to six other films Fulci had a hand in producing.

Speaking of Italian horror maestros, Ruggero Deodato's wordless role in Hostel: Part II as an Italian cannibal who likes to use the unfortunate victims of Elite Hunting as his meals. The most horrifying part of the scene, Deodato doesn't need to say anything to be scary, is that he seems so calm and cheerful about what he's doing as the victim struggles. It is one of the most compelling performances in the film and plays into Deodato's reputation as the director of Cannibal Holocaust.

M. Night Shyamalan is another horror director with cameos in most of his films. In Signs, he gave himself the small but essential role of Ray Reddy, who accidentally killed Graham Hess', the lead character's wife. Okay, so the part isn't that scary, but he does inform Ray that he has one of the aliens trapped in his pantry and gives him a clue that he believes that the intruders from space are not fond of water. As played, the character seems distant and strange, and maybe that's more of what Shyamalan was going for with the role.