Tobe Hooper Filmography Ranked

Tobe Hooper is a legendary figure in the horror genre and considering I've seen all of his major films I decided to do a quick ranking. I will only be focusing on his theatrical and directorial releases for convenience sake, although I can say his TV films 'Body Bags' (with John Carpenter) and 'Salem's Lot' are both terrific films in their own right. With all of that said, I hope most of you are doing well and let's not waste any more time to get on with this blog! Stay safe out there everybody.

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#15.) Night Terrors

'Night Terrors' is a film that had all the potential in the world to be a classic but due to poor scriptwriting and less than great acting, 'Night Terrors' is unfortunately in the category of "what if?". Robert Englund played his part well as to be expected, Tobe Hooper was able to get some decent scenery in the final product, and Zoe Trilling had a relatively nice showcasing in her short acting career. With that said, I found the script to be a little bit too scattered and boring for my liking. Thankfully this isn't the only Robert Englund and Tobe Hooper collaboration out there.

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#14.) Toolbox Murders

This 2004 remake of a 1970s film of the same name is.... pretty forgettable. There's some fun scenes here and there but overall I don't have too much to say. I guess its interesting to see Sheri Moon Zombie acting in a film not directed by her husband and Tobe Hooper did good work behind the camera, but there's not a lot to say in my opinion.

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#13.) Crocodile

This horror thriller film directed by Tobe Hooper is about an angry mama crocodile who terrorizes some college students who are hanging out on a houseboat for their spring break after she notices an egg missing from her nest. You go girl, kill the human race. As far as the directing is concerned, its by far the best aspect of 'Crocodile'. The characters aren't very likable - at all, the crocodile CGI is pretty poor looking, and the writing isn't anything special as it was written by somebody else. I like that we get to see a bunch of nitwits getting killed off by a crocodile but this was still a huge downgrade from the other gator/croc film that Tobe Hooper made in the 70s.

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#12.) Mortuary

If my memory is correct this was my first time watching 'Mortuary' and although I wasn't expecting much from it, I can say I liked the film overall. There's a lot of negatives such as the plot being a very basic cut-and-dry story as its about a family moving to a new city to start their lives over with the new place being haunted. The structuring is shaky and there wasn't necessarily a good flow going for it, yet I appreciate it for containing an ominous tone throughout the runtime as well as not trying to force any deeper meanings on the audience. Nowhere near Tobe Hooper's best film, but an enjoyable watch if you like paranormal horror.

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#11.) Djinn

This was also a first time viewing for me and its definitely an interesting project to say the least. For starters, 'Djinn' doesn't take place in the United States of America, instead taking place in the United Arab Emirates. Storyline wise the film touches on a ghost story of a family going through the stages of grief and trauma as they had lost an infant child. Tobe Hooper was able to use allegories in the paranormal horror subgenre to tell a story with a much deeper meaning than most and while this isn't my favorite thing Tobe Hooper had accomplished, this is still a pretty damn solid film to end a legacy on.

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#10.) The Mangler

'The Mangler' is a 1995 film adaptation of a very early Stephen King short story that he wrote when he was unhappily working at a laundry mat, and it makes for an interesting film transition. The correlations between machines needing us as much as we need them is something that's more relevant than ever, the message about the lower class of citizens not being treated fairly still rings true to this day, and Robert Englund had an exceptional performance.

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#9.) Eggshells

The directorial debut from Tobe Hooper is more of an experimental project than anything else. You don't really watch this film, you just experience it if that makes sense to you. The plot is essentially non-existent but that doesn't bother me in this situation too much as the unique characters, interesting scenarios, a passable soundtrack, creative settings, and a beautiful 1960s aesthetic all make up for the lack of a storyline. Very weird film, but a fun look at the start of a legendary career.

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#8.) Spontaneous Combustion

'Spontaneous Combustion' tells the story of a man who's parents were used in an atomic weapons experiment and the harm trickles down to him the older he gets. Brad Dourif gives a magnetic performance and its clear that Brad Dourif is one of the best people that Tobe Hooper could've worked with as they seem to be like minded in their respective lanes.

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#7.) Lifeforce

If you like chaotically cheesy 80s films then you're going to love 'Lifeforce'. To sum it up, there's a group of space shuttle workers returning to Earth and they soon learn that space vampires have followed them back. Those vampires would go on to turn the population of London into zombies and - get this - the only potential cure is an alien who takes the form of a naked woman. That plot is absolutely insanity, but this was a fun movie overall.

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#6.) Eaten Alive

This croc film doubles somewhat as a slasher movie as a psycho feeds people to his pet croc. First he finds out that one of the people staying at his sleazy hotel is a prostitute so he impales her with a pitchfork before feeding her to the croc, and that's just the beginning. After more people go missing, the locals start to spy on the hotel just to be picked off and fed to the croc. I like the concept of a lunatic casually feeding people to a crocodile, I found the dark claustrophobic setting of a Louisiana swamp to be quite effective, and I can appreciate that this film isn't trying to be deeper or more meaningful than it is. What you see is what you get, and as far as these backwood hillbilly horror projects are concerned, 'Eaten Alive' is towards the top of that mountain.

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#5.) The Funhouse

Easily one of the better films in the Tobe Hooper filmography, we have 'The Funhouse' up next. This is a campy horror flick that takes place in a very fitting setting, an old school amusement park with a ton of violence occuring throughout the night. The antagonists are seemingly allowed to have the freedoms of being as creepy as possible with their almost cartoony mannerisms and movements during stalking scenes.

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#4.) Invaders From Mars

Working with a noticably larger budget than the original film, this 1986 remake of a 50's classic is very charming with some aesthetic visuals, decent acting, and Tobe Hooper clearly having a blast while making this movie. The story follows a kid with dreams of being an astronaut, and his father agrees to go stargazing with him one night. On that night, however, they witness an alien spaceship landing over a nearby hill and the excitement goes on from there...

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#3.) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

A lot of people may be skeptical of this film due to Tobe Hooper going down the path of dark humor territory (he thought the first movie was a dark comedy despite it disturbing it's viewers) but I think it worked well. I appreciate how this adds upon the legacy of the first film as we're introduced to Chop-Top - Leatherface's brother (played by the almighty Bill Mosely) whom adds a lot of morbidly comedic moments with his line deliveries while also being a deranged, sadistic, cannibalistic lunatic himself. The radio show was an interesting subplot, the soundtrack is wildly entertaining, the atmosphere was well crafted, and overall I think Tobe Hooper did a great job with actually giving us a dark comedy film like he wanted to (and supposedly did) with the original film.

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#2.) Poltergeist

You already knew that 'Poltergeist' was going to be towards the top of this ranking so lets discuss what makes this such a good film. The story was originally taken from a 'Twilight Zone' episode entitled 'Little Girl Lost', but Steven Spielberg was able to add upon the plotline and gave us more than just the little girl getting lost in her mysterious bedroom portal. In Spielberg's rendition of 'Poltergeist', strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when the youngest kid goes missing, her parents turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help. With superb (and admittedly cheesy) special effects, great acting, an insane amount of charm, and an overall fantastic blend of Tobe Hooper's love for the macabre on top of Spielberg's eye for family dynamics in his films, we really get the best of two worlds. Definitely a classic and probably the most accessible project in the Tobe Hooper filmography, I would recommend you see this at least once in your lifetime.

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#1.) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

One of horror's crowning achievements, one of the most influential films ever made, Tobe Hooper's magna opus - 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. This film does everything correctly. The vibrant color scheme really pops on the big screen and the overall atmosphere is just...dirty. This movie looks disgusting, the characters are insane, the violence was pretty much unmatched at the time, and I loved every second of it. Leatherface is one of my favorite slashers of all time, the hitchhiker was disturbed yet very social to the people who picked him up before he ended up cutting Franklin's arm, the atmosphere fit the movie extremely well, and this was overall one of the best movies I've ever seen regardless of the genre. The Sawyer Family were great evil characters and one of the scariest families in the horror genre, the ending was perfect as we see Sally laughing maniacally in the back of the truck as Leatherface performs his chainsaw dance, the immersive set design, the spot on acting, everything about this movie is perfect.

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Well, that's going to conclude tonight's blog, I hope you enjoyed it. Any of your feedback is welcome and I hope you have a great rest of your night tonight. Stay safe out there everybody.