Tobe Hooper was born on 25 January 1943.

Hooper is one of the Big Five horror directors, along with Wes Craven, George Romero, John Carpenter, and David Cronenberg. (Yes! It is all North America. Sometimes people substitute Dario Argento for Cronenberg.)

I love Tobe Hooper. He is the American Lucio Fulci. And that’s not entirely good. Hooper’s highs were very high. But his lows are pretty bad. For example, Night Terrors is an incomprehensible mess. But I think Hooper was just trying to make a living. He did manage to work almost exclusively in horror and science fiction. But that could be because no one imagined he could do anything else.

Regardless, I don’t like the way most people see his career. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre colored everything he did. It is a great film. See my discussion of the meathook scene. But the film is more a miracle of production than direction. And I am so tired of it — especially given his many other great films!

Hooper worked a lot in TV. He made notable TV movies like Salem’s Lot and Body Bags. But mostly, he directed TV episodes. And I’ll admit, I’ve never seen any of those. Maybe someday, I will write a thorough analysis of his work.

My favorite Tobe Hooper films are The Funhouse, Lifeforce, and Spontaneous Combustion. Critics didn’t much like any of them. But by the last of them, most critics didn’t even bother reviewing his films. That’s what critics are for: adding to the advertising budgets of already well-advertised films!

But since even Tobe Hooper fans tend to dismiss Spontaneous Combustion, let’s watch it! It is a trashy film. But that’s what it’s supposed to be. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Also, it is so demented from start to finish that I never get bored with it!

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Image cropped from Tobe Hooper by Lionel Allorge licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.