Chris Peckover

Last updated
Chris Peckover
Born1981 or 1982
Occupation(s) Film director, screenwriter

Chris Peckover (born 1981 or 1982) is an Australian Canadian filmmaker best known for the horror films Undocumented and Better Watch Out . [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Peckover was born in Montreal and holds dual citizenship in Canada and Australia as his mother is Australian. [2] He was raised in Rockwall, Texas. [1] [3]

Education

Peckover attended Yale University, where he initially intended to study psychology as a pre-med student before switching to a film studies major. He later graduated from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California. [3]

Career

A year after graduating from the University of Southern California, Peckover sold the script to his first feature film, Undocumented . [3] The finished project was released in 2010. [4]

Peckover's second feature, the holiday horror film Better Watch Out , was released in 2016. [5]

Personal life

Peckover idenetifies as queer. [1]

Filmography

YearTitleRef.
2010 Undocumented [4]
2016 Better Watch Out [5]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef.
2016Ithaca International Fantastic Film FestivalAudience Award for Best Film Better Watch Out Won
Jury Award for Best FilmWon
2017 Fantasia International Film Festival Audience Award for Best European / North-South American FeatureWon [6]
Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film Golden RavenWon

Related Research Articles

<i>The Rocky Horror Picture Show</i> 1975 film by Jim Sharman

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also a member of the cast. The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book, and lyrics by O'Brien. The production is a tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s. Along with O'Brien, the film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray, with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions, including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.

<i>Scream</i> (1996 film) American slasher film

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, Scream's plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her friends, who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer known as Ghostface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Jewison</span> Canadian filmmaker (1926–2024)

Norman Frederick Jewison was a Canadian filmmaker. He was known for directing films which addressed topical social and political issues, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. Among numerous other accolades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades, for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987). He was nominated for an additional four Oscars, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a BAFTA Award. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999.

<i>Childs Play</i> (1988 film) 1988 American slasher film by Tom Holland

Child's Play is a 1988 American supernatural slasher film directed by Tom Holland, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia, and a story by Mancini. The film stars Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon with Brad Dourif as Chucky. Its plot follows a widowed mother who gives a doll to her son, unaware that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Logan (writer)</span> American film producer and screenwriter

John David Logan is an American playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his work as a screenwriter for such films as Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011), Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Sam Mendes' James Bond films Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015). He has been nominated three times for Academy Awards, and has won a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award.

<i>Black Christmas</i> (1974 film) 1974 film by Bob Clark

Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by Roy Moore. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon. The story follows a group of sorority sisters who receive threatening phone calls and are eventually stalked and murdered by a mentally ill killer during the Christmas season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberly Peirce</span> American film director

Kimberly Ane Peirce is an American filmmaker, best known for her debut feature film, Boys Don't Cry (1999), which won Hilary Swank her first Academy Award for Best Actress. Peirce's second feature, Stop-Loss, was released by Paramount Pictures in 2008. Her third film Carrie was released on October 18, 2013. In addition to directing and writing, she is a governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and a National Board member of the Directors Guild of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Halberstam</span> American academic, LGBT+ activist

Jack Halberstam, also known as Judith Halberstam, is an American academic and author, best known for his book Female Masculinity (1998). His work focuses largely on feminism and queer and transgender identities in popular culture. Since 2017, Halberstam has been a professor in the department of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Columbia University. Previously, he worked as both director and professor at The Center for Feminist Research at University of Southern California (USC). Halberstam was the associate professor in the Department of Literature at the University of California at San Diego before working at USC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Derrickson</span> American filmmaker (born 1966)

Scott Derrickson is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work in the horror genre, directing films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Sinister (2012) and The Black Phone (2021). He is also known for the superhero film Doctor Strange (2016), based on the Marvel Comics character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Hellman</span> American film director, film producer, and film editor (1929–2021)

Monte Hellman was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the horror film Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother.

Chris Terrio is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Terrio also won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012 and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, a BAFTA, and the 2013 Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for this work.

Nicholas J. Cull is a historian and professor in the Master's in Public Diplomacy program at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. He was the founding director of this program and ran it from 2005 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Paul Collum</span> American film maker

Jason Paul Collum is an American film maker. Collum has written and directed multiple films in the horror film genre, and has earned a reputation as the “gay horror guy". He has written articles for several horror magazines, and made a documentary on the Slumber Party Massacre franchise by Roger Corman. He has worked on several projects with B-movie filmmakers David DeCoteau and J. R. Bookwalter. Collum is also the author of the books, Assault of the Killer Bs: Interviews With 20 Cult Film Actresses, They Made How Many?! (Mostly) American Horror Franchises of the 20th Century, the children's self-esteem book Heads Up , and Basements: A Short Tale of Terror.

Keith G. Calder is a British-born independent film producer best known for his work on All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) and The Wackness (2008) with Felipe Marino and Joe Neurauter.

<i>Undocumented</i> (2010 film) 2010 American found footage horror film by Chris Peckover

Undocumented is a 2010 independent horror thriller directed by Chris Peckover and written by Chris Peckover and Joe Peterson. It stars Scott Mechlowicz, Alona Tal, Yancey Arias, Kevin Weisman and Peter Stormare.

<i>The Babadook</i> 2014 horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent

The Babadook is a 2014 Australian supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her feature directorial debut, based on her 2005 short film Monster. Starring Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, and Ben Winspear, the film follows a widowed single mother who with her son must confront a mysterious humanoid monster in their home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Michael Barrett</span> American screenwriter and producer

David Michael Barrett is an American screenwriter and film producer in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monster Fest</span> Film festival

Monster Fest is an annual genre film festival held in Melbourne, Australia, dedicated to cult and horror cinema. As of 2017 it is the only genre film festival held in Australia to be supported by the federal screen agency, Screen Australia.

<i>Better Watch Out</i> 2016 psychological horror Christmas film

Better Watch Out is a 2016 Christmas psychological horror film directed by Chris Peckover, from a script he co-wrote with Zack Kahn. It stars Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller and Ed Oxenbould. The film had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2016, and was released in the United States on October 6, 2017, by Well Go USA and in Australia on November 23, 2017, by Rialto Distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Cerrito</span> American filmmaker

Mario Cerrito is an American filmmaker, writer and producer in the horror/thriller genre. He is best known for his film trilogy, Human Hibachi, Human Hibachi 2: Feast in The Forest and Human Hibachi: The Beginning. Each film won a Best Film award at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival in Atlantic City and were released by Troma Entertainment.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lipsett, Joe. "Queer Horror Director Showcase: Chris Peckover on 'The Mexican' As A Coming Out Film, Desexualized Queer Characters And The Ups and Downs Of Hollywood". Queer Horror Movies. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 Hexpot, Valeska. "13 Questions with Director Chris Peckover, Better Watch Out". Anatomy of a Scream. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Megas, Natalia. "Screenwriting and Directing a Dark Christmas Film: Better Watch Out". Script Magazine. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Undocumented". Hanway Films. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Better Watch Out". Film at Lincoln Center. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  6. "Fantasia Festival 2017 Awards Celebrate the Best in Horror and Other Genre Fare". Rue Morgue. Retrieved 3 June 2024.