Jack Sholder | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1945-06-08)June 8, 1945 (age 80) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1980–2004 |
Jack Sholder (born June 8, 1945 inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired Americandirector, best known for his work in the horror film genre, notablyAlone in the Dark,A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge,The Hidden, andWishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies.[1]
In the DVD commentary ofThe Hidden, Jack Sholder states that his favorite film director isJean Renoir.[2]
In September 2004, he joined the faculty ofWestern Carolina University in the Department of Stage and Screen,[3] retiring in 2017.[2]
During his interview forBehind the Curtain Part II (2012), he confessed that of all the films he had made,Arachnid (2001) was his least favorite. In the same interview, he citedAlone in the Dark (1982),The Hidden (1987),By Dawn's Early Light (1990), and12:01 (1993) as his favorite of his own films.
Jack Sholder studied English literature, but fell in love with movies while in college. He made a number of short films, one of them beingThe Garden Party[4] (1973), based on the short story byKatherine Mansfield. The film starredJessica Harper,Beatrice Straight, andTracey Walter. In a 2020 interview Sholder declared that The Garden Party shows "the director I wanted to be, instead of where fate has taken me."[5]
After graduating college, Sholder moved to New York City, with plans of becoming an editor. Through a mutual friend, he metRobert Shaye ofNew Line, for whom he edited trailers, foreign films, and title sequences on a regular basis. AfterFriday the 13th had become a hit, New Line was looking to make its own horror movie. Sholder then came up with the idea ofAlone in the Dark, which he wrote and directed. In a 2020 interview, Sholder said: "Bob [Shaye] trusted me with the film, because I was an editor and he knew I would get all the pieces. Whether the pieces would be any good, who knows? But at least he knew he would have a film."[5]
Sholder went on to makeA Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge for New Line, which was a commercial success. He got offered "about every horror script in Hollywood", as he tells it in a 2020 interview. But Sholder did not want to do any more horror movies. New Line offered himThe Hidden, a hybrid of Cop movie, Action, and Sci-Fi.The Hidden proved that Sholder had a flair for action movies. Although it was not a commercial success, it had been a calling card for Sholder. As he said in an interview: "It tested through the roof, like it was gonna be a huge hit. (...) But the movie never broke through. Everybody in Hollywood loved it. I was a hot director for about six months. (...) Then things started to cool down and I knew I had to do a movie."[5] That's when Sholder accepted an offer fromUniversal to makeRenegades.
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Garden Party | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 1977 | Yamaguchi-gumi gaiden: Kyushu shinko-sakusen | Yes | English script;The Tattooed Hit Man | |
| 1982 | Alone in the Dark | Yes | Story | Directorial debut |
| 1985 | A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge | Yes | ||
| 1986 | Where Are the Children? | Yes | ||
| 1987 | The Hidden | Yes | ||
| 1989 | Renegades | Yes | ||
| 1999 | Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies | Yes | Yes | Direct-to-video |
| 2001 | Arachnid | Yes | ||
| 2002 | Beeper | Yes |
TV movies
TV series
| Year | Title | Episode(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Tales from the Crypt | Episode "Fitting Punishment" |
| Gabriel's Fire | Episodes "To Catch a Con: Part 1" and "To Catch a Con: Part 2" | |
| 1997 | Pensacola: Wings of Gold | Episode "Birds of Prey" |
| 1999 | Mortal Kombat: Conquest | Episode "The Serpent and the Ice" |
| 2003 | Tremors | Episode "Shriek and Destroy" |
