David Bruckner’s Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best

A relative newcomer, David Bruckner has contributed greatly to horror in the last ten years with V/H/S, Southbound, & The Ritual among others.

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David Bruckner is an up and coming director in the horror industry most well-known for the segment, “Amateur Night” in V/H/S which was later adapted into a full-length film. With news of a Hellraiser reboot from Spyglass Media with David Bruckner at the helm as director, it’s a great time to take a look back and examine Bruckner’s early films. Starting with short films and moving on to segments within horror anthology films, Bruckner is perhaps not known by name, but his work has certainly become well-known within recent years.

Bruckner has released two full-length films as well as three segments within anthology horror films and one short horror film. His next full-length feature, The Night House, will be released sometime in 2020. It received positive reviews at the Sundance film festival in January of 2020 and later was acquired by Searchlight Pictures for distribution.

Having previously been selected to direct the upcoming Friday the 13th reboot, Bruckner has now been selected to take over on the Hellraiser reboot. With several successful horror films under his belt, it makes perfect sense that he would be selected to lead such important projects. To get a look at the director’s filmography and how ti stacks up, here are all Bruckner’s currently released movies ranked, worst to best.

6. SiREN (2016)

In last place on the list, there’s SiREN, the full-length feature film based on Bruckner’s “Amateur Night” segment in V/H/S. While SiREN was not technically directed by David Bruckner, he was heavily involved in the making of the film, including developing the screenplay alongside writers Luke Piotrowski and Ben Collins. Released in 2016, three years after V/H/S, SiREN follows the story of a bachelor party who are led to a seedy underground club where they get more than they bargained for when the man of the hour releases a woman who isn’t quite what she seems.

Despite being based on a highly popular short, SiREN suffers from an underdeveloped plot and a lack of character complexity. While it’s not a horrible film by any means, it’s middling and doesn’t deliver on what audiences would expect from a film like this: more backstory and exposition on the siren creature viewers fell in love with from V/H/S. It introduces an interesting premise with a supernatural-run underground club that trades in memories, but there’s not enough about either it or the siren to really satisfy.

5. Talk Show (2011)

Ranking at number five is David Bruckner’s short film, Talk Show. Made in 2011, the twenty-five minute film explores a sinister talk show host, an advanced interrogation machine, and the bizarre talk show in which this man psychologically tortures and abuses a family in front of a live studio audience.

Described as Harold Pinter’s classic play, One for the Road, mixed with cable news and The Running Man, Talk Show is certainly an interesting premise and one that’s very powerful, but it doesn’t deliver enough on the characters to create that emotional punch Bruckner is looking for. The host is effective and there’s definitely some aspects of the totalitarian state and sensational media that ring true to current events in a terrifying way, but the film suffers from its length. More detail and characterization would help the audience connect with the family and make their plight that much more gut-wrenching, but as is, Talk Show falls a little flat.

4. The Signal (2007) – “Transmission 1: Crazy in Love”

In position four is The Signal, a 2007 horror anthology film written and directed by independent filmmakers David Bruckner, Dan Bush (The Vault), and Jacob Gentry. The story is told in three parts, following three major characters as they navigate a strange apocalypse caused by a mysterious signal that causes people to hallucinate and become violent.

The film’s three interconnected chapters are presented as transmissions, each following a different character, though they often intersect. Aside from the overall sub-genre of psychological horror, the film also combines elements of dark comedy, splatter, and a post-apocalyptic love story. It’s a very good movie. It doesn’t have a lot of production value and was made by new filmmakers, but it’s impressive for what it is; really, it only suffers from being less great than some of Bruckner’s other offerings.

3. V/H/S (2012) – “Amateur Night”

The beloved horror short that spurred the rest of David Bruckner’s directing career, “Amateur Night” is the first outside of the framing story in the 2012 found footage anthology horror film, V/H/S. The segment follows three friends: Shane, Clint, and Patrick, who have rented a motel room and outfitted Clint’s glasses with a hidden camera in order to have sex with women and turn their planned encounter into an amateur adult film. Instead, one of the women they bring back turns out to be a demonic creature who kills all three men.

The entrancing siren character is played by Hannah Fierman, who would go on to reprise the role in SiREN. A large part of the film’s effect is Fierman’s unique look, but the writing and cinematography are also highly effective. Since the audience doesn’t have to care about the characters for the story to be scary and interesting, this short works much better than the full-length film, and presents a great look at a really interesting creature design.

2. Southbound (2016) – “The Accident”

David Bruckner’s “The Accident” segment in the horror anthology, Southbound, holds the second place spot in the director’s filmography. A highly creative and surreal horror anthology from Radio Silence, Southbound has a lot to offer, and David Bruckner’s segment, “The Accident”, is one of the best. It follows a man driving down a road in the middle of nowhere who hits a woman with his car. The segment then details the desperate, bizarre journey he goes on to try and save her life.

“The Accident” is entrancing, gory, and totally awesome, showing a striking difference from SiREN, which was released the same year, presumably highlighting how well a story can be realized when Bruckner is allowed to have full creative control. All in all, “The Accident” is a great segment, giving the audience just enough to leave them wanting more.

1. The Ritual (2017)

David Bruckner’s best film is also his first full-length feature as a director. The Ritual is based on the novel of the same name by British author, Adam Nevill. It follows four friends as they journey into the forests of Sweden for a yearly bonding retreat and subsequent camping trip that goes horribly wrong.

Absolutely an underseen gem, The Ritual features a beautifully spooky atmosphere, excellent creature design, and a really engaging story. The characters are complex, believable, and there are some really cool set pieces with Scandinavian culture and themes to look at throughout the film. Overall, this is unquestionably the best of David Bruckner’s films, and speaks volumes about what audiences can expect from his next feature film. Between The Ritual, V/H/S, and Southbound, it’s clear that David Bruckner is a formidable addition to the horror genre through his efforts to help shape the horror of the 2010s.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/david-bruckner-movies-ranked-best-worst/