Sean S. Cunningham

Like William Girdler, Oliver Hellman or even Ed Wood, 'Sean S. Cunningham' (qv) had a successful career of starting films cheap and fast. Originally from New York, Cunningham had a vast knowledge of directing films and came to Hollywood. He started about the same time 'Wes Craven' (qv) did. Cunningham meets Craven and decided to make a comedy-romance film called _Together (1971)_ (qv). Then they both shocked the world with the rape and ultra-violence of _The Last House on the Left (1972)_ (qv). Craven directed the flick and Cunningham financed and produced. However Cunningham wanted to get a mix of comedy and horror and made _Case of the Full Moon Murders (1973)_ (qv) and then started other comedy films like _Manny's Orphans (1978)_ (qv) and _Here Come the Tigers (1978)_ (qv) . Struggling in Hollywood Cunningham saw 'John Carpenter' (qv)'s _Halloween (1978)_ (qv) and wanted to make a follow up type film but would possibly regret it. Cunningham brought _Friday the 13th (1980)_ (qv) into the cinema in 1980, a year of many other horror films. _Friday the 13th (1980)_ (qv) was a shocking, gory and violent film about camp counselors being slashed by a killer and had 'Betsy Palmer' (qv) in the lead role. Little did Cunningham know that Friday the 13th would have never ending sequels. Cunningham gladly avoided all of them and Friday the 13th remains one of the most popular horror films in history. Instead Cunningham wanted to make it big when he brought a best-selling novel to the screen, _A Stranger Is Watching (1982)_ (qv) with 'Rip Torn' (qv), but it was a disappointment. Cunningham went downhill with the over sexed teen comedy _Spring Break (1983)_ (qv) and _The New Kids (1985)_ (qv). Cunningham then produced _House (1985)_ (qv) and several of its sequels. Cunningham next entered the world of underwater terrors after _The Abyss (1989)_ (qv) was released. Cunningham did a follow up called _DeepStar Six (1989)_ (qv), but it was a flop, however it beat another 1989 underwater thriller _Leviathan (1989)_ (qv) at box office receipts. Cunningham was finished with directing and moved on to producing films and teaching. He produced _The Horror Show (1989)_ (qv), _My Boyfriend's Back (1993)_ (qv) and Friday the 13th's last sequel _Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)_ (qv). Cunningham then did yet another follow up to Friday the 13th with _Jason X (2001)_ (qv).::Blythe379@cs.com