Biography for
Tobe Hooper More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

25 January 1943, Austin, Texas, USA

Height

5' 7" (1.70 m)

Mini Biography

Before becoming a filmmaker, Tobe Hooper, a native of Austin, Texas, spent the 1960s as a college professor and documentary cameraman. In 1974, he organized a small cast that was made up of college teachers and students, and then he and Kim Henkel made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). This film changed the horror film industry. Hooper based it upon the real-life killings of Ed Gein, a cannibalistic killer responsible for the grisly murders of several people in the 1950s. Hooper's success with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" landed him in Hollywood and it remains a horror-film classic. Hooper rejoined the cast of "Texas" and with Kim Henkle again for Eaten Alive (1977), a gory horror film with Mel Ferrer, Carolyn Jones, William Finley, and Marilyn Burns (who played the lead in "Chainsaw"). The film centered around a caretaker of a motel who feeds his guests to his pet alligator. Also in the film was Robert Englund, whom Hooper helped advance his career and worked with him again in the future. "Eaten Alive" also won many awards at Horror Film Festivals.

Hooper was assigned to the Film Ventures International production of The Dark (1979), a science-fiction thriller. After only three day, he was fired from the film and replaced with John Cardos. Instead, Hooper had greater success with Stephen King's 1979 mini series "Salem's Lot" (1979). In 1981, Hooper directed the teen-slasher film The Funhouse (1981) for Universal Pictures. Despite its success, "The Funhouse" was a minor disappointment. In 1982, Hooper found greater success when Steven Spielberg hired him to direct his production of Poltergeist (1982) for MGM. It quickly became a top-ranking major motion picture, despite some differences that were resolved by Spielberg himself taking over Hooper's directing duties.

"Poltergeist" was perhaps a greater success than "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but it was three years until Hooper found work again. He signed a three-year contract with Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's Cannon Group, and directed more films, including Lifeforce (1985), the minor remake of Invaders from Mars (1986), and the disappointing sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). Since then, Hooper's career has gone downhill. He also directed two more Robert Englund films, Night Terrors (1995) and The Mangler (1995), in 1995 and he has also directed numerous horror television sitcoms. Recently, Hooper was asked to write a new script for Michael Bay's remake of Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was released in 2003.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Mini Biography

Honored with many awards for his films and achievement in the horror genre, Tobe Hooper is truly one of the "Masters of Horror" (2005). Before becoming a filmmaker, Hooper--a native of Austin, TX--spent the 1960s as a college teacher and documentary cameraman. He organized a small cast of teachers and students and made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). It changed the horror film industry and became an instant classic. Even today it remains on virtually every list of top horror films of all time. Hooper based it upon the real-life case of Ed Gein, a cannibalistic killer responsible for the grisly murders of several people in the 1950s (although in Wisconsin, not Texas). Hooper's success with "Chainsaw" landed him in Hollywood. Rex Reed said, "It's the scariest film I have ever seen." Leonard Maltin wrote, "While not nearly as gory as its title suggests, 'Massacre' is a genuinely terrifying film made even more unsettling by its twisted but undeniably hilarious black comedy." It is in the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and was officially selected at the Cannes Film Festival of 1975 for Directors Fortnight.

Hooper rejoined the cast of "Chainsaw" for Eaten Alive (1977), which starred Mel Ferrer, William Finley, Carolyn Jones and Marilyn Burns. The film received the first Saturn Award. Also in the film, making his debut, was Robert Englund. Hooper's success continued with his adaption of Stephen King's 1979 mini series "Salem's Lot" (1979). In 1981 Hooper directed The Funhouse (1981) for Universal Pictures. Then, in 1982, Steven Spielberg enlisted him to direct the successful haunted-house shocker Poltergeist (1982) for MGM. During the mid-'80s Hooper directed several films and television projects, including Lifeforce (1985) with Patrick Stewart for TriStar; episodes of "Amazing Stories" (1985), "The Equalizer" (1985), "Freddy's Nightmares" (1988) and "Tales from the Crypt" (1989) with Whoopi Goldberg; Invaders from Mars (1986) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) with Dennis Hopper.

In the 1990s Hooper continued working in both both film and television: I'm Dangerous Tonight (1990) (TV), "Nowhere Man" (1995), "Dark Skies" (1996), "Perversions of Science" (1997) with Jamie Kennedy and Jason Lee, The Apartment Complex (1999) (TV) with Amanda Plummer for Showtime, Night Terrors (1995) and The Mangler (1995) for New Line.

In the new century Hooper's career continued to grow stronger with "Night Visions" (2001), Shadow Realm (2002) (TV) and the pilot episode for Steven Spielberg's award-winning miniseries "Taken" (2002). In 2004 Hooper co-produced the successful remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) for New Line. In 2005 he started his own low-budget horror franchise, TH Nightmare; has Toolbox Murders (2004) with Angela Bettis, released through Lions Gate; is in post-production on Mortuary (2005/I); and is in pre-production on "Zombies".

IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous

Trivia

Music video: Directed the video "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol.

Father of William Hooper and Tony Hooper.

Was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival Hall of Fame on October 22, 2005, in Tempe, Arizona.

The three films he made for Cannon--Lifeforce (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)--were all drastically re-cut by the producers and failed at the box office. Hooper then began working in television, where he's stayed, with only a few exceptions, since the late '80s.

Was fired, in mid-production, from two films--The Dark (1979) and Venom (1981)--before directing Poltergeist (1982), his biggest success to date.

Turned down the offer to direct Wolfen (1981).

Had worked on a sequel to his The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) in 1980 with screenwriter John Milius. Although that project fell through, Hooper would eventually direct a sequel in 1986 for Cannon.

Was originally offered the script for Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) but turned it down. Spielberg then suggested Hooper direct Poltergeist (1982), a project he had written himself and had planned on directing. Hooper took the job and Spielberg himself directed "E.T.".

Unlike his near contemporaries such as George A. Romero and Wes Craven, who have always longed to work outside the horror genre but have been creatively pigeonholed to stay within it by happenstance and the film industry, Hooper has always been attracted almost solely to horror and science-fiction films.

Personal Quotes

[on horror] You've got to send a physical sensation through and not let them off the hook. I like to make it faster and faster and faster and pumping and banging until I get into you.