Don Coscarelli Jr. (born February 17, 1954) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, producer, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. Born to Italian settlers in Libya, he is best known for his work in

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s. His directing credits include the first four films in the ''Phantasm'' franchise, as well as ''

The Beastmaster ''The Beastmaster'' is a 1982 sword and sorcery film directed by Don Coscarelli and starring Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, John Amos and Rip Torn. Loosely based on the 1959 novel ''The Beast Master'' by Andre Norton, the film is about a man wh ...

'' (1982) and ''

Bubba Ho-Tep ''Bubba Ho-Tep'' is a 2002 American comedy horror film written, co-produced and directed by Don Coscarelli. It stars Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley—now a resident in a nursing home. The film also stars Ossie Davis as Jack, a black man who c ...

'' (2002).

Biography

Coscarelli was born to

Italian settlers in Libya Italian settlers in Libya ( it, Italo-libici, also called Italian Libyans) typically refers to Italians and their descendants, who resided or were born in Libya during the Italian colonial period. History Italian heritage in Libya can be dat ...

and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Although his family was not connected with the motion picture business, he was fascinated with cameras and filmmaking at an early age. Long before he was old enough to attend film school, his short films, made with the help of neighborhood friends in his hometown of Los Alamitos, California , were winning prizes on television. At the age of 19, Coscarelli became the youngest director to have a feature film distributed by a major studio when he sold his independently produced drama ''

Jim the World's Greatest ''Jim the World's Greatest'' is a 1976 drama film written and directed by Don Coscarelli and Craig Mitchell. The movie began production when Coscarelli and Mitchell were 18-year-olds, while being financed by their parents at a stated cost of $250, ...

'', to Universal Pictures. The film was the first collaboration for Coscarelli with actor Lawrence Rory Guy, who went on to achieve horror icon status under the screen name

Angus Scrimm Angus Scrimm (born Lawrence Rory Guy; August 19, 1926 – January 9, 2016) was an American actor, author, and journalist, known for his portrayal of the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film '' Phantasm'' and its sequels. Early life Scrimm was born ...

. ''

'' was an official selection of the USA Film Festival. Coscarelli is best known for '' Phantasm'', and its sequels. The original '' Phantasm'' was a worldwide critical and box-office success and won the Special Jury Prize at the Festival du Cinema Fantastique at Avoriaz,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Coscarelli also co-wrote (with Paul Pepperman) and directed ''

'', which was described by ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' as "a surefire audience favorite." ''

'' has spawned two sequels and a

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

. Coscarelli was the recipient of the

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

for Best Screenplay for his film ''

'', which he also directed. Based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, ''

'' stars Bruce Campbell,

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

, and frequent Coscarelli collaborator

Reggie Bannister Reginald Horace "Reggie" Bannister (born September 29, 1945) is an American musician, actor, producer, writer, and activist. He is known for his role as Reggie in the ''Phantasm'' film series. Biography Bannister is known for playing the gun-t ...

. In addition to being a critical hit, ''Bubba Ho-Tep'' was also a festival favorite, playing prestigious international film festivals like the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

Florida Film Festival The Florida Film Festival, produced by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, is an annual international film festival. Overview The Festival includes narrative and documentary features and shorts, animation, midnight movies, and educational forum ...

Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (french: Festival international du film fantastique de Bruxelles, nl, Internationaal Festival van de Fantastische Fil ...

, and the

Hong Kong International Film festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), is one of Asia’s oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies, filmmakers from different countries in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens around 230 films ...

. At

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

US Comedy Arts Festival The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...

, Coscarelli was the recipient of the Best Screenplay Award. At

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

's FantAsia Festival, ''Bubba Ho-Tep'' was the recipient of the Best International Film award. Coscarelli also directed the premiere episode of the American TV series ''

Masters of Horror ''Masters of Horror'' is an anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Origin In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, C ...

'', titled "

Incident On and Off a Mountain Road "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is the premiere episode of the first season of ''Masters of Horror'', directed by Don Coscarelli. It originally aired in North America on October 28, 2005. The screenplay is based on a short story by American ...

" and co-wrote the teleplay with Stephen Romano. In 2008, Coscarelli purchased film rights to the horror novel and internet series ''

John Dies at the End ''John Dies at the End'' is a Comic novel, comic horror fiction, horror novel written by David Wong (writer), David Wong that was first published online as a webserial beginning in 2001, then as an edited ebook, manuscript in 2004, and a printe ...

'' by David Wong. The film was completed in 2011, and released in 2013. In 2018, he published his memoir, ''True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking''.

Personal

Coscarelli frequently collaborates with his wife,

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

Shelley Kay. His daughter is award-winning

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

chef Chloe Coscarelli.

Filmography

*''

'' (1975) *'' Kenny & Company'' (1976) *'' Phantasm'' (1979) *''

'' (1982) *''

Phantasm II ''Phantasm II'' is a 1988 American science fantasy action-horror film and the sequel to '' Phantasm'' (1979). It was written and directed by Don Coscarelli and stars Angus Scrimm, James LeGros and Reggie Bannister. The first film's protagonist, Mi ...

'' (1988) *''

Survival Quest ''Survival Quest'' is a 1989 survival film written and directed by Don Coscarelli and starring Lance Henriksen, Catherine Keener, and Dermot Mulroney. Plot There are two sets of campers on California's Sierra Madre Mountain. One group is the Bl ...

'' (1989) *'' Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead'' (1994) *'' Phantasm IV: Oblivion'' (1998) *''

'' (2002) *''

'' (2005, TV, ''

'' series) *''

'' (2012) *'' Phantasm: Ravager'' (2016) - producer and co-writer *''Applecart'' (2017) - executive producer

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coscarelli, Don 1954 births Living people People from Tripoli Horror film directors American male screenwriters Libyan people of Italian descent Libyan emigrants to the United States American writers of Italian descent Wilson Classical High School alumni Film directors from Los Angeles Screenwriters from California American film directors of Italian descent