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, pr ...

, 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, ap ...

s. His directing credits include the first four films in the ''Phantasm'' franchise, as well as '' The Beastmaster'' (1982) and '' Bubba Ho-Tep'' (2002).

Biography

Coscarelli was born to Italian settlers in Libya and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and 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 populous urban ...

. 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. ''

'' 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 Avoriaz (, ) is a French mountain resort in the heart of the Portes du Soleil. It is located in the territory of the commune of Morzine. It is easily accessible from either Thonon at Lake Geneva or Cluses station on the A40 motorway between Gen ...

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 '' The Beastmaster'', 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 ...

'' as "a surefire audience favorite." '' The Beastmaster'' 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, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

. 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 '' Bubba Ho-Tep'', which he also directed. Based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, '' Bubba Ho-Tep'' stars

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low-b ...

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. 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 perman ...

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, ...

, Florida Film Festival, Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films, 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's US Comedy Arts Festival, Coscarelli was the recipient of the Best Screenplay Award. At

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

'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, ...

'', titled " Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" 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 horror novel written by David Wong that was first published online as a webserial beginning in 2001, then as an edited manuscript in 2004, and a printed paperback in 2007, published by Permuted Press. An ...

'' 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 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) *'' The Beastmaster'' (1982) *'' Phantasm II'' (1988) *'' Survival Quest'' (1989) *'' Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead'' (1994) *'' Phantasm IV: Oblivion'' (1998) *'' Bubba Ho-Tep'' (2002) *'' Incident On and Off a Mountain Road'' (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