Biography

Writer/director Eric Red was born as Eric Joseph Durdaller on February 16, 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was raised in Manhattan. He specializes in hard, edgy pictures that have tough, no-nonsense tones and frequently address the darker aspects of human nature. Red attended the AFI Conservatory, which he graduated from in 1983. Eric was forced to work as a cab driver in New York City for a year after he went broke getting national distribution for his short movie "Gunmen's Blues." The tide of good fortunate turned Red's way when his brutal and challenging script for "The Hitcher" was turned into a terrific and terrifying film which has deservedly become a cult favorite. (The story for "The Hitcher" was inspired by an actual incident in which Eric picked up a creepy hitchhiker while driving cross country to Texas.) Next up was the beautifully chilling and stylish vampire doozy "Near Dark." Eric subsequently collaborated again with "Near Dark" director Kathryn Bigelow on the exciting "Blue Steel." Red hit another one out of the ballpark as both the writer and director of the grim and gripping thriller "Cohen and Tate." This particular triumph was followed by the excellent "Body Parts" (Red received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Director for this movie), the so-so werewolf outing "Bad Moon," and the nifty "Undertow." In addition, Eric wrote and co-produced the gritty made-for-cable-TV Western "The Last Outlaw." Red also wrote and created the comic book series and graphic novel "Containment." His latest features are the supernatural thriller "100 Feet" and the made-for-TV item "Night of the Wild." Eric's hobbies include film, books, comics, Cuban cigars, and gymnastics. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife Meredith Casey.
- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders

Studied Screenwriting at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, California.

Graduated from Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York in 1978.

I want to give evil poignancy instead of making it straight-out monstrous. People aren't black and white. They live in gray areas, and I like giving my heroes and villains different shadings.

I love horror movies because they have such tremendous energy, and a lot of them don't go far enough. I've attempted to give my pictures a real human level.

Having a little girl hacking her privates bloody with a crucifix, sticking her mother's face in it, and then turning her head 180 degrees around is without question the most horrific and transgressive set piece in American horror. That the sequence in The Exorcist (1973) was staged in broad daylight added to the terror, as did the incredible subliminal sound work. This unequalled masterpiece remains a great influence on my work, and I'm always trying to achieve that sense of reality and suspension of disbelief.