15 One-Hit Wonder Movie Directors

We know all about music's one-hit wonders. Semisonic's "Closing Time" can make you nostalgic for a cup of coffee you drank yesterday; its sensitive charm is so strong. That band still makes a good living touring off that one hit. One-hit wonders also exist in the film world, too. In fact, there is quite a few of them. But unlike the music industry, the film industry isn't too kind; directors can't tour with that one movie to adoring fans. Your last movie, is just that, your last movie. Some directors have disappeared into the fog and some continue to work, even successfully, today.

Unlike music, however, film directors' one-hit wonders tend to be more powerful and demand regular revisitations, other those in music. When was the last time you had a sudden hankering to listen to House of Pain's "Jump Around"? The answer is you haven't. If you have, seek help. You might, however, have given Heathers or Slling Blade multiple viewings and found it a rewarding experience each time.

Let's take a look at 15 one-hit wonder movie directors, who, in the very least, gave us one film we can always enjoy and come back to for years to come.

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Film: American History X (1998)
Most recent project: Kaye directed the 2012 school drama, Detachment starring Adrien Brody.

Tony Kaye's war against Hollywood began with American History X, which is notorious for its brutal story of two brothers who become drawn into the Neo Nazi movement after their father is murdered by a black teenager. Wait, you know American History X. If you don't, what's address of the rock you live under?

The movie we got, Kaye still vehemently argues, wasn't the true cut of the movie he filmed. He has not been shy about his anger about what studio people did to his movie. In fact, he was so disgusted at Hollywood's stiff-arming both him and his vision that he went away for eight years before coming back to the film business in 2006.

He was portrayed as the bitter wild-haired troublemaker in the years since, but we think there's more of us who sympathize with him than we'd like to admit. Kaye has directed three films since his return to the chair, helming Detachment in 2012, but it was dismissed by a large population of critics and ignored by audiences, barely breaking $1 million in revenue. Detachment was a promising glimpse into Kaye's intention of making films he wants to make, and we hope he sticks around this time.

Film: That Thing You Do! (1996)
Most recent project: Hanks' most recent time in the director's chair produced Larry Crowne. He's currently on timeout until further notice.

That Thing You Do! (which he also wrote and starred in)—a film about a small-time Pennslyvania band who, with the help of an overzealous manager, ride their unexpected hit song into stardom—was Tom Hank's directorial debut. Hanks' movie boasted a stellar soundtrack and strong perfomances from the ensemble cast. So, why has Hanks directed two films nearly 15 years apart? When Hanks isn't directing, he's an A-list actor who probably has scripts holding up lopsided furniture.

When he chose to call the shots again, he, uh—no one really knows what Larry Crowne was supposed to be. But he'll always have That Thing You Do! right? Well, it was so long ago that it's going to slip into fluke territory in a few years.

Film: The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Most recent project: The Myrick/Sanchez directing team never worked together again on another major project, instead making their own paths in recent years. Myrick has recently struck a deal with the Radar Pictures studio to make a thriller/horror filmed named Under the Bed. Sanchez has been a bit more active in the intervening years, most recently in post-production with a Bigfoot horror film titled Exists with a 2014 release date.

Your mind already went to green-tinted actors with runny noses breathing heavily into the camera and made your excuses to not go hiking with your friends look downright legitimate. All you have to do to be left in peace with your mega-size of Cheetos, your couch, and your big screen TV is to mention one title: The Blair Witch Project.

It is weird to consider, but directors Daniel Myricks and Eduardo Sanchez's The Blair Witch Project is an imporant part of film history. It's return on investment numbers were incredible. It made over $350 million off a budget of less than $30 thousand. They are the godfathers of the found footage style (which added the is-this-real horror to their movie) that has since been bludgeoned to the point of dullness today.

Myricks and Sanchez have not been co-directors since, but they have some appealing projects coming up that may be worth a look.

Film: Sling Blade (1996)
Most recent project: Thornton recently co-wrote and directed the 1960s set drama Jayne Mansfield's Car in 2012

Billy Bob Thornton is one of the busiest actors in the film game since the '80s; your hand will begin to cramp up by the time you scroll to the bottom of his filmography page on IMDB. But he has sat in the director's chair a few times, producing, on his first feature outing, an undeniable classic, Sling Blade, in which he also delivers a performance that defies you to not admit he's an actor deserving to be mentioned with the truly elite in Hollywood, though we all know he continues to be slept-on 'til this day.

Thornton directed four movies after Sling Blade, but to limited fanfare and palty box office returns. His second directing gig, the ambitious All The Pretty Horses, based on the "unfilmable" Cormac McCarthy novel, flopped financially and the "unfilmable" truthers shouted "We told you so."

Billy Bob directed another film last year, but we can tell by the way you're looking up at the ceiling that you probably didn't see it. No one else did either. We still believe in the Bob. He's going to direct another movie that will demand our attention once again. We can feel it.

Film: Donnie Darko (2001)
Most recent project: Kelly is reportedly forging his comeback with a thriller tentatively named Amicus slated for a 2014 release.

People are always making fun of M. Night Shyamalan. We're pretty sure he can't even buy a carton of orange juice without a cashier cracking a flop joke into the intercom mic to his face. If you look closely, behind Shyamalan in line and the only one not laughing is Richard Kelly, cap bent low and making himself as small as possible.

Why does Kelly avert his eyes and meekly chime, "C'mon guys leave him alone," when everyone is taking turns with M. Night burners? Because Kelly's career after Donnie Darko (which birthed millions of hacky-sack playing amateur philosophers) has been even worse than Hollywood's favorite punching bag. He has quietly slipped out the back of every party when someone brings up his movies.

Raise your hand if you've seen Southland Tales? Right. The Box? Please stop laughing, we're trying to run a respectable survey here. Donnie Darko came out in 2001. Let's face it, it's the only Richard Kelly you know. Still, we're excited for a Kelly comeback. He is too talented to not return to form and deliver another knockout.

Film: The Strangers (2008)
Most recent project: Bertino's next project is allegedly a Sam Raimi-produced thriller titled This Man

Made on a budget just under $10 million, Bryan Bertino's terrifying movie The Strangers, would, by the end of its theatrical run, rack up more than $80 million worldwide. The plot details the account a trio of masked invaders who break into a couple's house and begin to terrorize them and proceed to violently cut off all their routes of escape in escalatingly creative ways. It's also supposedly based on a true story, so you might want to dust off that Matman nightlight from the attic. We'll understand, you got to do what you got to do.

Bertino has been relatively quiet since The Strangers. Strangely, it has already been five years since his debut made people sprint to the mailbox theaters, we'll be there.

Film: Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Most recent project: Hellman last directed the contemporary noir, Road to Nowhere, which screened in competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival in 2010.

Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop chronicles the story of two nameless men, The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson) and The Driver (James Taylor), as they drag race across the country. Along the way they pick up The Girl (Laurie Bird) and a racing nemesis whose ego resides completely in his Pontiac G.T.O. (Warren Oates). Gorgeously shot and comfortable in silence, the sparse dialogue serves only to move the action forward, while the atmosphere of tension and suspense remains a constant presence.

Hellman directed several other films by the end of the '70s and returned to directing a number of shorts starting in 2006 after a 17-year layoff. He came back again with an indie feature back in 2010. Two-Lane Blacktop still retains its spot as the diamond in his filmography.

Film: Heathers (1988)
Most recent project: Lehmann is currently enjoying an illustrious career as a television director, having directed for Bored To Death and True Blood to name a couple.

Five years after Risky Business shook up the conventions of the teen movie, Michael Lehmann brought his own tnt to the operation in 1988 with Heathers. The story centers around a plain girl who wants to infiltrate her high school's upper crust where the popular clique of girls, all named Heather, reign as the queens. A rebellious loner named J.D. (Christian Slater) notices her and soon takes it upon himself to propel her into what she so cautiously desires, thrusting her into a world of rapid, uncontrollable escalation that she was not prepared for. And neither are you.

Lehmann has directed a few other feature-length films, but none remotely close to the cultural impact of Heathers. He has also shown impressive reserve in resisting that tiny Armani-suited devil on his shoulder, constantly whispering in his ear that he should make a sequel.

Film: Mystery Men (1999)
Most recent project: Usher quit directing feature films to focus on commercials, including a Bridgestone advertisement for the 2011 Super Bowl.

Blue Raja. Mr. Furious. Shoveler. The Bowler. Those are the heroes in the Kinka Usher directed Mystery Men, a parody of the superhero genre that couldn't take it self any less seriously released in 1999. Critics usually use the word "campy" to shame awful movies that were not aware at how bad they were, not so in this case. In this movie, camp is the virtue. Sometimes it seemed like the actors were trying crack each other up while filming, one-upping the ridiculousness and overacting over the last guy. Case in point: in the movie, the main villain's name is Casanova Frankenstein.

Add that name to the ones you read before and you understand what's going on here. You also understand there is no gray zone. Either you accept the invitation to the silly party and put on your cone hat or you politely decline and declare that you are an adult, sir.

Kinka Usher, after directing this nuclear box office bomb turned cult hit, vanished from Hollywood. If Kinka ever returns, we're sure it will be a pleasant surprise.

Film: The Lives of Others (2006)
Most recent project: Von Donnersmarck last directed the infamous critical/box office bomb The Tourist (2010).

Three years ago, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie starred in a movie called The Tourist. It made nearly $300 million worldwide and we guarantee that you don't know one friend who has seen it. The man behind that monstrosity was German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who somehow does not wear a monocle and command a team of shadow forces.

You'll be surprised, perhaps confused, to know that this is the same man behind The Lives of Others, a film set in 1984 East Berlin about a secret police agent whose invasive surveillance of an unknowing couple unexpectedly melts the boundaries between his life and his job. It is also one of the best foreign films of the past 15 years. That was back in 2006. The Tourist cashed out (released) in 2010; Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck doesn't seem to have any projects in the works, either. We suppose it is smart to lay low for a while after a huge score.

Film: The Motel (2005)
Most recent project: Kang has kept himself active. He has been directing episodes for award-winning and critically acclaimed webseries Easy Assemble starring Illeana Douglas from 2010 to 2011.

Michael Kang's indie feature, The Motel did not make much money, and is still unfairly underseen. Kang, a Korean-American filmmaker based out of New York, has directed a couple films since his debut about Ernest Chin, a boy whose primary focus is working at his mother's small motel frequented exclusively by shady characters, all the while careening directionless toward adolescence and manhood. But none matched the prestige of his freshman effort. The film collected jury prizes from film festivals across the country, including garnering a nomination for Best First Feature Film from the Independent Spirit Awards. His next two films have been slight, and nowhere near the follow up we believe he's capable of producing.

Kang is still a productive director, but mostly at the fringes. While we patiently wait for his return to the big screen, we assure you that The Motel is a Netflix rental you won't regret.

Film: City of God (2002)
Most recent project: Meirelles has several projects in the works till 2016, including a couple documentaries currently in production. Katia Lund has directed episodes for documentary television series Carminhos in 2012

It's hard to believe that it's already been more than a decade since Brazilian filmmakers Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund collaborated to co-direct City of God, a film that instantly earned classic status the second the credits ran, the lights went on in the theater, and not a body stirred. Based on a novel of the same name (also recognized as an iconic signature of Brazilian literature) by Paulo Lins, revolves around the story of three friends growing up in the favelas of Brazil around swarming with gangsters and small-time criminals. The violence and adolescent romance are all rendered beautifully and the sounds of the favelas are lucid and authentic. Though its a lengthy film, clocking in at round 135 minutes, you'll get the urge to start back at the beginning.

Mereilles would go on to keep very busy in the feature film business, though we'll whistle and look away whenever Blindness is brought up. We know some would like to argue Mereille's second feature The Constant Gardener was great. Rewatch it again, and when you've woken from your nap, you can try to make your argument again.

Katia Lund would produce a show City of Men based off the film which became very popular in Brazil. She also contributed to the All the Invisible Children documentary series in 2005.

Film: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Most recent project: Laughton never directed another film until his death in 1962

Charles Laughton was a lauded actor for years before and after The Night of the Hunter made people skip church a couple Sundays in 1955. Based on Davis Grubb's 1953 novel of the same name, the film tells the story of a reverend with a killer streak (literally), who one night decides to loot a widow and her children of her dead husband's fortune. Hilarity most definitely does not ensue. Shot in an atmopsheric style that elevated it above the others of its era, it's very likely Night of the Hunter is on your favorite director's greatest movies' list. Showcasing Laughton's magnificent directing is the chilling peformance he draws from Robert Mitchum who plays the Reverend Harry Powell.

A box office failure at the time of its original release, Laughton's film has undoubtedly gained its due recognition. Its seriously creepy, in case you thought nothing made in the '50s could make you anxiouly scratch the back of your hands. Charles Laughton would never direct again before his death in 1962, but his legacy is firmly in place in Hollywood history, making a timeless movie that requires you leave the door cracked just a little bit.

Film: Man Bites Dog (1992)
Most recent project: Belvaux committed suicide in 2006. Bonzel never directed another feature film, but recently worked as a cinematogropher on 2012 Slovakian comedy, Tigers in The City. Though Poelvoorde never directed another feature, he is a prolific and luminous actor in Belgian and French cinema.

Man Bites Dog 's legacy is as safe as it comes. Nothing like it has been done before and few have quite match its cinematic impact, in content nor stylistically (nice try, Natural Born Killers). Directing this groundbreaking faux documentary, about a team of filmmakers following a serial killer (Benoit Poelvoorde) as he goes on a walkabout of escalating violence and depravity, are Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, and Benoit Poelvoorde, who together also wrote the film. Shot in black-and-white and free of any smirking self-awareness, you'll begin to feel more like a passive accomplice than a viewer. Throughout the film, the serial killer, the protagonist of this "live" documentary, is in high spirits, cracking jokes, inciting laughs from you that you feel shouldn't have.

After releasing Man Bites Dog to the public in 1992, the three mad minds behind this cult classic were mostly reserved to relatively quiet fates. Belvaux would sadly take his own life in 2006, Bonzel wouldn't touch a directing chair again, while Poelvoorde, however, would go on to have a fruitful, decorated career as an actor. Luckily for us, this trio of talented filmmakers gifted the world with a seriously challenging film that should be experienced once (trust us, once is enough).

Film: Risky Business (1983)
Most recent project: Brickman last directed a short in 2012, titled Allison.

If all you know about Risky Business is Tom Cruise's slip n' slidin across his living room floor in only a button down and tighty whiteys, do yourself a favor and watch the entire film to understand why it's a total iconic work. When Paul Brickman dropped his debut feature on the world, he accomplished two things: he singlehandedly made Tom Cruise an all-universe movie star and he tore the traditional teenage movie blueprint into a million pieces.

Risky Business's brilliance lies in Brickman's self-aware obliteration of the genre. He carefully lays out the pieces: a high school nobody with dopey friends is desperate to lose his virginity, and one night his parents leave the house to himself as they go on vacation. It is here Brickman darkens the tint and begins his deconstruction of teen movie expectations that still feels fresh and honest, even 30 years later.

Paul Brickman, however, after directing a couple underwhelming comedies disappeared from Hollywood completely by 1990. In interviews, Brickman admits that the big studios were knocking down his door after his Risky Business's release, but instead chose the path of intentional obscurity, where he felt more comfortable. He has not since touched a feature film, and by accounts, looks like he never will again. But before making his premature exit, Brickman left us (and filmmakers) a cinematic gem and touchstone.