James Watkins

British writer/director James Watkins grew up as a fan of all kinds of horror films and has shown similarly wide-ranging taste in his own work. In the early 2000s, two of the films he worked on as a writer made it to the screen: the 2002 reality-TV-influenced slasher film "My Little Eye" and the 2007 tourists-vs.-Australian-outback thriller "Gone." Finally, he came up with a screenplay so good he refused to sell it unless he would be allowed to film it as well. Capitalizing on the British public and media's increasing fixation on all young people as potential delinquents, 2008's "Eden Lake" focused on a young couple's weekend getaway, life-threateningly interrupted by a group of dangerous teens. The intense, graphic film gained Watkins a cult following.

Next, he was hired to help famed British film studio Hammer Films rebuild its brand. During the 1950s, Hammer had reinvented British horror movies by updating Dracula, Frankenstein and other classic monsters. After years of inactivity, the company was bought by new investors. Thanks to the attention he'd received for "Eden Lake," Watkins was chosen to helm the revived Hammer's fifth and most successful film, 2012's "The Woman In Black." This old-fashioned ghost movie starred Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, in his first post-franchise role and went on to become a modest worldwide hit.