Alexandre Jouan-Arcady, known professionally as Alexandre Aja (; born 7 August 1978), is a French filmmaker best known for his work in the horror genre. He rose to international stardom for his 2003 horror film '' Haute Tension'' (known as ''High Tension'' in the US and ''Switchblade Romance'' in the UK). He has also directed the films '' The Hills Have Eyes'' (2006), ''

Mirrors A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

'' (2008), ''

Piranha 3D ''Piranha 3D'' is a 2010 American 3D horror comedy film that serves as a remake of the comedy horror film '' Piranha'' (1978) and an entry in the ''Piranha'' film series. Directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Sto ...

'' (2010), '' Horns'' (2013) and ''

Crawl Crawl, The Crawl, or crawling may refer to: Biology * Crawling, any type of tetrapod quadrupedal locomotion with the torso persistently touching or very close to the ground. ** Crawling (human), any of several types of human quadrupedal gait * L ...

'' (2019).

Personal life

Aja's pseudonymous surname is formed from the initial letter of each of the three parts of his real name. He was born in Paris, France, and is the son of Jewish French ''

pied-noir The (; ; : ) are an ethno-cultural group of people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French colonial rule from 1830 to 1962. Many of them departed for mainland France during and after the ...

'' director

Alexandre Arcady Alexandre Arcady (born 17 March 1947) is a French actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Life and career Alexandre Arcady was born in Algiers, Algeria. He emigrated to France at the age of fifteen. His son is filmmaker Alexandre Aja. ...

and French cinema critic Marie-Jo Jouan.

Career

Aja acted at a very young age in minor roles in his father's films such as ', and the two ' films. He made his directorial debut at the age of eighteen with the short film ''Over the Rainbow'', which received a

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

Golden Palm Award nomination for best short film. In 1999 he directed ''Furia'', a film based on Julio Cortázar's short story ''Graffiti''. From ''Furia'' and his next features, he frequently works with Grégory Levasseur as writers such as in '' The Hills Have Eyes'', ''

'', '' P2'', and ''

''. Levasseur also made his works as production designer too. Alexandreaja

Aja directed '' Haute Tension'', which released in 2003 in France and in 2005 in the US, and placed Aja on the map of the horror movie genre. The French slasher, though sticking to horror conventions, pushed the envelope of gore and tension. The film is an unauthorized reinterpretation of the novel "

Intensity Intensity may refer to: In colloquial use * Strength (disambiguation) *Amplitude * Level (disambiguation) * Magnitude (disambiguation) In physical sciences Physics *Intensity (physics), power per unit area (W/m2) *Field strength of electric, m ...

", by

Dean Koontz Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as thriller (genre), suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror fiction, horror, fantasy, science fiction, Mystery fiction, mystery, and sati ...

. Favouring make-up effects over computer-generated imagery, the film quickly found respect among horror fans. It was released in the US as ''High Tension'', after some editing. The film was nominated for the grand prize at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, and earned Aja awards for Best Direction and Best Fantasy Film at the

Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...

. After seeing ''High Tension'', American director

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...

asked Aja to come up with a concept for the remake of his 1977 film '' The Hills Have Eyes''. Craven subsequently asked Aja to direct the movie, which was released with an R rating in the US after extensive editing. His next project was a horror film entitled ''

'', about a mysterious mirror that brings out the worst aspects of people whenever they look at themselves in it. The film is a remake of the K-Horror film '' Into the Mirror''. Aja directed ''

'', a horror movie about prehistoric piranhas in Arizona. It is a remake of the 1978 film ''

Piranha A piranha (, or ; ) is any of a number of freshwater fish species in the subfamily Serrasalminae, of the family Serrasalmidae, in the order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs. Although ...

''. Because Aja was working on ''Mirrors'', he did not direct '' The Hills Have Eyes 2'', which was released on 10 March 2007. In 2004, Aja was named by ''Variety'' on the Ten Directors to Watch list. He is a member of the so-called Splat Pack, a term coined by film historian Alan Jones in ''Total Film'' magazine for a new wave of directors making brutally violent horror films. The other Splat Pack members are

Darren Lynn Bousman Darren Lynn Bousman (; born January 11, 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in horror films. He has directed four of the ''Saw (franchise), Saw'' films: ''Saw II'', ''Saw III'', ''Saw IV'', and ''Spiral ( ...

, Neil Marshall, Greg McLean,

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films ''Cabin Fev ...

James Wan James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian filmmaker. He has primarily worked in the horror fiction, horror genre as the co-creator of the ''Saw (franchise), Saw'' and Insidious (film series), ''Insidious'' franchises and the creator of ...

Leigh Whannell Leigh Whannell (; born 17 January 1977) is an Australian filmmaker and actor. He has written multiple films that were directed by his friend James Wan, including ''Saw (2004 film), Saw'' (2004), ''Dead Silence'' (2007), ''Insidious (film), Insid ...

, and

Rob Zombie Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...

. Aja has been associated with the New French Extremity film movement. Aja produced a remake of the 1980 horror slasher '' Maniac'', starring

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

. The film was released in 2012. In 2013, he directed the dark fantasy thriller '' Horns'', starring

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...

, Juno Temple, Joe Anderson, James Remar, Kelli Garner and Max Minghella. He also produced the 2014 horror film '' The Pyramid'' directed by Grégory Levasseur and starring Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O'Hare, and James Buckley. Aja produced and directed the 2016 psychological thriller film '' The 9th Life of Louis Drax'', which is based on a novel by Liz Jensen. Aja is set to direct a live action adaptation of the manga series '' Space Adventure Cobra'', and the '' Mice and Mystics'' film for

Dreamworks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

. In 2019, Alexandre Aja directed his highest grossing and best-reviewed film yet, ''

.''

Filmography

Other credits

References

External links

*
Alexandre Aja on Fox SearchlightEat My Brains! interview with Alexandre Aja
on sci-fi-online.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Aja, Alexandre 1978 births French horror film directors Living people Film directors from Paris French film producers French male screenwriters French screenwriters 21st-century French Jews Jewish film people

Personal life

Career

Filmography

See also

References

External links