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Eric Red (born Eric Joseph Durdaller on February 16, 1961, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a screenwriter and director, best known for writing the horror classics The Hitcher and Near Dark.

Red attended the AFI Conservatory and graduated in 1983. His thesis script, The Hitcher, was produced in 1986, and is considered a cult-horror classic.

A major studio remake of The Hitcher was released in 2007, with Red on board as a consultant.

Film discussion

Some genre fans see three of Red's films, The Hitcher, Body Parts and Bad Moon, as a "Classic Monsters" series, a discussion which has taken place on various horror-themed message boards. To whit:

• The Hitcher can be seen as a vampire analogy, as the lead villain (portrayed by Rutger Hauer) uses a somewhat homoerotic psychological method of seducing the hero character (portrayed by C. Thomas Howell) into becoming like him. In vampire mythology, vampires often used seduction to lure victims into receiving their bite, thus turning the victim into a vampire, as well.
• Body Parts can be seen as an analogy for both Frankenstein's Monster and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story's lead character (portrayed by Jeff Fahey) loses his arm in an auto accident and receives a replacement appendage from an executed serial killer during an experimental surgery. Later, the seemingly executed killer, with support from the doctor who performed the surgery, returns to reclaim the appendages donated to various amputees so that she might stitch him back together from the body parts (a la Frankenstein's monster). After receiving the donated arm the lead character soon begins to suffer nightmarish visions, uncontrolled rage and violent outbursts -- a releasing of his "inner evil," as it were. This would satisfy the same Apollonian/Dionysian aspects of the Mr. Hyde analogy, while the character's profession (a criminal psychologist) would satisfy the Dr. Jekyll aspect.
• Bad Moon is, of the three films, the most straightforward in respect to how it reflects upon the "classic monsters" analogies. The lead character (portrayed by Michael Pare) is inherently the same character as played by Lon Chaney Jr in the original film, The Wolf Man. Both become victims of their curse when bitten by werewolves, and both struggle to keep their animal urges from surfacing, to little effect. Also worth considering is that that the werewolf legend itself could also be seen as a starting point for Jekyll and Hyde, as both deal with normally civil people falling victim to their murderous inner demons, whatever the trigger may be.

Selected filmography

• 100 Feet, writer/director (2008)
• Stopping Power, writer (2008)
• Bad Moon, writer/director (1996)
• Undertow, writer/director (1996)
• Body Parts, writer/director (1991)
• Blue Steel, writer (1990)
• Cohen and Tate, writer/director (1989)
• Near Dark, writer (1987)
• The Hitcher, writer (1986)
• Telephone, writer/director (1986)
• Gunmen's Blues, writer/director (1981)

Fatal car crash

On May 31, 2000, Red was involved in an automobile collision on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Red, driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee, hit the back of a stopped Honda Accord at a red light. When the Honda's driver, Kenny Hughes, got out to speak to Red, the Jeep began driving forward, propelling the damaged car into the intersection. Because Hughes had set his emergency brake before he got out, the Honda's passenger (Hughes's girlfriend, Aine Behan), was able to escape. The Jeep then crossed Wilshire and crashed through the window of a billiards bar. One patron, 34 year old Noah Baum, was fatally crushed against the bar by the Jeep. Another, 26 year old David Roos, suffered massive internal injuries and died the following day. There were few indications that the Jeep had braked at any point, and Red seemed lucid immediately afterward, but then tried to commit suicide at the scene, and has since claimed to have suffered a blackout. Los Angeles County authorities ultimately declined to file criminal charges against Red, but Red's driver's license was automatically suspended by the DMV. Although Red tried to discharge his responsibility for the crash by filing for bankruptcy in Texas, the federal bankruptcy judge determined that Red acted intentionally in driving into the pub "in a fit of uncontrollable rage," causing the deaths of the two men. A Santa Monica jury thereafter awarded over a million dollars to the families of the two deceased young men, although Red has refused to pay the judgment. The finding that Red had acted intentionally was confirmed in both federal and state courts of appeal.

References

1. Noah Baum memorial web site - with links to stories about the crash
2. LA Weekly report
3. FindLaw reference
4. California US Courts opinion
5. reference
6. LA Weekly story - Death Race

External links

• Eric Red at IMDb
• EyeForFilm.co.ukInterview with Eric Red about 100 Feet and Nightlife

• American screenwriters
• American film directors
• People from Pennsylvania
• 1961 births
• Living people