Later this year, a Hellraiser reboot will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu, and the recent announcement that Pinhead will be female has left a huge impression on fans. The new film is penned by David S. Goyer, a celebrated writer who is no stranger to reboots and often makes such forward-thinking decisions.
Goyer is one of the most respected screenwriters working on blockbuster movies today, and so many visionary directors choose to work with him. He is the go-to writer for anything comic book-related, and audiences will no doubt love a lot of his work. Whether it’s for Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, or Zack Snyder, Goyer has handed in some spectacular scripts that have been made even more spectacular by those filmmakers’ unique styles.
The Puppet Masters (1994) – 5.9
Early in his career, Goyer wrote a ton of b-movie-influenced sci-fi and horror films, and though it isn’t saying much, The Puppet Masters is the best of the lot. Based on the novel of the same name, the 1994 science fiction film is a bog-standard alien invasion movie, but it’s more Battle: Los Angeles than District 9.
The movie makes almost no sense, and if it wasn’t for Donald Sutherland’s charisma, the sci-fi flick would be even worse. Interestingly, while it seems impossible for the studio to fail, The Puppet Masters was distributed by Disney. But that makes sense, as Disney’s sci-fi movies aren’t always very successful.
Jumper (2008) – 6.1
Between Goyer’s knowledge of and obsession with sci-fi and director Doug Liman’s inventive filmmaking, in theory, a Goyer-written, Liman-directed movie should have been Inception-level mind-blowing. That, unfortunately, wasn’t the case, as Jumper is thought to be (by some critics and viewers) under-developed, full of bad digital effects, and incoherent.
The 2008 release is about a young man who can teleport and is being chased by a mysterious secret society. Liman does a decent job as usual of making the movie incredibly stylish, but it falls short in almost every other area. However, Jumper does have an incredible premise and there’s potential for it to be great if it ever gets rebooted.
The Invisible (2007) – 6.2
When it comes to thrillers, Sweden is often ahead of the curve, and between Let the Right One In and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the country has loads of great thriller movies. The Invisible is no different, as it’s a Hollywood remake of a Swedish film, and it mixes supernatural elements with typical thriller tropes.
Ironically, while negatively received movies like Jumper make hundreds of millions of dollars, arguably more interesting movies like The Invisible go overlooked and bomb at the box office. Though the 2007 release was ridiculed by critics, who thought it was dumb and funny in all the wrong ways, it does have a small fanbase and it’s worth seeking out for fans of young adult movie adaptations.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – 6.2
When it was first released in 2019, Terminator: Dark Fate was considered somewhat a return to form for the series and the best movie in the franchise since Terminator 2: Judgement Day. But that isn’t as impressive as it sounds, as the last three movies set the bar so low that Dark Fate simply hopped over it.
Between Sarah Conner’s return and a refreshing new direction, the movie is a worthy sequel, but there are just as many ways Dark Fate fell short. But, ultimately, while the movie is perfectly fine, Goyer did a great job of rifling through such an incoherent franchise to write something genuinely coherent, which couldn’t have been an easy task.
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) – 6.5
Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice had such a polarizing response from fans and an outright negative reception from critics. The movie was also criticized for trying to tell too many different stories. So it may be shocking that it ranks as high as it does on IMDb.
Whether it was exploring the duality between Bruce Wayne and Batman, setting up the Justice League, the death of Superman, or a handful of other things, many felt there was just too much going on. Though Goyer isn’t solely to blame for the movie, as the screenplay was co-written by Chris Terrio, critical response felt that the duo wrote a bloated movie where Louis Lane had way too much screentime.
Blade II (2002) – 6.7
Though a Goyer and Liman team-up production didn’t deliver the goods, and the writer joining forces with Snyder for a Batman and Superman film didn’t quite work either, there’s one writer-director pairing that’s a perfect match. After Goyer wrote the screenplay for Blade and cinema auteur Guillermo del Toro directed it to huge fanfare, they worked together again for the almost-as-good sequel.
There are even some things that the sequel does better than the original. There are more horror elements in Blade II and it’s much scarier than the first film. Del Toro is arguably better than any many other directors when it comes to practical effects and make-up, that’s on fine display in the 2002 movie.
Man Of Steel (2013) – 7.1
Goyer worked closely with writer-director Christopher Nolan on The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and though he didn’t write the screenplays, he did develop those movie’s stories. With Man of Steel, the roles were reversed, as Nolan developed the story and Goyer wrote the screenplay.
Though the 2013 movie might not measure up to his work in the Dark Knight trilogy, the film depicts Superman in a way that’s never been seen before. It’s the most epic, visually stunning, and surprisingly emotional movie about the superhero. And it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves when fans debate the best superhero films of the past 10 years.
Blade (1998) – 7.1
Goyer had already established himself as a decent writer by 1998, and he already had seven movies to his name before the comic book movie’s release. However, most of those movies were box office bombs and it was Blade, a great gothic action movie, that put him on the map as a screenwriter.
The 1998 movie established him as one of the go-to superhero movie writers in Hollywood. But Goyer’s writing was elevated by del Toro’s stylish filmmaking and New Line Cinema should be commended for distributing the first-ever R-rated superhero movie.
Dark City (1998) – 7.6
It may be shocking to some fans that Dark City has flown under the radar despite how highly rated it is. It hasn’t even managed to garner a cult following like so many other box office bombs have. The 1998 movie had a budget of $27 million, and it made $27.1 million worldwide.
In terms of Goyer’s filmography, the sci-fi movie is vastly overshadowed by Blade, especially given that they were released in the same year. However, Dark City has a fascinating premise about an amnesiac who doesn’t know his true identity and is suspected of murder, and it’s a clever, cutting-edge sci-fi flick that deserves way more attention.
Batman Begins (2005) – 8.3
Though Goyer only worked on the story for the two sequels, the screenwriter co-wrote Batman Begins with Nolan. Batman’s origin had been told so many times by 2005, and it has been told countless times since then too, but no origin story of the caped crusader has been explored as well as it is in Batman Begins.
More impressively, Goyer did what Batman writers and directors are seemingly so afraid to do anymore, which is to introduce villains that had never been depicted on the big screen before. Between Ra’s al Ghul and Scarecrow, Goyer took some huge risks, and they totally paid off.
