James Isaac on AllMovie

A director who came to specialize, more or less exclusively, in B-movie horror pictures, James Isaac kick-started his career as a special-effects guru on such sci-fi outings as Gremlins (1984), Enemy Mine (1985), and The Fly (1986) before moving into darker waters as an FX technician on New World's House 2: The Second Story (1987). Isaac debuted as a director by helming 1989's The Horror Show (originally slated as the third in the House franchise), a thriller about a homicidal maniac (Brion James) who returns to plague the cop (Lance Henriksen) responsible for putting him away. After various other behind-the-scenes assignments on films ranging from Arachnophobia (1990) to Naked Lunch (1991) and eXistenZ (1999), Isaac resumed his work as a director by turning out the 2002 release Jason X (the tenth installment in the Friday the 13th slasher franchise) and directing the 2007 horror movie Skinwalkers. That film told of a young boy who -- upon reaching his 13th birthday -- suddenly gains awareness of his lycanthropic identity and must contend with other predatory werewolves out to destroy him. Isaac went on to direct his last film, the 2008 killer monster pig film Pig Hunt, before succumming to a bout of cancer that ended his life in 2012.