Stuart Gordon started his film directing career in 1985, after graduating from Lane Technical High School. Prior to enrolling at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, he worked as a commercial artist apprentice. Unable to get into the film classes, he enrolled in an acting class and eventually majored in theater.
In 1968, he directed a psychedelic adaptation of Peter Pan as a political satire, which led to his arrest on obscenity charges. As a result, he dropped out of the university and formed the Organic Theater with his wife Carolyn. The group performed their work on and off-Broadway, in Los Angeles, and toured Europe.
The Organic Theater produced several notable works, including the world premiere of David Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," which launched Mamet's playwriting career, the improv-based comedy "Bleacher Bums," and the hospital comedy E/R (1984),which became a TV series produced by Norman Lear.
Gordon joined forces with Brian Yuzna and Charles Band's Empire Pictures to create the company's first major hit, Re-Animator (1985),based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft, which won a Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He then directed another Lovecraft adaptation, From Beyond (1986),and tackled the murderous Dolls (1987) followed by Robot Jox (1989).
Gordon co-created the story for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989),a major hit for Disney. The same year, he directed the remake and more graphic version of The Pit and the Pendulum (1991). Other notable works include Fortress (1992),and the screenplay for The Dentist (1996) and Body Snatchers (1993),which he co-wrote with long-time writing partner Dennis Paoli.
In 2001, Gordon returned to the H.P. Lovecraft territory with Dagon (2001),and in 2003, directed King of the Ants (2003) about a housepainter-turned-hit man, and brought the David Mamet play Edmond (2005) to the screen.
He contributed to the horror anthology series Masters of Horror (2005) with the episode Dreams in the Witch-House (2005),based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. He returned to the series in 2007 with the episode The Black Cat (2007),based on Edgar Allan Poe's story. And in 2008, he directed Eater (2008) for the NBC series Fear Itself (2008).
Stuart Gordon is also known for frequently featuring his wife, actress Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, in many of his films, often playing the role of a victim.
