Scott Derrickson

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Scott Derrickson (born July 16, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He is known for his work in the horror genre, directing films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Sinister (2012), The Black Phone (2021), and its sequel, Black Phone 2 (2025). He is also known for the superhero film Doctor Strange (2016), based on the Marvel Comics character.

Early life

Scott Derrickson grew up in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Biola University with a BA in Humanities with an emphasis in philosophy and literature and a B.A. in communications with an emphasis in film and a minor in theology. He completed his graduate studies at USC School of Cinema-Television.

Career

Derrickson's debut feature was Hellraiser: Inferno, the fifth installment in the long-running Hellraiser film series. It was released straight to video in 2000. Following this, Derrickson and co-writer Paul Harris Boardman spent several years doing script-doctoring work for studios. "I was paid to write or rewrite 13 screenplays," Derrickson said, "None of them got made. I was earning a good living but all of my creativity would be read by just a handful of executives. It caused a kind of soul sickness in me." Some of Derrickson and Boardman's unproduced scripts include Future Tense, The Mystic, Ghosting and Mindbender.

Derrickson co-wrote and directed The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which was loosely based on a true story about Anneliese Michel. The film was named in the Chicago Film Critics Association's list of the "Top 100 Scariest Films Ever Made." Theatrical box office gross for The Exorcism of Emily Rose was over $144 million worldwide. It received the award for Best Horror Film at the 32nd Saturn Awards.

Derrickson with star Keanu Reeves in 2008

Derrickson next directed a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, written by David Scarpa. The film was released in late 2008 and earned over $233 million worldwide.

In August 2011, Derrickson teamed up with producer Jason Blum to write and direct Sinister, a mystery-horror film starring Ethan Hawke. The $3 million picture was released in theaters by Summit Entertainment on October 12, 2012, and received generally positive critical reviews. Sinister earned over $48 million at the U.S. box office and over $78 million worldwide. Derrickson co-wrote but did not direct the film's sequel. Sinister has repeatedly been named “The Scariest Movie of All Time According to Science” by the Science of Scare project, which measures the heart rates and heart rate variances of audience members as they watch 50 of the scariest horror films ever made.

Deliver Us from Evil (2014) was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and is based on a 2001 non-fiction book entitled Beware the Night by former police Sergeant Ralph Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool; its marketing campaign highlighted that it was "inspired by actual accounts". It was released on July 2, 2014, and grossed $87.9 million against a $30 million budget.

Derrickson at the 2015 WonderCon

Derrickson next directed the film Doctor Strange, based on the Marvel Comics property and part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was released in November 2016. The film was a commercial and critical success. It received the award for Best Comic-To-Film Motion Picture at the 43rd Saturn Awards, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.

In December 2018, it was announced that Derrickson would direct the Doctor Strange sequel entitled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which was planned for a May 2021 release. In January 2020, Derrickson announced that he had stepped away from directing duties as a result of unspecified creative differences, after which Sam Raimi took over. Derrickson remained involved with the film as an executive producer. Derrickson's departure from the film allowed him to put more focus on The Black Phone.

In 2021, Derrickson directed an adaptation of Joe Hill's short story "The Black Phone", from a script he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill. Produced by Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures, The Black Phone re-teamed Derrickson with Ethan Hawke and James Ransone, and was theatrically released to positive reviews on June 24, 2022. The film was very personal to Derrickson, as he claimed it had grown out of three years of therapy. He also said that it was a way for him to explore "the traumatic nature of [his] own childhood". It received the awards for Best Horror Film and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 47th Saturn Awards, Best Wide Release Movie and Best Screenplay at the 2023 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, and the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Screenplay.

In 2023, Derrickson co-wrote and directed the segment Dreamkill for the horror anthology film V/H/S/85. The film won the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Streaming Premiere.

In June 2024, Derrickson completed his next film, The Gorge, for Skydance Media. Apple TV+ acquired the rights for the film. It stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Miles Teller and Sigourney Weaver. The Gorge received two Emmy Awards nominations: Outstanding Television Movie and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special. It also received a Critics Choice Awards nomination for Best Movie Made for Television, and a Directors Guild of America Awards nomination for Best Achievement in Movies for Television. The Gorge became Apple TV+'s most-watched film premiere, surpassing previous records and boosting global viewership by 80% over its debut weekend in February 2025. It was the most watched movie on Apple TV+ in 2025.

Derrickson next directed Black Phone 2 from his own co-written script. Released on October 27th, 2025, the film received generally positive reviews according to aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, and grossed over 130 million dollars against a 30 million dollar budget.

Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1995	Love in the Ruins	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Also editor
2021	Shadowprowler	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2023	Dreamkill	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Segment of V/H/S/85

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2000	Urban Legends: Final Cut	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Hellraiser: Inferno	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Direct-to-video
2004	Land of Plenty	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:No
2005	The Exorcism of Emily Rose	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2008	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2012	Sinister	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2013	Devil's Knot	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2014	Deliver Us from Evil	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2015	Sinister 2	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2016	Doctor Strange	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2021	The Black Phone	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2025	The Gorge	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Black Phone 2	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Uncredited script revisions

• Dracula 2000 (2000)
• The Messengers (2007)
• Scream 4 (2011)
• Poltergeist (2015)

Executive producer only

• Misunderstood (2014)
• Kristy (2014)
• No Man of God (2021)
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Co-producer

• The Visitation (2006)

Television

Year	Title	Director	Executive producer	Notes
2020	Into the Dark	Template:No	Template:Yes	Episode "My Valentine"
	Snowpiercer	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	Unused TV pilot Shot in 2017

See also

• Scott Derrickson's unrealized projects

External links

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Template:Scott Derrickson Template:Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay