Sean S. Cunningham

Template:Infobox person Sean Sexton Cunningham (born December 31, 1941)Template:Efn is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing and producing several horror films, beginning in the early 1970s.

Raised in Connecticut, Cunningham graduated from Franklin & Marshall College before earning an MFA from Stanford University. After completing his education, he worked as a manager for various theater companies, including New York City's Lincoln Center and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. While working for a documentary company in New York, Cunningham made his feature film directorial debut with The Art of Marriage (1970). While editing his second film, he met Wes Craven, with whom he collaborated as a producer of Craven's exploitation horror film The Last House on the Left (1972).

Cunningham went on to co-create and direct the slasher film Friday the 13th (1980), which was a major box-office success. He produced several horror films throughout the 1980s, including House (1985) and its sequel House II: The Second Story (1987).

Early life

Cunningham was born in New York City on December 31, 1941Template:Sfn and raised in Connecticut.Template:Sfn He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Franklin & Marshall College and later earned an MFA from Stanford University.

Career

Cunningham's first jobs after graduating from Stanford included managing theater companies such as New York's Lincoln Center, the Mineola Theater on Long Island, as well as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the latter of where he briefly studied.Template:Sfn He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America.

While working for a documentary company in New York City in the late 1960s, Cunningham made his directorial debut with The Art of Marriage (1970). While editing Together, he met Wes Craven, who was working as an editor at the time.Template:Sfn The two collaborated on Craven's directorial debut, the exploitation film The Last House on the Left (1972), which Cunningham produced.

Cunningham is best known for his involvement of multiple films in the Friday the 13th franchise, which introduced the fictional mass murderer Jason Voorhees. Of the 12 films in the series, the ones that had Cunningham's involvement were the original, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Jason X, Freddy vs. Jason, and the 2009 reboot. He has also produced many horror films, such as the House series and Wes Craven's debut feature, The Last House on the Left. He is the founder and CEO of Crystal Lake Entertainment. Cunningham was set to produce the CW series adaption of Friday the 13th before that project fell through, and served as a producer of Friday the 13th: The Game.

As of 2015, he is also a member of the board of advisers for the Hollywood Horror Museum.

In 2025, Cunningham was honoured at the 58th Sitges Film Festival with the Time Machine Award (The Màquina del Temps).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer
1970	The Art of Marriage	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1971	Together	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1972	The Last House on the Left	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1974	Case of the Full Moon Murders	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
1978	Here Come the Tigers	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Manny's Orphans	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
1980	Friday the 13th	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
1982	A Stranger Is Watching	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
1983	Spring Break	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
1985	The New Kids	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
	House	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1986	Reiselust	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1987	House II: The Second Story	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1989	DeepStar Six	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
	House III	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1992	House IV	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1993	My Boyfriend's Back	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2001	XCU: Extreme Close Up	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2002	Jason X	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Terminal Invasion	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2003	Freddy vs. Jason	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2006	Trapped Ashes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2009	Friday the 13th	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
	The Last House on the Left	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
	His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2017	The Nurse with the Purple Hair	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer
2015	The 'Thing'	Template:Yes	Template:No
2019	The Music Teacher	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Acting roles

• 2013 Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th - Himself (Documentary film)

Works cited

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External links

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