A computer scientist has created a list of the top 25 directors of all time by the number of on-screen deaths in their films.
Randal Olson, who also made a list of the deadliest actors, created the tally based on the database of kill counts from MovieBodyCounts.com.
It turns out that Peter Jackson reigns as the most murderous director, although most of his film deaths happen in "LotR: Return of the King" (836) and "LotR: The Two Towers" (468).
John Woo, seems to have stopped actively directing films in 2003, racked up about half of his kills in a six year stretch from 1987 to 1992. Robert Rodriguez, director of "From Dusk til Dawn" and "Grindhouse," is no surprise.
Many people wouldn't expect Quentin Tarantino to be right above James Cameron since Tarantino's oeuvre is consistently bloody. Cameron is buoyed by 307 deaths in "The Titanic."
Olson told BI that Michael Bay is interesting because people may expect him to be higher on the list, but "it's important to keep in mind that he's more focused on cool effects and blowing things up than murdering en masse."
In a blog post, Olson notes Katja von Garnier is the most murderous female director with 256 on-screen deaths. Also, Sylvester Stallone ranked in 3rd on the deadliest actor list and 15th on the most murderous directors list.
Olson told BI that Je-kyu Kang is really only on the map because of one film, Tae Guk Gi: Brotherhood of War (2004), a bloody film about the Korean War that averages 50 people dying per scene.
Many people were surprised that Chuck Norris didn't make the top 25 deadliest actors. On this list, Martin Scorsese is conspicuously absent bu Olson notes that while Scorsese is known for brutal films, the death counts are relatively low.
And then there is Akira Kurosawa, who is probably an omission (like John Wayne on the actors list). Olson provides a reason: "We only have a handful of his samurai epics counted, so if there are any fans of the older samurai epics out there who want to do counts, get in touch!"
Here's how Peter Jackson got tot he top of the list: