CELEBRATING THE LATE JACQUES HAITKIN, D.O.P.

Cinematographer Jacques Haitkin passed away aged 72 on March 21 2023, leaving behind a legacy of images that helped shape a generation of film fans. Not cinephiles or academics (although they’ve come to appreciate him, too) but film ‘fans’; those that love the visceral thrills, stomach-tightening horrors or giggly chuckles of that unbalanced American cinema that is often ignored or derided as ‘B-movie’ schlock upon release, but which creeps its way to cult status over time. 

Working with masters like Wes Craven, Jack Sholder, Steve de Jarnatt, Larry Cohen, Stewart Raffill and Kevin Connor, the NYC-native Haitkin forged a filmography that provides a wonderful snapshot of ‘80s genre favourites; films that provided repeat-viewing pleasure for the VHS-educated generation of movie watchers. They were often viewed on scratchy rental cassettes, panned-and-scanned to fit square TVs, and only fully appreciated for their skill and craft in restored incarnations. Despite (or perhaps because of) their origins, these are the works that make us love a world seen through the lens of Jacques Haitkin.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE (1985): No one expected Wes Craven’s 1984 high-concept teen-horror pic to be the game-changer it became, but when A Nightmare on Elm Street hit big, the industry asked, ‘How did that happen?’. Many laid the film’s success at the countless iconic images that Haitkin and Craven conjured. The D.O.P. returned for the sequel, under new helmer Jack Sholder; the film would not find immediate favour with audiences or critics, but has grown in stature ever since. (He worked with Craven again on Shocker, in 1989).

THE HIDDEN (1987) and CHERRY 2000 (1987): Haitkin reteamed with Sholder to shoot alien-possession action-thriller The Hidden, one of the late ‘80s most thrilling B-movie experiences. Arguably his most ambitious shoot was alongside Steve de Jarnatt on the dystopian action film Cherry 2000, in which he employed an otherworldly colour palette. These two films, along with his …Elm Street undertakings, are his most popular and enduring works; this professional period also provided such future cult faves as Charlie Loventhal’s My Demon Lover (1987); actor Anthony Perkin’s black comedy/horror, Lucky Stiff (1988); Larry Cohen’s The Ambulance, with Eric Roberts (1990); and, Greg Beeman’s Mom and Dad Save the World (1992), with Teri Garr. 

GALAXY OF TERROR (1981) and THE LOST EMPIRE (1984): There is no avoiding the fact that a couple of Haitkin’s gigs have a ‘bad film’ stink attached to them. But it is also worth pointing out that his ‘so-bad-they’re-good’ projects can’t be faulted for his lensing. Bruce D. Clark’s low-budget Alien riff, Galaxy of Terror, from the production house of the legendary Roger Corman, was rich with BTS talent - Bill Paxton did set decoration; James Cameron, the production designer and 2nd Unit director. Jim Wynorski’s The Lost Empire, an ultra low-budget camp romp made for the booming home video market…well, yeah, it is pretty bad.

THE TIM CONWAY COMEDIES: THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY (1978), THE PRIZE FIGHTER (1979), THE PRIVATE EYES (1980): Haitkin had graduated from NYU Film School and by the mid 1970s, had earned a reputation for being a skilled young cinematographer; his 1972 short, Hot Dogs for Gaugin, shot with director Martin Brest and actor Danny De Vito, earned him a cinematography fellowship at the American Film Institute. Things hit big for Haitkin in 1977-78, when he first shot the ‘blaxploitation’ actioner The Hitter with Ron O’Neal, then scored DOP duties on three old-school comedies starring funnyman, Tim Conway (and TV star thanks to the hit sketch series, The Carol Burnett Show). For co-directors Stuart E. McGowan and Edward Montagne, he lensed the prison-set comedy, They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way. The surprise hit meant Haitkin would be asked to bring his crowd pleasing comedy framing to Conway’s follow-ups, which paired him with fellow ageing clown, Don Knotts - Michael Preece’s boxing pic The Prize Fighter (1979), and Laing Elliott’s UK-set farce, The Private Eyes (1980).

THE T.V. MOVIES: Haitkin moved effortlessly between big- and small-screen work. His TV sector output contains some of his resonant works. His choice of films showed a keen commercial instinct; many reliably sold into the international home video and television markets. Foremost amongst them were The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980), with Robert Hays and Pam Dawber; St. Helens (1981), a large-scale dramatization of America’s volcano disaster; Save the Dog! (1988), starring Cindy Williams; Buried Alive (1990), for young director Frank Darabont and star Jennifer Jason Leigh; the cult horror film Strays! (1991), with Kathleen Quinlan; and, for his old friend Jack Sholder, the chilling true-life shark attack drama, 12 Days of Terror (2004).