Ellory Elkayem

Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Ellory Elkayem began making films as a teenager. At 18, he attended a film school designed to give students practical experience and preparation for a career in the film business. He learned the ropes first hand while, working in the camera department on commercials, music videos, and TV shows such as 'The New Adventures of the Black Stallion' starring Mickey Rooney. During this time, Ellory also made several short films with support from the New Zealand Arts Council. His big break came with, 'Larger Than Life', a 13 minute, black and white, VFX-driven homage to the 1950's Hollywood horror genre featuring a giant, man-eating spider. Produced by Academy Award winner Jamie Selkirk and financed with a grant from the New Zealand Film Commission, 'Larger Than Life' received critical acclaim at the 1998 Telluride Film Festival and later caught the eye of heavyweight Hollywood producers, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. ('Independence Day'). Emmerich and Devlin then hired Ellory to write and direct 'Eight-Legged Freaks', a 30 million dollar feature film based on 'Larger Than Life', starring David Arquette and Scarlett Johansson, and distributed by Warner Brothers. In 2000, while in development on Eight Legged Freaks, Ellory directed 'They Nest', a television movie for USA Networks starring Dean Stockwell and John Savage. The movie, also known as 'Creepy Crawlers', told the tale of a small New England town infested with an exotic breed of killer cockroaches. In 2001 Ellory directed 'Eight Legged Freaks' and in 2002, the film was released to rave reviews. In 2004 Ellory went to Romania to direct two zombie movies, back to back. 'Return of the Living Dead - Necropolis', and 'Return of the Living Dead - Rave from the Grave', starring Peter Coyote. In 2008 Ellory directed the comedy sequel 'Without A Paddle-Nature's Calling' for Paramount. In 2009 Ellory returned to New Zealand to develop feature film projects with local writers and producers.