Grégory Levasseur

Biography

Grégory Levasseur is a French screenwriter, film producer and director born in 1979 in Douarnenez, Brittany. He is best known for horror and thriller films made in the 2000s, mostly as a frequent collaborator of Alexandre Aja, with whom he worked on several internationally visible projects.

Levasseur began as a screenwriter. Alongside Aja he co-wrote High Tension (2003), one of the most discussed titles of the French horror revival, and he also contributed to Furia (1999), an earlier film in their shared filmography. The pair then reunited for The Hills Have Eyes (2006), a remake of Wes Craven's film, and Mirrors (2008), a supernatural thriller shot in the United States. He also worked on P2 (2007) and Piranha 3-D (2010), which mixed gory violence with broad comedy.

Alongside writing, he built a career as a producer, backing genre projects with modest budgets. Maniac (2012), a remake of the 1980 slasher, extended that work and raised his profile in the industry.

His directing debut came with The Pyramid (2014), a found-footage film about an archaeological expedition in Egypt. His legacy lies mainly in horror writing and producing, and his work illustrates the influence of French genre cinema on Hollywood in the 2000s.

Key films

• High Tension (2003): co-writer of the thriller that gave the new French horror wave international attention.
• The Hills Have Eyes (2006): co-writer of the remake of Wes Craven's story of a family attacked in the desert.
• Mirrors (2008): co-writer of the supernatural thriller starring Kiefer Sutherland.
• Piranha 3-D (2010): co-writer of the 3D reinvention of the classic killer fish film.
• Maniac (2012): producer of the remake of the 1980 slasher, with Elijah Wood in the lead role.
• The Pyramid (2014): directing debut, a found-footage film about an archaeological exploration in Egypt.