From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ellory Elkayem (born 12 August 1970) is a New Zealand film director. Born in Christchurch, Ellory Elkayem began making films at a young age. He later attended a film school designed to give students practical experience and preparation for a career in the film business. He learned the ropes firsthand while working in the camera department on many commercials, music videos, and television shows such as The Adventures of the Black Stallion starring Mickey Rooney. During this time, Elkayem also made several short films with support and financial assistance from the New Zealand government. His big break came with Larger than Life, a 13-minute black-and-white, FX-driven homage to the 1950s Hollywood horror genre, featuring a giant, man-eating spider. Produced by Academy Award winner Jamie Selkirk, and financed with the largest grant of its kind from the New Zealand Film Commission, Larger than Life received critical acclaim at the 1998 Telluride Film Festival and later caught the eye of the Hollywood producers Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow), who then recruited Elkayem to write and direct Eight Legged Freaks, a $30 million feature film based on Larger than Life, starring David Arquette, Kari Wührer, and Scarlett Johansson, and distributed by Warner Brothers. He has since worked on a number of low-budget horror films, including Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave sequels and has just finished directing Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ellory Elkayem , licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- August 12, 1970 (56)
- Christchurch, New Zealand
- Director and writer
- 5 on MovieCove · 6 credits in all
Known for
What are Ellory Elkayem's films like?
Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Survival.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
A split, not a type: Ironic 2 · Wry 0 · Earnest 2
Light 4 · Serious 1 · Dark 0
Grounded 2 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 3 · Intense 1
Steady 1 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 0 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 3
A split, not a type: Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 3
Casual 4 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 4 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 0
Resolved 5 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet2
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Ellory Elkayem's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Ellory Elkayem's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
6 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page.
Midcredits score: 4th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 1st percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 1st percentile of all films
Eight Legged Freaks(2002)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
They Nest(2000)
Midcredits score: 18th percentile of all films
Larger than Life (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Career shape
A full career of 6 titles from 1998 to 2009.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Ellory Elkayem's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 4th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 9th percentile for acclaim.
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th4
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 5 titles are Universally Panned.
- Universally Panned3
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the atmosphere 33/100 and the pacing 35/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Ellory Elkayem work with?
People who share at least 2 of Ellory Elkayem's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Aaron Strongoni shares the most, 2.
Writers
- Aaron StrongoniShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Aaron Strongoni
- William ButlerShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with William Butler
Actors
- Aimee-Lynn ChadwickShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Aimee-Lynn Chadwick
- Cory HardrictShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Cory Hardrict
- John KeefeShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with John Keefe
- Peter CoyoteShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Peter Coyote
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Thomas L. CallawayShared titles: Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling (2009), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Thomas L. Callaway
- James CoblentzShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with James Coblentz
- Robert DuncanShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Robert Duncan
Producers
- Anatoly FradisShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Anatoly Fradis
- Angelo PastoreShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Angelo Pastore
- Bogdan MonceaShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with Bogdan Moncea
- John VulichShared titles: Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)See all 2 shared titles with John Vulich
