Steven Craig Zahler (born January 23, 1973) is an American filmmaker, novelist and composer. After beginning his career working briefly as a cinematographer, Zahler focused on screenwriting until he made his directorial debut with Bone Tomahawk (2015). He followed this up with Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) and Dragged Across Concrete (2018), all of which he wrote and composed the music for. He has also authored several novels and graphic novels. Description above from the Wikipedia article S. Craig Zahler, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 23, 1973 (53)
- Miami, Florida, USA
- Writer, director and composer
- 6 on MovieCove · 10 credits in all
What are S. Craig Zahler's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 4
A split, not a type: Grounded 3 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 0 · Intense 4
A split, not a type: Steady 1 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 4 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 0
Casual 0 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 4
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
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 S. Craig Zahler's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 5 of their 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on The Roku Channel (4).
Subscription and free streaming for S. Craig Zahler'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
10 credits, 6 with a MovieCove page.
Frontier Crucible(2025)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
Dragged Across Concrete(2018)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
Brawl in Cell Block 99(2017)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
Bone Tomahawk(2015)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
Asylum Blackout(2011)
Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all films
Air Guitar Nation (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Empire City (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
The Bookie & the Bruiser (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
The Brigands of Rattlecreek (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 10 titles, 7 of them dated from 2006 to 2025.
Biggest box office
Dragged Across Concrete (2018)
Highest rated
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Most popular right now
Dragged Across Concrete (2018)
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 S. Craig Zahler's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 53rd percentile, the median of all 6; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 79th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 25th to 49th3
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 6 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the dialogue 69/100 and the plot and story 61/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
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.
Is S. Craig Zahler's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 4 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does S. Craig Zahler work with?
People who share at least 2 of S. Craig Zahler's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Benji Bakshi shares the most, 3.
Actors
- Don JohnsonShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Don Johnson
- Jennifer CarpenterShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Jennifer Carpenter
- Vince VaughnShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Vince Vaughn
- Fred MelamedShared titles: Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Fred Melamed
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Benji BakshiShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 3 shared titles with Benji Bakshi
- Greg D'AuriaShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 3 shared titles with Greg D'Auria
- Jeff HerriottShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 3 shared titles with Jeff Herriott
Producers
- Dallas SonnierShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 3 shared titles with Dallas Sonnier
- Jack HellerShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 3 shared titles with Jack Heller
- Wayne Marc GodfreyShared titles: Dragged Across Concrete (2018), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Wayne Marc Godfrey
- Gregory ZukShared titles: Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), Bone Tomahawk (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Gregory Zuk