Stuart Ortiz is an American filmmaker, director, and screenwriter who has established a prominent voice within the horror genre. He first gained widespread industry recognition as one half of The Vicious Brothers, a creative filmmaking partnership formed with Colin Minihan. Together, the duo wrote and directed the 2011 found-footage horror film Grave Encounters, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, earned critical acclaim, and grew into a massive global cult hit. Following this breakthrough, Ortiz expanded the franchise by writing and executive producing Grave Encounters 2 (2012). He continued to build his filmography by co-writing the sci-fi horror thriller Extraterrestrial (2014) and co-writing and producing the post-apocalyptic thriller It Stains the Sands Red (2016), which secured the "Best Film, Midnight Extreme" award at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival. His early work is celebrated for refreshing classic genre tropes using highly effective modern suspense techniques. Most recently, Ortiz wrote, directed, and produced the acclaimed independent horror feature Strange Harvest. Initially premiering on the festival circuit at Fantastic Fest, the innovative true-crime-styled mockumentary follows two detectives tracking an occult serial killer. The film was acquired by Saban Films for its widespread release, garnering highly positive reviews from critics and horror fans alike for its unique blend of gritty realism and cosmic horror.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Writer, producer, director and editor
- 5 on MovieCove · 7 credits in all
What are Stuart Ortiz's films like?
Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Society.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 4
Light 1 · Serious 0 · Dark 4
Grounded 5 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 1 · Intense 4
Steady 1 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 1
Casual 0 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 2
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 3
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 3 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet1
- Tragic2
- 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 Stuart Ortiz's films?
As of October 24, 2026, all 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on AMC+ (4).
Subscription and free streaming for Stuart Ortiz'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
7 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Strange Harvest(2024)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all filmsSwipe Fiend (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
It Stains the Sands Red(2016)
Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all films
Extraterrestrial(2014)
Midcredits score: 15th percentile of all films
Grave Encounters 2(2012)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
Grave Encounters(2011)
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all filmsGrave Encounters (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 7 titles, 6 of them dated from 2011 to 2025.
Biggest box office
Grave Encounters (2011)
Highest rated
Strange Harvest (2024)
Most popular right now
Grave Encounters 2 (2012)
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 Stuart Ortiz's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 29th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 34th percentile for acclaim.
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
None of their 5 titles divides audiences: 3 are Mixed.
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the dialogue 34/100 and the plot and story 43/100 in their films, across 5 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 Stuart Ortiz's work okay for kids?
Across up to 5 MovieCove titles with content scores, violence & gore, profanity, alcohol & drugs and frightening / intense run heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Stuart Ortiz work with?
People who share at least 2 of Stuart Ortiz's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Colin Minihan shares the most, 4.
Directors
- Colin MinihanShared titles: It Stains the Sands Red (2016), Extraterrestrial (2014), Grave Encounters 2 (2012), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 4 shared titles with Colin Minihan
Writers
- The Vicious BrothersShared titles: Extraterrestrial (2014), Grave Encounters 2 (2012), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 3 shared titles with The Vicious Brothers
Actors
- Sean RogersonShared titles: Extraterrestrial (2014), Grave Encounters 2 (2012), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 3 shared titles with Sean Rogerson
- Brittany AllenShared titles: It Stains the Sands Red (2016), Extraterrestrial (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Brittany Allen
- Dylan PlayfairShared titles: It Stains the Sands Red (2016), Grave Encounters 2 (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Dylan Playfair
- Juan RiedingerShared titles: It Stains the Sands Red (2016), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Juan Riedinger
Composers and cinematographers
- Blitz//BerlinShared titles: It Stains the Sands Red (2016), Extraterrestrial (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Blitz//Berlin
- Quynne Alana PaxaShared titles: Grave Encounters 2 (2012), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Quynne Alana Paxa
- Tony MirzaShared titles: Grave Encounters 2 (2012), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Tony Mirza
Producers
- Michael KarlinShared titles: Strange Harvest (2024), It Stains the Sands Red (2016), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 3 shared titles with Michael Karlin
- Shawn AngelskiShared titles: Extraterrestrial (2014), Grave Encounters 2 (2012), Grave Encounters (2011)See all 3 shared titles with Shawn Angelski
- Tony CopolilloShared titles: Strange Harvest (2024), It Stains the Sands Red (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Tony Copolillo
- Arni JohannsonShared titles: Extraterrestrial (2014), Grave Encounters 2 (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Arni Johannson