Dante Tomaselli

Dante Tomaselli (born October 29, 1969, in Paterson, New Jersey) is an Italian-American horror screenwriter, director, and score composer. In 2013 Fearnet named Tomaselli one of their "Favorite Underrated Horror Directors", as they found his work "unique and eccentric".

Tomaselli was born on October 29, 1969, in Paterson, New Jersey. He expressed interest in becoming a horror filmmaker while he was still a child due to his enjoyment of films such as The Exorcist and Don't Look Now, which he would watch with his mother at local theaters. He studied filmmaking at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute and later transferred to the New York School of Visual Arts, where he received a B.F.A. degree in Advertising. In 1999 he released his first film, Desecration, which he based on an earlier-made 23-minute short. On January 14, 2014, Tomaselli released his first audio CD of electronic horror music, Scream in the Dark, through Elite Entertainment and MVD Audio.

Tomaselli is gay and was involved with a project called Gay of the Dead.

Tomaselli heavily utilizes themes of Catholicism and Christianity in his work, which is inspired partly by his Catholic upbringing as a child though he is critical of the concept of religion as a whole. Other factors that influenced his work include Tomaselli's relation to Sole and surrealism, as well as severe nightmares he had as a child, which he has tried to work into his films. Some critics mistakenly attribute directors such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci as influences due to some similarities between their work, but Tomaselli stated in an interview with author Matthew Edwards that he did not view those directors' work until his early twenties.

Critical reception to Tomaselli's films is usually very polarized, with some criticizing the films as lacking a linear plot line. Other critics have praised the films for this feature and remarked on the variety of filmgoers' reactions by saying that the movies would not appeal to all viewers and especially not to those that favor more mainstream fare or do not prefer surreal films.[10][11]