James Moran

James Moran, a name floating around in the wild world of movies, has his fingerprints on some pretty intense stuff. If you’ve been anywhere near a screen in the past few years, chances are you’ve bumped into something he’s worked on. Take Father Stu (2022) for example — that’s the one with Mark Wahlberg transforming himself, both literally and emotionally, to tell the story of Stuart Long, a boxer-turned-priest, whose journey is honestly just wild. The movie’s all about redemption, faith, and, yeah, a fair bit of pain (physical and otherwise). Not everyone bought into the whole spiritual angle, but you can’t deny it had heart. Then there’s Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story (2015), which is this weird, found-footage horror flick that crawled right out of the internet’s creepypasta culture. Slender Man, shaky cameras, paranoia — if you love that “is something in the corner of your eye or am I just losing it” kind of vibe, this one’s for you. It’s kind of gritty, not super polished, but that’s part of the charm. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but the cult crowd eats it up. Oh, and The Forever Purge (2021)? Totally bananas. The whole Purge thing was already nuts, but Moran’s take goes for broke. Society’s just given up at this point — the annual night of chaos spills over, and suddenly, no one’s safe. It’s violent, it’s messy, it’s absolutely a commentary on how close to the edge people can get. Moran clearly isn’t afraid to poke at uncomfortable truths through all the chaos.