Ernest R. Dickerson

Directing

Ernest R. Dickerson

Born 1951-06-25 · Newark, New Jersey, USA

Ernest Roscoe Dickerson A.S.C. (usually credited as Ernest R. Dickerson or Ernest Dickerson, born June 25, 1951) is an American film and television director and cinematographer. He directed generally urban films sometimes with supernatural story like Juice, Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight, Bones and Never Die Alone. He is known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee.

Acting credits

No artwork available
6.9

The Behind-the-Scenes documentary of the dramatic comedy Do the Right Thing.

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

1989

She's Gotta Have It poster
6.6

The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.

She's Gotta Have It

1986

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror poster
6.8

Delving into a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and finally embraced them, this is the untold history of black Americans in Hollywood through their connection to the horror genre.

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror

2019

Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil poster
4.3

Follow Stanley Kubrick as he creates his savage and brilliant Vietnam film, hewing closely to the theme that dominated his creative life for four decades - the duality of human nature. Poised between good and evil, mankind was, in Kubrick's view, a complex creature equally capable of unspeakable savagery and heart-melting tenderness. Full Metal Jacket would make his case in vivid, blood-soaked Technicolor. Through interviews with Kubrick's collaborators and cast members, including Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Ermey and Adam Baldwin, this documentary reveals how Kubrick's brilliant visual sense, astute knowledge of human nature, and unique perspective on the duality of man came together to make Full Metal Jacket an unforgettable cinematic experience, taking its place in his "war trilogy" alongside cinematic landmarks Fear and Desire and Paths of Glory.

Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil

2007

The Horror Crowd poster
5.7

Revealing, intimate documentary spotlighting the Hollywood horror community.

The Horror Crowd

2020

View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining' poster
7.4

An overview of the making of, and a look at the continuing popularity of, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'

2007

Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema poster
6.5

Current filmmakers such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas reflect on the importance and influence of the epic classic "Ben-Hur".

Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema

2005

Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange' poster
6.1

In this documentary, we follow Stanley Kubrick as he creates one of the most controversial films of all time, one that retains its power to shock audiences, even after 35 years. At the time of its release, A Clockwork Orange created a firestorm of controversy. Through interviews with collaborators, filmmakers, screenwriters and authors, we come to appreciate Stanley Kubrick as an artist unafraid to take risks and court controversy, committed unwaveringly to his single-minded goal: the highest artistic quality of his films.

Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'

2007

Visions of Light poster
7.0

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.

Visions of Light

1992

Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001 poster
6.2

Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey opened the door to all the films and filmmakers who followed it. Through interviews with directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack - as well as special effects professionals and cultural historians - this documentary examines the legacy of Kubrick's masterpiece and its influence on science fiction films, special effects and world cinema.

Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001

2007

In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999 poster
7.0

In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999 celebrates and explores the movies that defined the era: from Scream’s genre-shattering impact to J-Horror’s global emergence, from mind-bending twists to Y2K apocalyptic dread, and from blockbuster hits to straight-to-video gems.

In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999

2025

Tales of the Uncanny poster
7.0

A detailed look at the history of horror anthology films.

Tales of the Uncanny

2020

One Night in Vegas poster
6.3

On the evening of Sept. 7, 1996, Mike Tyson, the WBC heavyweight champion, attempted to take Bruce Seldon’s WBA title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this point in his career, Tyson’s fights had become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, where the ever present hype of the professional boxing scene would come face to face with the worlds of big business, Hollywood, and hip hop. Sitting ringside was controversial rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur and Tyson were friends, a feeling of kinship linked them as each rose to stardom from poverty only to be thrown in prison. Following Tyson’s victory, Shakur and “Iron Mike” were to celebrate at an after party, but the rap star never arrived. Shakur was brutally gunned down later that night, and the scene in Las Vegas quickly turned from would-be celebratory revelry to ill fated and inopportune tragedy.

One Night in Vegas

2010

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X' poster
6.0

A short documentary about the making of Spike Lee's biopic, "Malcolm X."

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'

2005

The Visions of Stanley Kubrick poster
6.9

A look at the visual design of the film The Shining (1980).

The Visions of Stanley Kubrick

2007

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later poster
7.0

In this documentary directed by Spike Lee, he interviews the cast and crew of his 1989 film DO THE RIGHT THING. It also includes footage from a twentieth-anniversary screening of the film.

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later

2009

Produce Your Own Damn Movie! poster
NR

When it comes to producing, no one speaks with more authority than Lloyd Kaufman creator of The Toxic Avenger and founder of the longest-running independent film studio, Troma Entertainment. Over the years he has discovered talents such as Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park, The Book of Mormon) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) to name a few. Candid interviews, tips, tricks and tidbits scattered throughout the DVD give filmmakers practical tools for getting a movie shoot off the ground, keeping it afloat and seeing it through to the end - Lloyd Kaufman shows you how it's really done.

Produce Your Own Damn Movie!

2011

Diggin’ Up "Bones" poster
NR

Produced for the "Bones" Special Edition DVD.

Diggin’ Up "Bones"

Hitchcocked! poster
6.0

A tribute to the work of Alfred Hitchcock, featuring contemporary filmmakers, writers, performers, and cultural critics.

Hitchcocked!

2006

Bones: Urban Gothic poster
NR

Produced for the “Bones” DVD. Explores the influence of Gothic horror films on the film.

Bones: Urban Gothic

2002

That Guy Dick Miller poster
7.0

Documentary about veteran character actor Dick Miller, whose career in and outside of Hollywood has spanned almost 200 films across six decades, featuring a diverse range of interviews with directors, co-stars, and contemporaries.

That Guy Dick Miller

2014

Den of Vampires poster
NR

Den of Vampires, a newly filmed interview with cinematographer Ernest Dickerson

Den of Vampires

2025

No artwork available
NR

Featurette included on the Criterion Collection's release of Gordon Parks’ feature debut, The Learning Tree. This documentary, produced in September 2021, features filmmakers Ina Diance Archer, Ernest R. Dickerson, and Nelson George, and curator Rhea L. Combs.

Revisiting The Learning Tree

No artwork available
NR

A documentary about the influence of the film 'The Night of the Hunter' on filmmakers Ernest Dickerson and Spike Lee.

Love and Hate

2023

Behind the camera

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight poster
6.8

Ex-soldier Frank Brayker is the guardian of an ancient key that can unlock tremendous evil; the sinister Collector is a demon who wants the key so he can initiate the apocalypse. On the run from wicked mercenaries for almost 90 years, Brayker finally stops in at a boarding house in New Mexico where — with the help of its residents — he plans to face off against the Collector and his band of ghouls, preventing them from ever seizing the key.

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

1995

Surviving the Game poster
6.2

A homeless man is hired as a survival guide for a group of wealthy businessmen on a hunting trip in the mountains, unaware that they are killers who hunt humans for sport, and that he is their new prey.

Surviving the Game

1994

Bulletproof poster
5.8

An undercover police officer named Rock Keats befriends a drug dealer and car thief named Archie Moses in a bid to catch the villainous drug lord Frank Coltan. But the only problem is that Keats is a cop, his real name is Jack Carter, and he is working undercover with the LAPD to bust Moses and Colton at a sting operation the LAPD has set up.

Bulletproof

1996

Juice poster
7.2

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.

Juice

1992

Juice poster
7.2

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.

Juice

1992

Futuresport poster
4.3

In the not too distant future, a new deadly sport is the only way to stop a war that will kill millions. Fix is the creator of the sport, but the spotlight has always been on Ramzey. Now this hothead must use the game to stop the Revolution.

Futuresport

1999

Never Die Alone poster
5.5

A drug kingpin's rise and tragic fall is witnessed vicariously by a reporter who uses the criminal's diary as the basis for his new book.

Never Die Alone

2004

V/H/S/Mixtape poster
NR

The ninth installment of the horror anthology franchise. Plot TBA.

V/H/S/Mixtape

2026

Bones poster
5.0

Over 20 years after his death, local legend and benefactor Jimmy Bones returns as a ghost to get revenge on those who killed him and restore his neighborhood.

Bones

2001

Ambushed poster
5.1

Jim Natter, the leader of a violent Ku Klux Klan lodge, is shot dead. His teenage son Eric Natter is found nearby, and taken into police custody for his protection pending the investigation. While four cops drive him to a safe-house, they are ambushed. Three of them shot dead, including Deputy Lawrence, and his black partner Jerry Robinson is accused of the murders.

Ambushed

1998

Monday Night Mayhem poster
6.2

The early years of a television sports powerhouse are chronicled as ABC becomes a player in the NFL coverage by putting their full resources into a major showcase. Executive Roone Arledge recruits former Dallas Cowboys quarterback 'Dandy' Don Meredith, Keith Jackson, and the combative Howard Cosell as commentators for the broadcasts, which become funny, odd trio events to millions of viewers. Jackson departs the show after the first year to take over the network's focus on college football, and former New York Giants star Frank Gifford takes his place, ruffling Cosell's feathers. Then things get really crazy!

Monday Night Mayhem

2002

Last Man Standing poster
4.4

Abby Collins's quiet life as a wife and mother shows no trace of her past work as a military special-ops expert -- until the day her husband is kidnapped. With no alternative, Abby must resort to her long-dormant lethal skills to save her spouse.

Last Man Standing

2011

Good Fences poster
5.9

Set in the 1970s, Tom Spader is an attorney who is determined to end what he has dubbed "the colored man's losing streak." When his winning of a high-profile case thrusts him into the limelight, he decides to move his wife and their two kids out of their mixed lower-middle-class town and into the posh enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut.

Good Fences

2003

For One Night poster
7.6

Their town always had two proms, one for the whites and one for the blacks. When both proms wanted the same DJ, Brianna McCallister suggested combining the proms, which would also mean more money for decorations. However, her idea shook the town up, especially after a white student was let off for the same offense that a black student was suspended for. Can the town overcome racial tensions and finally combine the two proms?

For One Night

2006

Strange Justice poster
7.0

In this historical drama, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announces his retirement. The White House nominates Clarence Thomas as Marshall's replacement. But Thomas's confirmation hearings are rocked by charges that he sexually harassed Anita Hill, a former assistant. As their conflict plays out in public, a White House aide runs a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit Hill.

Strange Justice

1999

Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie poster
5.4

Mother's good boy Benny Silman from Brooklyn becomes an economics student at Arizona State University for the sun and sexy girls- and the proximity of gambling paradise Las Vegas. Benny aces his studies, being a mathematical genius, but the one who earns money from him at sports is bookie Troy, who however recruits him as subcontractor, making a few thousand for himself. The next year Benny starts for himself, with a few dozen student vassals, and makes a hundredfold.

Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie

2002

No artwork available
NR

When his nephew Leslie, is implicated in the theft of the mob’s earnings, Morris gets a call from his old boss that forces him off the golf course and back into action to negotiate one last job: he’s got the weekend to to help the kid recover the stolen money or put a bullet in him. Complicating things is the fact that Leslie has a baby on the way.

Morris Stokes

Blind Faith poster
6.2

In 1957, black lawyer John Williams has to defend his nephew Charlie, who is accused of strangling a white boy to death. John doesn't believe Charlie did it, and although Charlie confesses, John wants to find out the real truth.

Blind Faith

1998

Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella poster
NR

Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella is a 1990 PBS documentary, directed by Spike Lee, around the topic of A cappella music. Artists that performed as part of the documentary include The Mint Juleps, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Rockapella and The Persuasions. It also stars Spike Lee, Debbie Allen and a cameo appearance by Samuel L. Jackson.

Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella

1990

Our America poster
8.0

The true story of two African-American teen radio reporters and their documentary investigation of a notorious child murder.

Our America

2002

Something with Bite poster
NR

Wilbur is a veterinarian who begins to turn into a werewolf after being bitten by a large animal brought to his clinic.

Something with Bite

2009

Double Play poster
3.5

Double Play is about anolder man named Ostrik who returns to Curaçao and his childhood after many years abroad. Ostrik reminisces about 1973 and the events surrounding a game his father played which had major consequences for Ostrik’s youth. The dramatic poverty and colourful landscapes provide the background for the leads who represent Curaçao’s melting pot: a story of pride and humiliation, money and love, ambition and hope.

Double Play

2017

The V Word poster
5.0

Two curious teenage boys break into an old mortuary looking for thrills, only to find themselves stalked by a former teacher who is a very real vampire looking to increase the ranks of the undead.

The V Word

2006

No artwork available
NR

The Welch family's ski trip spirals into a nightmare when the son is abducted by a mysterious cult. Parents Owen and Victoria are pushed to the brink and faced with a soul-crushing ultimatum: sacrifice another child or lose their own forever.

Black Diamond