James Cullen Bressack

Did You Know?

• His 2012 film Hate Crime was banned in the UK in 2015 by the BBFC for its 'unremitting' focus on abuse and racist invective.
• Bressack adapted his father Gordon Bressack's play Murder, Anyone? into a feature film released digitally in February 2023.

Career

James Cullen Bressack, born around 1992 in Los Angeles, is a filmmaker and the son of Emmy-winning writer Gordon Bressack and voice actress Ellen Gerstell. He made his first feature at 18, initially working in low-budget horror before shifting to action films in the 2020s, where he directed several later-career projects for Bruce Willis, as well as films with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mel Gibson. His debut feature, My Pure Joy, came out in 2011. The following year, he released Hate Crime, about a Jewish family attacked by neo-Nazis; the BBFC banned it in the UK for its relentless focus on physical and sexual abuse paired with racist language.

In 2013, he shot the found-footage film To Jennifer entirely on an iPhone. His 2014 horror Pernicious was called a mix of The Ring and Hostel. In 2015, he co-founded Grit Film Works with Zack Ward, and they co-wrote Bethany, which Bressack directed and starred Ward, Shannen Doherty, and Tom Green, as well as Restoration, directed by Ward. He directed the 2017 thriller Limelight, and was reported to be working on the supernatural revenge thriller Together in late 2017, followed by the psychological thriller Alone in 2018.

Starting in 2019, Bressack focused on direct-to-video and limited-release action films, including Beyond the Law with Steven Seagal, and two 2021 Bruce Willis movies, Survive the Game and Fortress, plus a third Willis film, Hot Seat, in 2022. That year, he adapted his father’s play Murder, Anyone? into a feature, released digitally in February 2023 by Uncork’d Entertainment. In 2024, he directed the noir action thriller Darkness of Man starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

His found-footage revenge film The Workout premiered at Fantastic Fest and got a limited theatrical release in August 2025 from Anchor Bay Entertainment. He also co-wrote the 2025 sci-fi action film Speed Train, directed by Ryan Francis.