Eric Red (born as Joseph Durdaller; February 16, 1961) is a screenwriter and film director best known for having written The Hitcher and Near Dark horror classics.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, son of Nancy Pickhardt and Cornelius Gerard Durdaller. Attended the AFI Conservatory (a section of the American Film Institute) and graduated in 1983. His thesis, the screenplay for The film, produced in 1986 and is considered a classic of the horror film. A remake of the film, with red as Advisor was released in 2007.

Filmography

* Gunmen’s Blues (1981), writer/director

* Telephone (1986), writer/director

* The Hitcher (1986), writer

* Near Dark (1987), writer

* Cohen and Tate (1989), writer/director

* Blue Steel (1990), writer

* The Last Outlaw (1993), writer

* Body Parts (1991), writer/director

* Undertow (1996), writer/director

* Bad Moon (1996), writer/director

* The Hitcher (2007), screenwriter

* 100 Feet (2008), writer/director

Fatal accident

Network was involved in a car accident that killed two people on May 31, 2000. After the accident, red apparently would have collected a piece of glass provocandose a wound in the neck. It was taken to the hospital where weeks later withdrew. No criminal charges against him were presented, but a civil lawsuit found acted intentionally. Trial, compensated with more than one million dollars to the families of the two men who died in the accident, called for State and federal courts which confirmed the original declaration of the jury.